2 from Athens Academy Named National Merit Scholars

Two Athens Academy seniors were among the 2,500 nationwide to win the National Merit Scholarship, it was announced Wednesday.

Alois Mattia Cerbu of Athens and Edward J. McLendon of Watkinsville each will receive a $2,500 scholarship, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. said in a press release.

Cerbus plans to study Mathematics, McLendon will study Medicine.

The competition for this year’s awards began in 2012, when around 1.5 million juniors took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The 2,500 Merit Scholars were named from a pool of 15,000 finalists nationwide.