Rockwood Students Earn 2025 National Merit Corporate-Sponsored Scholarships

Lafayette High seniors Clara Bass, Gauri Kathula and Sophia Wood and Marquette High seniors Atharva Shinde and Hridhay Suswaram are among the first group of winners in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, earning five of the approximately 830 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 124 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations.

The five Rockwood students are among only 21 students in the state of Missouri to earn a 2025 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship. Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage. Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will announce recipients of National Merit $2500 Scholarships on May 7 and winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards on June 4 and July 14. By the conclusion of this year’s competition, more than 6,930 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $26 million.

Congratulations to these outstanding Rockwood students!

Clara Bass, Lafayette -- National Merit Boeing Scholarship

Bass will be attending the University of California-Berkeley in the fall. She received the Regents and Chancellor’s Scholarship to UC Berkeley (worth about $40,000/year) as well as the Boeing scholarship for $2,500/year for being a National Merit finalist. She is interested in studying public policy and chemistry and in going to law school.

Gauri Kathula, Lafayette -- National Merit Boeing Scholarship

Kathula is planning to attend Stanford University to major in Earth and Planetary Science with a focus on Oceans, Atmosphere and Climate. She plans to transition into Stanford's five-year Coterminal Master of Science in Earth Systems with a focus on the marine environment. 

Atharva Shinde, Marquette -- National Merit Boeing Scholarship

Shinde plans to study mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech.

Hridhay Suswaram, Marquette -- National Merit Charles W. Mueller/Ameren Corporation Scholarship

Suswaram will be majoring in Computer Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Engineering on a competitive full-ride scholarship.

Sophia Wood, Lafayette -- National Merit Pfizer Inc. Scholarship

Wood is attending Texas A&M University in the fall, where she will study mechanical engineering on the Brown Foundation scholarship. She has been accepted to the Texas A&M Engineering Honors College.