AEP Announces National Merit Scholar Award Winners

AEP has partnered with the National Merit Scholarship Corp. to provide four Merit Scholar® awards this year to children of AEP employees. Recipients of the National Merit AEP Scholarships for 2017 are:

William Ma, son of Steve Ma and Anita Zhang. Steve is an IT systems administration specialist senior in Columbus, Ohio. William is a graduate of Dublin (Ohio) Jerome High School and will be studying biomedicine at The Ohio State University.

Corey Simmerer, son of Brad and Julia Simmerer. Brad is an IT network analyst senior in Gahanna, Ohio. Corey is a graduate of Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio, and will be studying biomedical engineering at Duke University.

Robert Webster, son of Jon and Rumiela Webster. Jon is environmental and lab supervisor at the John Amos Plant in Winfield, W.Va. Robert is a graduate of Hurricane (W.Va.) High School and will be studying engineering at West Virginia University.

Benjamin Yoss, son of Jeff and Marilyn Yoss. Jeff is a retired senior engineer, Indiana Michigan Power Distribution in Fort Wayne, Ind. Benjamin is a graduate of Northrop High School in Fort Wayne and will be studying engineering and playing baseball at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Each scholarship winner will receive a $1,000 college undergraduate stipend payable annually for up to four years. Up to five graduating high school students are awarded scholarships each year.

To be eligible for the scholarships, a high school senior must attain Finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship Program and be a child of an employee of AEP or one of its subsidiaries.

To enter the National Merit Scholarship Program, high school juniors (11th grade/third year students) must take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Some 16,000 students annually are designated National Merit Program Semifinalists, representing the highest scores in every state.

To advance to Finalist status, Semifinalists must:

• Have an academic record of very high performance;
• Be endorsed and recommended by the high school;
• Take a second examination (SAT) to confirm earlier test performance; and
• Submit a scholarship application including extracurricular accomplishments, interests, goals and information on parent employment with AEP.

Specific information regarding participation is published in the Official Student Guide to the PSAT/NMSQT®, which is updated annually and distributed to students through their high schools.

Winners of 2018 National Merit AEP Scholarships will be selected by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. beginning in the spring of 2018 and announced publicly in April of that year. There is no separate AEP application process for these scholarships; awardees are chosen by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. based on its criteria.

The National Merit AEP scholarship program is separate from the AEP Educational Trust Scholarship Program that annually provides scholarships to 44 children of AEP employees on a competitive basis.

See additional information about the National Merit Scholarship Program.