Wissahickon Student Wins Corporate National Merit Scholarship

AMBLER, PA — A Wissahickon School District student has been recognized with one of the most distinguished scholarships in the nation.

Senior Vincent Zhang was awarded Corporate National Merit Scholarships, the organization announced this week.

Zhang, of Lower Gwynedd Township, has a probable career field of science and research. He won the Pfizer Inc. Scholarship, sponsored by the global biopharmaceutical company and offered to children of Pfizer employees.

Award amounts vary and were not specified by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Most are renewable for four years of undergraduate study and typically range between $1,000 and $10,000 a year.

Corporate sponsored scholars are selected by companies from students who advanced to the finalist level of the National Merit Scholarship competition. Students are children of employees in the sponsoring company in question, residents in the community where the company is based, or plan to pursue careers in a field the company wants to encourage, the NMSC said.

Winners of corporate scholarships came from a pool of millions of high school juniors from more than 22,000 high schools who took the PSAT test as juniors in 2015. Roughly 16,000 semifinalists, and then 7,500 finalists, were chosen nationally, and 840 students won the award.

Winners of corporate scholarships are distinct from winners of the $2,500 National Merit Scholarship, who are selected from the finalist pool by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors.