Bethesda, Chevy Chase Students Win 2023 National Merit Scholarships

BETHESDA-CHEVY CHASE, MD — The first round of scholarship winners in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program were announced Wednesday, and students from Bethesda and Chevy Chase are in the mix.

Around 840 high school seniors won the scholarships sponsored by about 107 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations. The corporate-sponsored awards typically go to National Merit Scholarship finalists who are employees' children or students pursuing college studies or careers that the sponsor wants to support.

The scholarships provide annual stipends between $1,000 and $10,000 per year for up to four years of undergraduate studies or a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Students may use their awards at regionally accredited colleges or universities in the U.S.

There were 25 winners from Maryland. One is Crystal C. Li, a senior from Bethesda who attends Richard Montgomery High School. Li received the scholarship from a trust established by the estate of Mary E. Beyerle and will likely pursue a career in academia.

Another winner from Maryland is Julia A. Gelfond, who lives in Chevy Chase and is a senior at Montgomery Blair High School. Gelfond received the scholarship from Specialty Materials, a company based in Lowell, Massachusetts, and will likely pursue a career in materials science.

The corporate-sponsored scholarships are the first round of National Merit Scholarships to be announced for 2023. Winners of the National Merit Scholarship's own $2,500 scholarships will be announced on May 10, followed by college-sponsored awards on June 7 and July 10. In all, 7,140 high school students will be awarded approximately $28 million in National Merit Scholarships this year.

To be entered for the National Merit Scholarship competition, students were entered as juniors taking the PSAT in 2021. In September 2022, around 16,000 semifinalists were named based on each state's proportion of graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the top scoring entrants in their states and represent less than 1 percent of seniors in the U.S.

To be considered for finalist status, semifinalists had to submit a detailed scholarship application with an essay and details on extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions as well as demonstrate an outstanding academic record and have an endorsement from a high school official. Around 15,000 finalists met requirements for finalists status and were eligible to be chosen for corporate-sponsored, National Merit Scholarship-sponsored and college-sponsored awards.