Local Area Students Win National Merit Scholarships in Third Round of Awards

Two local area students attending schools in Needham and Medfield have been named as part of a select group of nine students in Massachusetts who are recipients of college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships, announced by National Merit Scholarship Corporation on June 3.

Isabel Tashie of Needham, a senior at Needham High School, has been awarded the National Merit Vanderbilt University Scholarship. Isabel's probable career field is law.

Gabriella Marie Dansereau of Natick, a senior at Montrose School in Medfield, is the recipient of the National Merit University of Oklahoma Scholarship. Gabriella’s probable career field is medicine.

In this third round of scholarship announcements for 2026, award recipients will receive between $500 to $2,000 annually for up to four years at the institution financing the scholarship.

NMSC's made its first round announcement in April for corporate-sponsored awards. It made a second round announcement in May regarding $2,500 NMSC-sponsored awards. In July, NMSC plans to announce a fourth round of awards.

Local area students were also named in the first round of 2026 NMSC scholarships- Kabir Devgan of Westwood High School, Samuel George of Medfield High School, Fedor Myshkin of Milton High School, and Anish Sankar of Wellesley High School.

Scholarship recipients are among the highest-scoring test-takers of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test taken in their junior year. They represent less than one percent of the nation's seniors. They have an outstanding academic record, earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their PSAT/NMSC test performance, are endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and are selected from the pool of similarly qualified semi-finalist candidates to become a finalist and award recipient.

Thanks to National Merit Scholarship Corporation for sharing this news with Westwood Minute.

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