Laguna student a Merit Scholar

A Laguna Beach High School student has been named a 2015 National Merit Scholar, officials announced May 6.

Senior Aviva Meyers was one of 2,500 students nationwide who will receive $2,500 from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s program.

More than 1.4 million juniors went through the program’s initial screening in October 2013 by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The highest-scoring students were chosen to be the 16,000 Semi-Finalists.

The 15,000 students who met the program’s requirements for the finalist level then advanced and a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors chose the 2,500 scholars from among this pool.

Students were selected based on a combination of their accomplishments and their potential for success in collegiate studies.

Meyers intends to pursue a career in international development.

The committee also appraised numerous materials that finalists had submitted for review. This included academic records, scores from two standardized tests, participation and leadership in school and community activities, a recommendation letter written by a high school official and an essay written by the finalist.