MADISON – National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced the first set of students for 2022 to earn Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarships.

This year marks the 67th anniversary of the program.

Approximately 1,000 distinguished high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards. The scholarship financing originated with 136 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations.

Corporate sponsors fund National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, residents of communities that the company serves, or students who plan to pursue college majors or careers that the sponsor wants to encourage.

When the competition ends in 2022, approximately 7,500 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $28 million.

Scholarship recipient James D. Garrison attends Bob Jones High School. Leidos Inc. funded Garrison’s scholarship. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Leidos offers science and technology solutions to a global market. Leidos employs 32,000 people to support vital missions for government and commercial customers.

Garrison plans to study biological engineering.

Benjamin Andrea Gunasekaran from Bob Jones also received a National Merit Scholarship from Leidos Inc. With headquarters in Reston, Va., Leidos is a leader in global science and technology solutions to solve the world’s most difficult challenges in various business disciplines. The company serves both government and commercial arenas.

Benjamin Gunasekaran will study to enter the field of medicine.

Jonathan Armand Gunasekaran also attends Bob Jones. He earned a National Merit Scholarship from Leidos Inc., which is based in Reston, Va. Leidos develops solutions for science and technology scenarios. The company employs 32,000 people.

Jonathan intends to follow a career path in electrical engineering.

A student at James Clemens High School, Haripriya Mantraratnam has accepted a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship from Raytheon. Raytheon Company is a technology and innovation leader that specializes in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics and mission systems integration.

Currently, Mantraratnam has not decided on a major for his college study.

Minh A. Phan, who also attends James Clemens, has won a Merit scholarship from Bunge North America Inc. Bunge is an integrated agribusiness and food ingredient company with headquarters in St. Louis, Mo. The company serves both overseas and domestic markets. Bunge provides scholarships to employees’ children to encourage their continuing scholastic achievement.

Phan plans to study biomedicine in college.