The Carson City School District is pleased to announce Hannah Budd, recent 2026 Carson High School graduate, as a recipient of the National Merit Scholarship. Earning this scholarship places Budd among an elite group of scholars recognized for outstanding academic achievement, leadership and potential for future success.
National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced more than 750 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities. These Merit Scholar designees join more than 2,500 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June.
Budd was selected, with the probable career field of nursing, by Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (BYU). BYU has a student body of more than 30,000 from all states and more than 60 foreign countries. Its twelve colleges, graduate school and law school provide a broad choice of curricula in more than 180 majors. The university produces graduates who have a high acceptance rate into professional and graduate schools and are also highly sought after by business, industry and education.
Budd, along with Carson High School classmate Maria Benshoof, qualified as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists back in September 2025. Earlier this year, in February 2026, they were both notified of their finalist designation for the scholarships. Budd’s most recent designation is for a College-Sponsored Merit Scholarship, which is a full-tuition scholarship offered to her from BYU for being a finalist.
According to NMSC, officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
This year, 138 colleges and universities sponsored more than 3,250 Merit Scholarship awards. Sponsor colleges include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.
This final group of winners brings the number of 2026 National Merit Scholars to about 6,500. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a total of nearly $24 million.
This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began when high school juniors took the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In September 2025, more than 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. Semifinalists, including Benshoof and Budd, were the highest scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors.
To become a finalist, each semifinalist had to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay, describing leadership positions and contributions in school and community activities, showing an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. Semifinalists also had to take the SAT or ACT and earn scores that confirmed their performance on the initial qualifying test. From the semifinalist group, more than 15,000 attained finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists were chosen to receive National Merit Scholarships.
As a student at Carson High, Budd boasted a 4.9 GPA. She balanced several Advanced Placement classes with her Career and Technical Education health science classes. As a member of HOSA: Future Health Professionals, she served as chapter secretary and won the state-level sports medicine competition. She was also a three-year member of the National Honor Society, demonstrating her dedication to leadership and academics.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program. Over the past 71 years, more than 395,000 outstanding young individuals have won National Merit Scholarships worth more than $1.4 billion. The majority of awards offered each year are underwritten by approximately 300 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to recognize scholastically talented youth and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.
