The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently released the 2024 finalists and the Peoria Unified School District has three National Merit Finalists, John Clark from Peoria High School, and Rachel Kohm and Vincent Lageschulte from Ironwood High School.

Kohm of Ironwood High in Glendale hopes to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott to study aerospace engineering.

Lageschulte, also an Ironwood High senior, plans to attend Arizona State University or the University of Arizona to study cybersecurity or computer science.

Clark is a member of Peoria High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC program and is determined to graduate high school and become a U.S. Air Force pilot. He hopes to attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is based on student academic achievement assessed through the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Tests. With more than 1.3 million juniors across the nation entering the competition by taking the PSAT/NMSQT assessments, approximately 15,000 finalists were selected.

These finalists represent less than one percent of high school students in the United States and are amongst the highest-scoring entrants in their state.

These 15,000 National Merit Finalists will compete for 7,140 scholarships, worth nearly $28 million. The winners of the National Merit Scholarships will be announced beginning in April and will conclude in July. For information about the National Merit Scholarship Program, visit www.nationalmerit.org.

To learn  about the Peoria Unified School District, visit www.peoriaunified.org.