Somerville Student Wins College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship

SOMERVILLE, MA — A Somerville high school senior has won a college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship award, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

Marie Lessard-Brandt, a senior at Somerville High School, is one of approximately 2,600 students who have won college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by 155 U.S. colleges and universities.

Lessard-Brandt will receive a scholarship sponsored by Rutgers University to study secondary education.

The college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners were selected from students who advanced to the Finalist level in National Merit Scholarship competition. College sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for Finalists who plant to attend their institution.

These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2022 competition to about 4,000.

This is the third announcement of National Merit Scholars in 2022. NMSC named recipients of corporate-sponsored Scholarships on April 27 and National Merit $2,500 Scholarships on May 11 and will announce more winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards on July 11.

By the conclusion of this year's competition, about 7,500 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $28 million.