2 students win scholarships

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Two area students have won National Achievement Scholarships as outstanding black American high school seniors.

Derrick A. High, a student at Youngstown Early College, and Esther A. Oder, a student at Liberty High School, have each won a $2,500 scholarship for college undergraduate study.

The two are among some 700 high school seniors across the country to receive the award.

More than 150,000 students entered the 2009 National Achievement Scholarship competition.

Of that number, about 1,600 of the highest scorers on the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test were named semifinalists who then had to receive endorsements from a high school official, earn SAT scores that confirmed their status as semifinalists and submit an essay about personal interests, attainments and goals.

Some 1,300 then advanced to the finalist level.

High lists law as his probable career field, and Oder indicates she plans to pursue a career in medicine.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed academic competition established in 1964 specifically to honor scholastically talented black American youth.

It has provided more than $93 million in scholarships to some 29,500 students over its 45-year history.

The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corp.