Five APS Seniors Receive National Merit Scholarships

The students will receive scholarships sponsored by the Lockheed Martin Corporation Foundation.

Five Albuquerque Public Schools high school seniors have been named winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program.

About 1,000 high school seniors around the country have won National Merit Scholarships financed by some 200 corporations and business organizations.

“We are very proud of these students and the honor they have received in being awarded these scholarships,” said APS Supt. Brad Winter.

The students qualified as semifinalists based on their performance on the 2013 pre-SAT. To advance as a finalist, students must continue to have an outstanding academic record, be recommended by their school principal, and earn high SAT scores during their junior or senior year.

The students also submitted applications with essays and information about their participation in school and community activities.

Named as scholarship recipients were:

• Ivan Aidun of Albuquerque High, who plans to study music.
• Serena Fang, Justin Porter, and Sarah Salinger-Mullen, all of La Cueva High. Fang plans to study electrical engineering, while Porter plans to study mechanical engineering and Salinger-Mullen is undecided; and
• Suzanne White of Eldorado High School, who plans to study chemical engineering.

All five students will receive scholarships sponsored by the Lockheed Martin Corporation Foundation.

These scholars were selected from finalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program who meet the criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate organizations generally provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue careers the grantor wishes to encourage.

Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.