Two Snellville Students Win National Achievement Scholarships

Two Snellville students have won $2,500 National Achievement Scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corp., the group announced this week.

Ruth Amsel Melka of Brookwood High School and Imani J. James, who attends DeKalb School of the Arts, were the winners, according to a media release. Melka plans to pursue a career in neurology; James is undecided for now.

The students are among 800 outstanding black American high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards through the National Achievement Scholarship Program, the release says.

These awards, totaling over $2 million, are financed by grants from 34 corporate organizations and professional associations, and by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The winning students were chosen from more than 160,000 who asked to be considered when they took the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as high school juniors. The highest scorers became scholarship semifinalists in Septemeber 2012, and 1,300 advanced to the finalist level.

Achievement Scholar awardees are the candidates judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and greatest potential for academic success in college.