3 Ward Melville Students Win National Merit Scholarships

Three Ward Melville High School students have been named National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation made the announcement on Wednesday.

Ward Melville seniors Gregory N. Bodik, Adriana Orduna and Elizabeth T. Wang were selected out of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program based on their academic accomplishments. Bodik is exploring applied mathematics as a career field, Orduna is interested in public health and Wang listed neurobiology as her probable career field.

Wednesday’s announcement is the second group of winners to be announced this year. In April, more than 1,000 recipients of the corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship were named.

A panel of college admissions officers and high school counselors judged the students based on their accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college courses, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation said in a release. The judges looked at grades, difficulty of courses, standardized test scores, contributions and leadership both in school and in the community, an essay and a recommendation from a high school official.

The number of winners in each state was proportional to the state’s share of the nation’s graduating high school seniors. Additional winners will be named in June and July. By the end of the year, about 7,600 students will have won merit scholarships totaling more than $31 million. The money can be put toward any regionally accredited college or university in America.