Three Decorah HS seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Thursday announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The students will compete for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring.

Decorah HS students being named semifinalists are Sofie Grouws, Leila Johnson and Noah Lovelace.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2021. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 220 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor's employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2021 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 353,000 previous National Merit Scholars.