Wednesday, April 3, 2002
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Wednesday, April 3, 2002 |
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Local students win scholarships Three local students have earned scholarship money and been recognized as some of the highest achievers among black high school students in the class of 2002. Camille A. Smith of Fairburn, a student at Sandy Creek High School, won a $2,500 National Achievement Scholarship award. Winners of BellSouth Achievement Scholarships include Gina M. Atwater of Fayetteville, a student at Fayette County High School, and Christopher Skipwith of Fayetteville, a student at Benjamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta. The National Achievement Scholarship Program announced last week the names of some 600 high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards for college undergraduate study. These winners are among more than 700 outstanding black students in the class of 2002 who will receive scholarship awards worth a total of about $2.5 million. Achievement Scholar designees may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed competition founded in 1964 specifically to honor academically outstanding black youth in America and to increase their opportunities for higher education. The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. The two types of scholarships won by these students are funded by some 50 corporate organizations, professional associations, and by NMSC. More than 100 additional Achievement Scholarship awards financed by about 25 colleges and universities also will be offered in this year's competition. Winners of college-sponsored awards will be announced in June. Scholars announced last week include 450 recipients of National Achievement $2,500 scholarships and some 150 winners of corporate-sponsored awards. All finalists in the 2002 competition for Achievement Scholarship awards competed for the $2,500 single-payment scholarships which are allocated on a regional representation basis, in proportion to the black population in each geographic region. Recipients of corporate-sponsored awards were chosen from among finalists who meet criteria set by their grantor organizations, such as children of a sponsor company's employees, residents of an area served by the sponsor, or finalists planning to pursue a college major or career the grantor wishes to encourage. Almost all corporate-sponsored awards are renewable and provide stipend payments that can range from $500 to $10,000 per college year; a few provide a single payment between $2,000 and $5,000. More than 110,000 black students entered the 2002 Achievement Scholarship competition by requesting consideration when they took the 2000 PSAT/NMSQT as high school juniors. Last September, approximately 1,500 of the highest scorers were named semifinalists on a regional representation basis. To be considered for Achievement Scholarship awards, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements for finalist standing, which included meeting high academic standards, being recommended by their high school principals, confirming their qualifying test performance, and submitting an essay about personal interests, attainments and goals. All winners of Achievement Scholarship awards are selected from the group of more than 1,300 able finalists and are those candidates judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and greatest potential for academic success in college. Completion of the 2002 Achievement Program will mark 38 annual competitions in which more than 23,500 scholarships worth about $75 million will have been awarded to scholastically talented black American students.
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