KMHS Student Earns National Merit Scholarship

student Nicole Gilreath has been named a corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarship winner by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Gilreath is among approximately 1,000 high school seniors nationwide to win the award, which is financed by about 200 corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.

About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the competition when they took the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors.

Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

Gilreath, who is the recipient of the Norfolk Southern Scholarship, is interested in a career in the medical field.

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.