Shady Side Academy seniors earn National Merit Scholarship

Three Shady Side Academy seniors have been awarded 2017 National Merit Scholarships.

Senior Emily Winterhalter of Fox Chapel won $2,500. She plans to attend Northwestern University and was accepted to the NU Feinberg School of Medicine's Honors Program in Medical Education, a seven-year BA/MD program. She was one of 2,500 students selected from among 15,000 finalists for the scholarship. Winners are judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies, as selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors.

The two seniors who won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships are Sameer Annamraju of Murrysville and Patrick Bem of Fox Chapel. Annamraju won a National Merit Bayer Scholarship, sponsored by Bayer USA Foundation, and plans to attend the University of California at Berkeley. Bem won a National Merit PPG Foundation Scholarship, sponsored by PPG Foundation, and plans to attend Cornell University. More than 1,000 students nationwide won corporate-sponsored scholarships.