Merit grants awarded to 71 graduates

Seventy-one members of Arkansas' high school Class of 2023 are among more than 3,000 graduates nationally to receive National Merit Scholarships that are financed by the nation's universities and colleges. A total of 153 higher education institutions -- 81 private and 72 public -- selected their scholarship winners from among the 2023 scholarship finalists who plan to attend their institutions. The awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study. The Arkansas students, their high schools, the graduate's probable career field and the sponsoring higher education institution are listed below, alphabetically by their hometowns: Belleville Cecil John Mitchell: Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs; English literature; Bowdoin College in New Brunswick, Maine.