Hiram Resident Earns National Achievement Scholarship

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Wednesday announced the names of about 800 outstanding black American high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards through the National Achievement Scholarship Program. These awards, totaling over $2 million, are being financed by grants from 29 corporate organizations and professional associations, and by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed academic competition established in 1964 specifically to honor scholastically talented black American youth and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding participants in each annual competition. By the conclusion of the 2012 program, marking the 48th-annual competition, about 31,800 participants will have received scholarships for undergraduate study worth more than $100 million. The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance.

Emma I. Edoga of Hiram earned a $2,500 National Achievement Scholarship, which is supported by NMSC. The South Cobb High School student currently plans to pursue a career in pediatrics.

Edoga was one of 700 scholars to receive National Achievement $2,500 Scholarships. All students who advanced to the finalist level in the 2012 competition were considered for these single-payment scholarships, which were awarded on a regional representation basis in proportion to the population of black Americans in each geographic region.

More than 160,000 students entered the 2012 National Achievement Scholarship Program by requesting consideration in the competition when they took the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as high school juniors. In September 2011, about 1,600 of the highest scorers were named semifinalists on a regional representation basis. To continue in the competition, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements for finalist standing, which included having a record of consistently high academic performance; being endorsed and recommended by an official from their high school; earning SAT scores that confirmed their PSAT/NMSQT performance; and writing an essay.

From the semifinalist pool, some 1,300 advanced to the finalist level, and 800 National Achievement Scholarship winners were selected from this group of outstanding students.

A complete list of scholarship winners from Georgia is attached to this article.