Arlington Heights Students Among National Merit Scholarship Recipients

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — Three Arlington Heights high school students are among the recipients of the prestigious National Merit Scholarship, which is awarded by colleges and universities around the country.

Ceila L. Cortopassi, who is a senior at Buffalo Grove High School, was awarded one of the scholarships by the University of Minnesota, where Cortopassi is expected to study earth science, according to the scholarship announcement, which was made this week.

Kevin R. Rabinak, who will also graduate from Buffalo Grove this spring, received the scholarship from Loyola University-Chicago, where he is expected to study kinesiology, according to the news release sent by the Evanston-based scholarship corporation.

Charles R. Schmidt, a senior at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, is the final local scholarship recipient after he was tabbed for the honor by Purdue University, where he will study computer science.

The recipients were selected by each respective college or university from a list of finalists who plan to attend each institution. The scholarships range between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the school that is financing the scholarships.

An additional round of scholarships will be awarded in July, which will take the total number of college-sponsored scholarships up to about 4,000 recipients, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced this week.

This year, a total of 155 colleges and universities are sponsoring the scholarships, which are worth $28 million for the 7,500 recipients that will receive the award from around the country.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements.

Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance.

From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met the requirements for finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2022, officials said.