Two high school students from Edmonds were among the winners in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 770 high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 94 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations, the program said in a press release.

The Edmonds students are Benjamin A. Feinberg and Margaret E. Feinberg, who received National Merit Boeing scholarships. Both students attend Shorecrest High School in Shoreline. Benjamin’s probable career field is computer science while Margaret’s is history.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 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.

High school juniors entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2023, more than 16,000 semifinalists were designated on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than 1% of the nation’s seniors.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program.