Recent Rockwood Graduates Earn 2026 College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships
![Four recent Rockwood graduates smile in separate pictures, along with a National Merit Scholarship logo.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1781110792/rsdmoorg/ckdeakwajdttuhnv0gn6/NationalMerit2026_CollegeRound1forweb.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1781110792/rsdmoorg/ckdeakwajdttuhnv0gn6/NationalMerit2026_CollegeRound1forweb.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1781110792/rsdmoorg/ckdeakwajdttuhnv0gn6/NationalMerit2026_CollegeRound1forweb.jpg","width":680}])
Recent Rockwood Graduates Earn 2026 College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships
Recent Rockwood School District graduates Oliver Arett, Madhav Devapal and Hannah Holder of Lafayette High and Sowmya Erukulapati of Marquette High are among the first round of this year’s College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners.
More than 2,500 college-sponsored scholarship winners were announced June 3, with an additional group being named in July to bring the total to about 3,500.
Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. This year, 138 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.
Rockwood’s four honorees are among only 52 college-sponsored scholarship winners from the state of Missouri announced in the first round. Along with two corporate-sponsored awardees and three who earned $2500 scholarships, nine recent Rockwood graduates have now earned 2026 National Merit Scholarships out of 115 honorees from Missouri. By the conclusion of the 2026 competition, about 6,700 finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $24 million.
Congratulations to these outstanding Rockwood graduates!
Oliver Arett, Lafayette - National Merit University of Missouri-Columbia Scholarship
Oliver Arett plans to study biomedical engineering at the University of Missouri.
Madhav Devapal, Lafayette - National Merit Texas A&M University Scholarship
Madhav Devapal plans to study biomedical engineering at Texas A&M University.
Sowmya Erukulapati, Marquette - National Merit Indiana University Bloomington Scholarship
Sowmya Erukulapati plans to study finance at Indiana University.
Hannah Holder, Lafayette - National Merit University of Missouri-Columbia Scholarship
Hannah Holder plans to study psychological sciences/neuroscience at the University of Missouri, where she has been accepted into the Honors College.
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