Warwick graduate among National Merit Scholarship winners

James Curtis, Warwick Valley High School valedictorian for the Class of 2026, was among the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s recent recipients of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities.

Curtis, who plans to pursue a career in astrophysics, received a scholarship sponsored by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he will be a student this fall.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a coeducational, technological university in the Capital District of Upstate N.Y. , and the first School of Engineering and Applied Science in North America.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. This year, 138 colleges and universities are sponsoring more than 3,250 Merit Scholarship awards. Sponsor colleges include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.