Third group of National Merit Scholarship winners announced

Nine area students have been announced in the third round of National Merit Scholarship Corporation scholarship winners. They were among more than 3,100 scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities.

Officials of each sponsor college picked scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide from $500 to $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are a part of the group of roughly 7,500 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million. A final group of college-sponsored scholarship winners will be announced in July, bringing the total of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients for 2021 to about 4,000.

Earlier this year, winners were announced of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and of National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

College-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners in San Diego County are:

San Dieguito Academy: Daniel Geva, Carlsbad, National Merit Purdue University Scholarship

Canyon Crest Academy: Michaela W. Chang, San Diego, and Alexander L. Chen, San Diego, National Merit University of Southern California Scholarship; Ariela Mitrani, San Diego, National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship; Kate Wang, San Diego, National Merit Vanderbilt University Scholarship; Rachel Wang, San Diego, National Merit University of Iowa Scholarship; Tyler J. Costello, Solana Beach, National Merit Santa Clara University Scholarship

Rancho Bernardo High School: Claire D. Chung, San Diego, National Merit University of Southern California Scholarship

Scripps Ranch High School: Emily Y. Tran, San Diego, National Merit University of Arizona Scholarship

— Laura Groch is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune