Health & Fitness
Two UCS grads among only 1,800 nationally to earn additional merit scholarships
Two Utica Community Schools graduates are among 1,800 nationally - and only 44 in Michigan - to earn additional scholarships through the National Merit Corporation.
Benjamin Austin, of Eisenhower High School and the Utica Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology, and Jessica Gaines, of the Utica Academy for International Studies, have earned National Merit Scholarship grants financed by U.S. colleges and universities.
Austin earned the Michigan State University scholarship to study neuroscience and Gaines earned the Hope College scholarship to study biomedical engineering.
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Students have been offered scholarships between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study by colleges and universities as recognition for outstanding academic achievement.
Students initially qualify for the Merit program by being among the top one percent of students in the country taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. This year, the Utica Community Schools had ten National Merit semi-finalists. Semifinalists represent the top one percent of all high school students nationally in terms of academic ability.
