Brookhaven Academy 2023 graduate Kyla R. Armistad has been awarded a National Merit Villanova University Scholarship. Villanova is a privately supported Catholic university under the direction of the Augustinian Fathers, located in a Philadelphia suburb. Armistad plans to study accounting.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation made the announcement Wednesday, naming more than 3,000 winners of scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities. Officials of each sponsor college selected their winners from among finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution.

The awards provide $500 to $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2023 competition to more than 3,800.

This year, 153 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 81 private and 72 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

High school juniors entered the 2023 NMS Program when they took the 2021 preliminary SAT/NMS Qualifying Test. Semifinalists were the highest-scoring entrants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.

Each semifinalist then had to submit a detailed scholarship application, including a written essay, and information about extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores confirming the qualifying test performance. About half of the 15,000 finalists were selected for awards.

Armistad was one of 82 Mississippi award winners announced Wednesday.