Winners of National Merit Scholarships Announced

EVANSTON, Ill. — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced scholarship recipients in two categories.

National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholar Program. The scholarships went to the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

California winners include Anna H. Nakai of Palo Alto, a student at Palo Alto High School. Her career field is undecided.

Approximately 3,000 students received National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities. Officials of each sponsor college selected their winners from among the finalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan 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 2016 competition to approximately 4,000.

This year, 184 higher education institutions — 106 private and 78 public, located in 45 states and the District of Columbia — are underwriting scholarships.

California winners include the following:

National Merit University of Chicago Scholarship — Clarence M. Nakano of La Cañada Flintridge, a student at Flintridge Preparatory School. Probable career field: Computer science.

National Merit University of Southern California Scholarship — Cole Y. Kawana of Malibu, a student at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City. Probable career field: Business.

For more information on these and other scholarships, visit www.nationalmerit.org.