Hartland High School senior Jackson M. Donaldson of Hartland is in the first group of winners in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. He is one of approximately 1,000 high school seniors across the country who won corporate-sponsored awards financed by corporations, foundations, and other business organizations.
Winners were selected from those students who advanced to the finalist level in the competition and who met the criteria of their scholarship sponsors, which includes the children of employees, residents of the communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.
Most of these awards — which provide annual stipends ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 a year — are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.
Donaldson’s probable career path is computer science. His award is funded by General Dynamics, which is headquartered in Falls Church, VA, and employes nearly 50,000 workers worldwide. The company has leading market positions in business aviation, information systems, shipbuilding and marine systems, and land and amphibious combat. The company sponsors Merit Scholarships as a demonstration of its commitment to the well-being of its employees and the communities in which they live.
High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2021, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were designated 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 be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Each Semifinalist was asked to complete 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 their qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 met Finalist requirements.
By the conclusion of the 2022 competition, about 7,500 Finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $28 million. Winners are the Finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships offered each year are underwritten by some 400 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to honor the nation’s scholastically talented youth and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education.
