By Alana Moehring Mallard
Students from West Austin schools were recently named in announcements of National Merit Scholarship winners, with two students winning National Merit $2500 scholarships and two students winning college-sponsored National Merit scholarships.
Camilla Vandergrift of McCallum High School won a National Merit $2500 scholarship. She plans a career in mechanical engineering.
Simon Meyers, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, also received National Merit $2500 scholarship. His probable career field is science and research.
Nash Dahl, a graduate of St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, received a college-sponsored National Merit scholarship from Purdue University. He plans to study aerospace engineering.
Charles Mounce graduated from Austin High School and has received a college-sponsored National Merit scholarship from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He will study computer programming.
An earlier announcement and a West Austin News article in May also named Audrey Wan and Claire Wan of St. Stephen’s as college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners.
Winners were chosen from about 15,000 students nationwide who advanced from Semifinalist standing to Finalist standing, which required submitting a detailed scholarship application with an essay, information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. About half of the Finalists will receive National Merit scholarship awards.
Another round of college-sponsored awards will be announced in July, and by the end of the 2025 competition, almost 7,000 students will have won scholarships worth $26 million.
