The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced Wednesdaythat five Lake Washington School District seniors will receive National Merit Corporate-Sponsored Scholarships

Shawdi Mehrvarzan from Juanita High School won the National Merit Boeing Scholarship. Neha S. Nagvekar, from Redmond’s Nikola Tesla STEM High School won the National Merit Citizen Watch Scholarship. Abel H. Birchfield from Eastlake High School won the National Merit Nvidia Corporation Scholarship. Lucy A. Jiang from Redmond High School won the National Merit Liberty Mutual Scholarship. Anna Wang from Redmond High School won the National Merit Jack Henry and Associates, Inc. Scholarship.

National Merit Corporate-Sponsored Scholarships are financed by about 200 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations. These students are five of only 1,000 distinguished high school seniors nationwide, and just 24 in Washington, to win these scholarships.

Scholars are selected from students who advance to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship Competition and met the criteria of their 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. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.