Southside High Senior Melody Hong Selected for Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarship
Melody Hong, a senior at Southside High School, has been selected to receive a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship award financed by corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations. Melody, who will pursue a degree in Business, received the National Merit Citizen Watch Scholarship. Citizen Watch Company of America, Inc. holds the leading position in the mid-priced watch market in the United States.
Melody was selected from a group of applicants that advanced to the Finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of the scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for Finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.
Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000.
Funding for these National Merit Scholarships is provided by corporate organizations that represent nearly all sectors of American industry. Sponsors from the business community have underwritten awards offered in all 62 competitions, expending or committing more than $767 million to support the intellectual development of the nation’s scholastically talented youth.