Dvora Katz, who graduated in June from Portland High School, is a college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winner. Dvora is among just four Maine students recently announced as National Merit Scholars and winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by the U.S. colleges and universities they plan to attend. Dvora and the three other Maine students are part of a select cohort of approximately 3,700 students nationwide to recently win the college-sponsored scholarships.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. Dvora, who is interested in music performance, won a National Merit University of Maine Scholarship.

This year, 146 higher education private and public institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. 

This final group of winners, announced July 14, brings the number of 2025 National Merit Scholars to more than 7,100. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a total of nearly $26 million. In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered—2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships, for which all Finalists competed, and about 830 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.

The 2025 National Merit scholars also include two other Portland Public Schools graduates: Portland High School Class of 2025 member Madeline Butters, who won a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship in May; and Anja Machado, a member of the Deering High School Class of 2025, who was awarded a National Merit University of Tulsa Scholarship, announced in June.