A recent Columbus East graduate has received a National Merit Scholarship from the University of Kentucky.
Maelyn R. Kiser, daughter of Lee and Cara Kiser, was one of 3,000 students across the United States to receive a National Merit Scholarship sponsored by colleges and universities.
Her scholarship, which will provide $33,000 per year for up to four years of undergraduate study, is the National Merit University of Kentucky Scholarship.
Kiser, daughter of Lee and Cara Kiser, plans to study chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky.
Kiser said initially she couldn’t believe that she had received the scholarship. University of Kentucky was chosen after she and her father began looking at colleges and Kiser said she liked the university’s chemical engineering program and the campus.
With a chemical engineering degree, Kiser said she hopes to go into pharmaceutical research or perhaps pursue a medical degree. She is considering becoming an obstetrician or an oncologist, she said.
Listed among the top 10 students in Columbus East’s Class of 2016, Kiser was active in Key Club, the Congressional Leadership Program, National Honor Society, Youth Leadership Bartholomew County and Art Honor Society. She was president of the Spanish Honor Society and captain of the swim team.
The college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are part of about 7,500 high school seniors who are receiving National Merit scholarships worth approximately $33 million. More than 1.5 million juniors in 22,000 high schools entered the National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2014 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
From 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 qualified as finalists and about half of the finalists are Merit Scholarship winners this year.
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The National Merit Scholarship Corporation operates without government assistance, established in 1955 to oversee the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of about 440 independent corporate and college sponsors.
Sponsor colleges and universities include 106 private and 78 public institutions in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
To learn more about the program, visit nationalmerit.org.
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