Jim Mize, the son of John and Jill Mize of Green Creek, has been selected as a winner of a National Merit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Scholarship. Mize is part of a distin-guished group of about 8,300 high school seniors of 2011 who will receive National Merit Scholarships.

About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2011 National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, some 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of a state’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 submitted a scholarship application that included presenting an outstanding academic record, being endorsed and recommended by a school official, and earning SAT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. The semifinalist also wrote an essay and provided information about extracurricu¬lar activities, awards, and leadership positions. From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 met requirements for finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2011.

Established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program, NMSC is a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 440 independent corporate and college sponsors. These sponsors join NMSC in its efforts to enhance educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.

– article submitted by Jill B. Mize