National Scholar Award Recipient Claire Oppy named National Merit Scholar in Indiana

Claire Oppy, 2008 class valedictorian of McCutcheon High School, in Lafayette, Indiana, was named a National Merit Scholar this year, one of Indiana’s 221 merit scholars. Claire is majoring in international studies and Spanish at Indiana University. She was featured in her college newspaper representing the school’s merit scholars, saying: "I am looking forward to learning new things during the next four years, meeting new people and seeing how I grow as an individual."

Claire is a 2008 NSHSS National Scholar Award recipient and a recipient of an Indiana University Presidential Scholars Award.

National Merit Scholarship Program

The competition for winners of the 2008 National Merit Scholarships began in the fall of 2006 when more than 1.4 million high school juniors in over 21,000 schools across the U.S. took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. In September 2007, some 16,000 semifinalists were named on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state's percentage of the national total of high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than 1 percent of a state's seniors.

To advance to the finalist level, semifinalists had to meet additional requirements: submit a detailed scholarship application, which included an essay describing activities, interests and goals, have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. About 15,000 semifinalists became finalists, and 8,300 were chosen to receive National Merit Scholarships.

Established in 1955 to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program, NMSC is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. The majority of National Merit Scholarships offered each year are underwritten by some 500 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC's efforts to honor the nation's scholastic talent and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education.

For additional information, visit the National Merit Scholarship Program online.