A Beaufort High School senior was named Wednesday, June 5 as the Beaufort County School District’s third National Merit Scholarship winner.
Alan Wiser’s national recognition came in the latest round of announcements by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.
May River High’s Faith Shupard and Hilton Head Island High’s Meaghan Lyons were named in earlier announcements.
Wiser competed with 15,000 national finalists to earn one of 7,600 college scholarships worth more than $31 million. The new round of announcements covers scholarships sponsored by specific colleges and universities.
Wiser’s scholarship will be funded by Clemson University, where he plans to study computer science.
“Alan is a terrific young man with a very bright future, and we’re very proud of him,” Interim Superintendent Herb Berg said.
About 1.6 million high school juniors from more than 22,000 American high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
To advance to the final round of competition, each semifinalist had to submit a detailed application that provided information about the student’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities, honors and awards.
In addition, each semifinalist had to be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirmed the student’s earlier score on the qualifying test.
Eventual scholarship winners were the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
