5 Conestoga High School Seniors Win National Merit Scholarships

BERWYN, PA — Five students from Conestoga High School have been named winners of National Merit Scholarships.

These five are among a group of more than 6,870 high school seniors who will get college-sponsored Merit Scholarships for undergraduate study worth nearly $26 million.

Below are Conestoga's scholarship winners:

Bryce E. Bernabeo, of Berwyn — Bucknell University
Probable career field: Biomedical Engineering

Bucknell University is an independent, privately endowed, coeducational institution of approximately 3,000 undergraduates, 200 graduates, and a faculty of over 200 teacher-scholars offering studies in the humanities, natural and social sciences, education, business administration, and engineering. Bucknell's academic distinction derives from a clearly defined sense of purpose and a dedication to free and responsible inquiry in the pursuit of truth and excellence.

Rohan B. Deshpande, of Berwyn — University of South Florida
Probable career field: Biomedicine

The University of South Florida has rich traditions of access and opportunity for students of academic excellence, of groundbreaking research, and of serving our communities. USF is situated in the Tampa Bay region, with campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota-Manatee. Together, our campuses serve more than 50,000 students pursuing undergraduate, grad., and professional degrees. High-impact global research is central to USF's mission as one of only 3 Preeminent State Research Universities in the State of Florida.

Daniel H. Fan, of Berwyn — University of Maryland
Probable career field: Computer Science

There are three University of Maryland campuses. The College Park campus provides a comprehensive program of graduate and undergraduate work, including a large and active general honors program. The Eastern Shore campus offers a small college environment with a selective honors program leading to admission to the university's professional schools. At Baltimore County, students will find a medium-sized state university campus with particularly strong programs in the Arts and Sciences.

Staas I. Lin, Wayne — Purdue University
Probable career field: Computer Science

Purdue University is a state-assisted university system with students on five campuses. Among the 25 largest colleges and universities in the nation, Purdue's West Lafayette campus enrollment exceeds 34,000. Undergraduate education at the West Lafayette campus is organized by academic schools: Agriculture; Consumer and Family Sciences; Education; Engineering; Liberal Arts; Management; Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences; Science; Technology; and Veterinary Medicine.

Angelina Pierce, of Wayne — Lehigh University
Probable career field: Materials Engineering

Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is coeducational, nondenominational, and private. The three undergraduate Colleges of Arts and Science, Business and Economics, and Engineering are intertwined with the Graduate School, the School of Education, and the Institute of Research, permitting unusual attention to contemporary problems as well as traditional professional and preprofessional training. The enrollment is stabilized at 4,000.

High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Last fall, more than 16,000 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.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists first had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements.

Each semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions.

Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance.

From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2024.