Merit Scholars from Southwest

MINNEAPOLIS – Two more Minneapolis Public Schools students on July 11 were named National Merit Scholars. In total, four MPS students received National Merit Scholarships and 11 students were named National Merit semifinalists during the 2010-2011 school year.

Dylan M. Pfandler and Matt L. Sikkink-Johnson, both of Southwest High School, were among approximately 8,300 students nationwide honored with National Merit Scholarships sponsored by colleges and universities this year. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among finalists in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution.

Pfandler was selected to receive the National Merit Knox College Scholarship. Sikkink-Johnson was selected to receive the National Merit Carleton College Scholarship. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

Pfandler, Sikkink-Johnson and more than 1,700 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners announced today are a part of the distinguished group of approximately 8,300 high school seniors of 2011 who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth nearly $35 million. Announced earlier this spring were winners of two other types of National Merit Scholarships – corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2500 Scholarships.