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Community Corner

Student Named National Achievement Winner

Ryan A. Croom was part of the 800 high school seniors nationwide to receive this honor.

senior Ryan A. Croom was named a 2012 National Achievement Scholarship winner this week.

She wants to focus on Environmental Consulting in the future.

Nationwide, only 800 African American high school seniors were deemed National Acheivement winners, which is based on performance on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

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There were 700 recipients of National Achievement $2,500 Scholarships, including Croom, and 100 recipients of corporate-sponsored Achievement Scholarship awards. 

The scholarships have a total value of more than $2.4 million.

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About 1.5 million juniors in 22,000 high schools took the 2010 PSAT. More than 160,000 requested consideration for the 2012 National Achievement Scholarship Program, which "was initiated in 1964 to recognize academically promising black students throughout the nation and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding program participants," National Merit Scholarship Corporation spokeswoman Eileen Artemakis said in a news release.

To earn finalist status, students must have a superior academic record, a recommendation from their principal and an SAT score that's equivalent to or higher than their PSAT score. They must also submit an application along with an essay.

About 1,300 semifinalists became finalists in January.

Ibukun Babalola of , Keith Woods of  and Madison E. Gilbert of Sequoyah High School were also semifinalists for the .

By the close of this 2012 competition, the program will have awarded more than $100 million in scholarships to 31,800 students.

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