Great Hearts Academies, a nonprofit network of tuition-free public charter schools in Texas and Arizona, recently announced its 2020 graduating class of seniors were awarded $44.29 million in merit-based scholarships.

The organization claimed 97% of graduates will directly attend college, with 149 of the schools’ 555 graduates enrolling in college honors programs, according to a press release. Scottsdale Preparatory Academy is part of the Great Hearts Academies network.

“To say this was a challenging end of year for our 2020 seniors is an understatement,” Dan Scoggin, co-founder of Great Hearts, said in a prepared statement.

“Our seniors not only completed the year during a pandemic but also did so with some incredible accomplishments. Our team is proud to have helped cultivate their talents, allowing them to become high academic achievers, scholarship recipients, and above all, young adults with strong moral character.”

Great Hearts students surpassed the national average of 21 on the ACT, with an average score of 28. SAT scores followed a similar pattern of exceeding the national average of 1068, with Great Hearts students earning an average score of 1243, a release states.

In total, 75% of students received merit-based scholarships, 52% will move forward in the STEM field, and 11 were named National Merit Finalists.

“This year, our graduates have already overcome so much, from adapting to distance learning to forgoing traditional graduation festivities,” Mr. Scoggin said. “We are confident they will be leaders in moving our nation forward and will continue to use their many talents for a greater good.”

Great Hearts is a nonprofit network of tuition-free public charter schools dedicated to improving education nationwide through classical preparatory K-12 academies. There are 32 schools and 22,000 students throughout Phoenix, San Antonio, Ft. Worth, and Irving, Texas.