Snellville Students Receive National Achievement Scholarship

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.

Adrian Bortier Alabi and La'Ron-Chenee H. Tracey, both students at ; Elim S. Almedom, a senior; and Alyssa Napier, who attends Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, earned $2,500 scholarships given to outstanding black students. Each of the students either lives in or attends school in Snellville.

In total, 15 Gwinnett County students received an award. Besides and , other schools represented were: Berkmar High, Central Gwinnett High, Collins Hill High, Grayson High, Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, Mountain View High, Norcross High, Parkview High and Peachtree Ridge High.

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. Alabi plans to study electrical engineering; Tracey wants to study international law; Almedom's likely career field is secondary education; and Napier plans on scientific research. 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. Nearly 32,000 students have received scholarships through the program since its inception, and more than $100 million has been awarded.