Putnam City North High School seniors Samuel Beer, Mark Deimund, Isaac Freeman and Elizabeth Upton have been named National Merit Finalists by the National Merit Scholarship Program. The recognition places the students in the upper echelon of high school student across the country and makes them eligible for college scholarships to be awarded later this spring.

National Merit Finalists initially qualify for the recognition based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test – a test that measures verbal, math and writing skills. For students to be selected as finalists, they fulfilled a set of requirements that included an outstanding high school academic record, endorsement by their high school principal, submission of SAT scores, leadership in school and community activities, and a self-descriptive essay.

More than 1.3 million juniors in over 21,000 U.S. high schools entered the 2006 National Merit Program by taking the 2004 PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

There are approximately 15,000 National Merit Finalists across the country. From this group, all Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen. Approximately 8,200 National Merit Scholarships worth $33 million will be awarded this spring.

Merit Scholarship awards are of three types:

National Merit® $2500 Scholarships
Every National Merit Finalist will compete for these single payment scholarships, which are awarded on a state representational basis. Winners are selected without consideration of family financial circumstances, college choice, or major and career plans.

Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship Awards
Corporate sponsors designate their awards for children of their employees or members, for residents of a community where a company has operations, or for Finalists with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage. These scholarships may either be renewable for four years of undergraduate study or one-time awards.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship Awards
Officials of each sponsor college select winners of their awards from Finalists who have been accepted for admission and have informed NMSC by the published deadlines that the sponsor college or university is their first choice. These awards are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study.