2 New Trier High School Students Win National Merit Cash Scholarships

WILMETTE, IL — A committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors selected a pair of Wilmette residents for National Merit cash scholarships.

Emilia Dobek and Annabel Ma, both members of the class of 2023 at New Trier High School, are among 2,500 winners of $2,500 scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Dobek plans to study aerospace engineering, and Ma plans to study mathematics, according to National Merit.

Last year, Dobek, Ma and 17 other seniors at New Trier, which has about 3,000 students, were named National Merit semifinalists.

The scholarships are awarded to National Merit finalists found to have the "strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies," according to a release.

The cash scholarships are the second of four rounds of annual scholarship winner announcements by the Evanston-based nonprofit.

Last month, National Merit representatives announced about 840 winners of corporate sponsored-scholarships.

The nonprofit plans to release next month the names of college-sponsored National Merit scholarship winners, which comprise the majority of the approximately 7,140 graduating high school students in line for nearly $28 million scholarships this year.