9 Locals On Final List Of National Merit Scholarship Winners For 2022

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Nine Hudson Valley residents are on the final list of winners of National Merit Scholarships announced by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation Monday.

This is the last group of National Merit Scholar designees in 2022. In the spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, National Merit $2500 Scholarship awards, and the first group of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

The nine local winners are:

• Benjamin R. Harrell of Cornwall, Cornwall Central High School. Probable career field: Mathematics. NATIONAL MERIT STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Erik A. Brodsky of Cortlandt Manor, homeschool. Probable career field: Mathematics. NATIONAL MERIT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Conrad Runte of Larchmont, Mamaroneck High School. Probable career field: Undecided. NATIONAL MERIT COLBY COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
• Isaac R. Harris of Mamaroneck, Rye Neck High School. Probable career field: Chemical Engineering. NATIONAL MERIT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Pavan Kumar of Scarsdale, Horace Mann School. Probable career field: Biomedical Engineering. NATIONAL MERIT BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Alexander J. Lee of Scarsdale, Edgemont High School. Probable career field: Finance. NATIONAL MERIT BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Mihir Prasanna Patil of Scarsdale, Edgemont High School. Probable career field: Computer Science. NATIONAL MERIT PURDUE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Brandon M. Wang of Stormville, John Jay High School. Probable career field: Computer Science. NATIONAL MERIT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP
• Kyle D. Johnston of Wappingers Falls, Arlington High School. Probable career field: Computer Science. NATIONAL MERIT RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE SCHOLARSHIP

This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began when high school juniors took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screening. In September 2021, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To become a Finalist, each Semifinalist had to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay, describing leadership positions and contributions in school and community activities, showing an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. Semifinalists also had to take the SAT® or ACT® and earn scores that confirmed their performance on the initial qualifying test. From the Semifinalist group, more than 15,000 attained Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists were chosen to receive National Merit Scholarships.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program.

This final group of winners brings the number of 2022 National Merit Scholars to more than 7,200. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a total of nearly $28 million.