The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced over 2,600 winners of National Merit Scholarships including these local students:

— Joanna W. Chen of Guilderland High School who plans to study neuroscience and received a scholarship from Boston College;

— Michael N. Cheng of Guilderland High School who plans to study computer science and received a scholarship from Purdue University;

— Abigail J. Nautel of Bethlehem Central High School who plans to study medical illustration and received a scholarship from the Rochester Institute of Technology; and

— Lindsay N. Pierce of Bethlehem Central High School who plans to study marine biology and received a scholarship from the University of Miami.

High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Last fall, more than 16,000 semifinalists were named 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 1 percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist was asked to submit 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 the qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for finalist standing, and about half of the finalists became Merit Scholarship winners in 2022.