Algonquin H.S. Student Nabs National Merit Scholarship

ALGONQUIN, IL — One local high school student has been picked to receive a prestigious National Merit scholarship.

Nathaniel Graf, a student at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, is among 2,600 scholarship winners picked by sponsor colleges. Graf, who plans to major in computer science, received his scholarship for the University of Alabama.

The awards, which pay out between $500 to $2,000 each year for up to four years, are financed by the colleges and universities, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship. An additional group of scholarship winners will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2022 competition to about 4,000.

Last fall, more than 16,000 National Merit semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2022, according to a news release.