Five Loudoun County Public School (LCPS) students have been awarded the 2026 corporate-sponsored scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). These students are among the approximately 700 high school seniors who were awarded corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships for 2026.
Winners of the NMSC corporate-sponsored scholarships are:
Quinn T. Daignault, Dominion High School
Probable career field: Finance
National Merit AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Scholarship
Claire Sophia Howard, Dominion High School
Probable career field: Oncology
National Merit Northrop Grumman Scholarship
Skye J. Ocampo, Stone Bridge High School
Probable career field: Mechanical Engineering
National Merit Leidos, Inc Scholarship
Shourya Prakash, Heritage High School
Probably career field: Astrophysics
National Merit Geico Scholarship
Yash Sreepathi, Broad Run High School
Probable career field: Computer Science
National Merit General Dynamics Corporation Scholarship
Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for students who have advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage. Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college study and provide annual stipends ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
High school juniors entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2024 PSAT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2025, more than 16,000 semifinalists, including 69 LCPS students, were designated on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors.
To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalist standing. Each semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions. Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, over 15,000 students met the finalist requirements.
The corporate-sponsored scholarship announcement is NMSC's first scholarship announcement for 2026. NMSC will name recipients of the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship on May 13 and winners of the college-sponsored Merit Scholarships on June 3 and July 13. Learn more about the NMSC scholarship program.