Beaufort High School student earns 2022 National Merit Scholarship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 1, 2022

BEAUFORT – A Beaufort High School student was announced today as the winner of a prestigious National Merit Scholarship.

Holland Perryman is among only 2,600 high school seniors nationwide who will receive a National Merit Scholarship for study at sponsoring colleges or universities. Perryman will attend Vanderbilt University where she received an Early Decision acceptance and plans to major in Environmental Sociology. 

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2022 competition to about 4,000.

This year, 155 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 82 private and 73 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners announced today are a part of the distinguished group of about 7,500 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth nearly $28 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.

“Holland is most deserving of the National Merit Scholarship,” said Beaufort High School Principal Charity Summers. “We are so proud of all of Holland’s many accomplishments and academic achievements.”

A Chancellor’s Scholarship recipient, Perryman is among the most select group of Vanderbilt applicants awarded this full-tuition scholarship for four years of undergraduate study, plus a stipend to be used for an immersive experience, summer study abroad, or research investigation.

“Holland is highly motivated to achieve her goals and also contributes to the success of her peers as an ambitious, resourceful and insightful leader who doesn’t mind doing the hard work, inspiring others to join her efforts,” said Principal Summers.

In addition to Perryman’s many leadership roles at Beaufort High School, to include Student Body President, she served for three years as the first student intern at the Pat Conroy Literary Center, receiving recognition in the literary community for her creative writing as well as eight published book reviews.

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About the National Merit Scholarship Program

High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were named 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 one percent of the nation’s seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, Semifinalists first had to advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each Semifinalist was asked to submit a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, over 15,000 met requirements for Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship winners in 2022.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of National Merit Scholarships provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 400 independent corporate and college sponsors. These sponsors join NMSC in its efforts to enhance educational opportunities for America’s scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.