Snellville Students Awarded National Achievement Scholarships

Four Snellville students are among 800 high school seniors who are recipients of a National Achievement Scholarship, announced Wednesday by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Jamal Gaddis and Kadeem Yearwood, both students at ; Joel Owen, a senior; and Wesley Mitchell, who attends the , have earned $2,500 scholarships given to outstanding black students. The students are all Snellville residents.

Some 800 seniors across the nation received an award, including 700 who received the $2,500 scholarship and 100 who received a corporate-sponsored scholarship. More than $2 million was awarded to students.

More than 160,000 students entered the yearly scholarship program by taking a preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in their junior years. That number was cut to 1,600 semi-finalists who received the highest scores. After that, students had to maintain consistently high academic performance, receive a recommendation from a school official, earn high scores on the SAT and write an essay to become a finalist.

Some 1,300 students became finalists and from that pool scholarship winners were selected. Winners were selected based on strong academic accomplishment and potential for success in college. Gaddis plans to study biology; Yearwood plans to study business management; Owen is leaning toward veterinary medicine; and Mitchell has his sights on engineering.

Established in 1964, the National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed competition that honors talented African-American youth who are exceptional in academics. More than 31,000 students have received scholarships through the program since its inception; about $98 million has been awarded.