5 Naperville Students Named 2021 National Merit Scholars

Naperville IL

13 July, 2021

11:49 AM

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NAPERVILLE, IL — The final group of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners include five high school students from Naperville. The National Merit winners from Naperville are among the more than 4,100 announced nationally this year to receive between $500 and $2,000 scholarships from colleges and universities across the country, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. said in a news release Monday. National Merit Scholarship winners from Naperville in 2021 include: Andrea Brewe, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study at the University of Minnesota Steven Desch, of Naperville Central High School, who earned a scholarship to study electrical engineering at Arizona State University Rachel Druce-Hoffman, of Neuqua Valley High School, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at Iowa State University Eron P. Ristich, of Naperville North High School, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at Arizona State University Wyatt J. Woker, of Naperville North High School, who earned a scholarship to study computer science at Purdue University The National Merit winners announced this week will have their scholarships funded by the colleges and universities that they will attend. One hundred and sixty colleges and universities — including 85 private and 75 public schools — took part in the merit scholarship program in 2021. National Merit scholarships via corporate-sponsored awards and the corporation's own $2,500 scholarships were announced earlier in the spring. More than 1.5 million juniors nationally entered the 2021 National Merit scholarship program when they took the 2019 preliminary SAT/National Merit scholarship qualifying test, the corporation said. About 17,000 semifinalists, fewer than 1 percent of the country's high school seniors, were announced last fall. Semifinalists had to write an essay and detail their extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions to become a finalist. About half of the 16,000 finalists will be merit scholars by the end of the year, the corporation said. Related: National Merit Scholars From Naperville Announced 2 Naperville Students Named National Merit Scholarship Winners