DoDEA

ARLINGTON, VA — July 26, 2010 — Derrick B. Lewis, a student at Ramstein High School, was recently selected as a National Merit College Scholarship winner by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). Lewis was awarded the National Merit Baylor University Scholarship. He was chosen along with 1,900 other students to receive additional College-sponsored National Merit Scholarship Awards. These students will join the 2,800 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in May.

Lewis is the fourth of six Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) finalists to receive a 2010 National Merit Scholarship.He participated in the 2009 Research Science Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was featured on the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) “Armed with Science” blog.
Award recipients were selected by officials of each sponsor college from finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
There are 201 colleges and universities sponsoring 4,900 Merit Scholarship awards. These sponsor colleges, which are located in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

The National Merit Scholarship recipients were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors. The committee reviewed: information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools; their academic record including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; essays written by the finalists; and recommendations of a high school official.

In addition to the college-sponsored groups of awards NMSC also awarded two other types of scholarships—2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships and over 1,000 Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship Awards. Recipients were announced earlier in the year.

This final group of recipients brings the number of 2010 National Merit Scholars to 8,400 and a combined monetary value of $36 million.

DoDEA plans, directs, coordinates, and manages pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education programs for Department of Defense (DoD) dependents who would otherwise not have access to a high-quality, public education. DoDEA schools are located in Europe, the Pacific, the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. DoDEA also provides support and resources to Local Education Activities throughout the U.S. that serve children of military families.

For more information on the National Merit Scholarship please visit: www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php