04.14.09
Charlotte Latin School senior Nnenna Okwara has been awarded a National Achievement Scholarship by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). Okwara is one of 800 outstanding black American high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards for college undergraduate study. The awards, totaling $2.6 million, are being financed by grants from more than 40 corporate organizations and professional associations, and by NMSC.
The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed academic competition established in 1964 specifically to honor scholastically talented black American high school students. Black students may enter both the National Achievement Program and the National Merit Program, but can receive only one monetary award from NMSC.
Of the more than 150,000 students who entered the 2009 National Achievement Program, approximately 1,600 were named semifinalists on a regional representation basis. Some 1,300 semifinalists advanced to the finalist level, and all National Achievement Scholarship winners were selected from this group of students. Achievement Scholar awardees are the finalist candidates judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and greatest potential for academic success in college.