Three Seniors Earn $2,500 National Merit Scholarships


On May 13, 2020, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced its second round of scholarship winners in the 65th annual program. Seniors Mishon Levine, Zoe Luther, and Luke Tyson each received a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship.

According to a press release, “the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.” The $2,500 awardees were chosen from the more than 15,000 finalists in the 2020 program.

The trio welcomed this exciting news. “I was surprised to be selected as a scholarship recipient. Not to mention that there are so many other impressive students eligible for these scholarships. In short, I wasn't expecting much, and I'm extremely grateful for it,” Mishon said. Given the current state of the world, she is excited to one day be on a college campus and to meet her classmates and professors in person.

“I was honored to receive this scholarship and lucky to be chosen from such a competitive field of successful students. Although standardized tests can seem useless at times, it was nice to see the fruits of consistent hard work over the last several years,” Zoe shared. “In college, I am most looking forward to taking interesting and engaging classes and exploring topics that I haven't yet been exposed to in high school. I am also excited to be part of a community that shares similar interests and academic passions.”

“I was excited to receive the email, but I wasn’t expecting to hear anything. I was waiting on some college decisions later that night that were holding my mind, so it was a nice surprise before some stressful news,” Luke recalled. “I’m excited to keep studying the Middle East and North Africa at Yale after a year in Rabat, Morocco, studying Arabic with the State Department National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship.”

NMSC began mailing certificates to the scholars’ homes on Monday, May 11, 2020.

Congratulations, Mishon, Zoe, and Luke!

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