A pair of recent high school graduates from the Northern Panhandle, one from Brooke High School and another from Wheeling Park High School, were announced Tuesday as National Merit Scholarship winners financed by U.S. colleges and universities.

Brooke High graduate Isaac Lanigan and Wheeling Park High graduate Nathan Tyska both received the National Merit West Virginia University Foundation Inc. Scholarship. Lanigan is looking at a probable career in aerospace engineering, while Tyska is looking at a probable career in urban/city planning.

More than 2,500 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities were announced Tuesday. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the 2026 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. An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2026 competition to approximately 3,500.

This year, 138 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners announced Tuesday were part of the distinguished group of about 6,700 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for college undergraduate study worth nearly $24 million. Earlier this spring, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.