Sixty area high school graduates from the class of 2009 are among 8,300 students nationwide who have been selected to receive National Merit college scholarships.

The students will receive a total of about $36 million in college scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corp., colleges and other corporations.

The group was selected from 1.5 million juniors who took the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. On the basis of the test scores, 16,000 semi-finalists were selected. A more detailed application resulted in about 15,000 finalists, about half of whom will receive National Merit Scholarships.

Announced this week were these recipients of college-sponsored scholarships -- ranging from $500 to $2,000 a year for up to four years of undergraduate study:

Walter L. Holohan, Central Catholic, Boston University; Leslie A. Weaver, Fox Chapel Area, Wheaton College; Jamie J. Crookham, Hopewell, Ithaca College; Alyssa M. Lloyd, Mt. Lebanon; Northwestern University; Anne J. McGinty, Mt. Lebanon, Denison University; Emily Y. Li, North Allegheny, University of Maryland; Michael R. Sinko, North Allegheny, Miami University of Ohio; Catherine C. Cobetto, Pittsburgh Allderdice; University of Miami in Florida; Lucas M. Griffin, Riverside, University of Southern California; and Andrew S. Gallagher, Upper St. Clair High School, The Ohio State University.

Announced earlier are these high school graduates who also will receive college-sponsored scholarships of $500 to $2,000 annually for up to four years:

Jessica L. Benham, Bridgeville, home schooled, Bethel University; Mohamed Koubaa, Gateway, University of Pittsburgh; Hannah K. Zin, The Ellis School, Fordham University; Garrett M. Laird, Franklin Regional, University of Chicago; Lara E. Graham, Fox Chapel Area, Furman University; William O. Hagberg, Fox Chapel Area, University of Southern California; Andrew Y. Ho, North Allegheny, Northwestern University; Michael J. Vlah, North Hills, Dickinson College; Mark D. Beatty, Pine-Richland, Case Western Reserve University.

Matthew L. Cummings, Pittsburgh Allderdice, Northwestern University; Jeremy F. Malvin, Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.; Allison R. Russell, Seneca Valley, Fordham University; Kathryn B. Somerville, Seneca Valley, New York University; Thomas C. Norton, Sewickley Academy, Case Western Reserve University; and Samuel H. Bray, Trinity Christian School, Messiah College.

Those receiving corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships -- ranging from $500 to $10,000 per year -- include:

Kelsey L. Eckert, Canon-McMillan, McKesson Corp.; Brendan A. Sullivan, Central Catholic, PPG Industries Foundation; Jeffrey Yeh, Chartiers Valley, Bayer Foundation; Karen Cheung, Deer Lakes, PPG Industries Foundation; Praveen L. Tummalapalli, Fox Chapel Area, PPG Industries Foundation;

Dong Yan, Franklin Regional, PPG Industries Foundation; Lu Wu, Greater Latrobe, Kennametal Foundation; Ling-Ling Y. Lee, Moon Area, Bayer Foundation;

Lauren E. Bonomo, Sewickley Academy, Marsh & McClennan Companies; Eugenia F. Luo, Sewickley Academy, Lanxess; Benjamin J. Hauser, Vincentian Academy, Bayer Foundation.

The following will receive one-time scholarships of $2,500 from the National Merit Scholarship Corp.:

Adam K. Mihalcin, Blackhawk; Madelyn R. Glymour, Fox Chapel Area; Carol S. Lin, Fox Chapel Area; Patrick C. Ross, Fox Chapel Area; Chao Long, The Ellis School; Kishore Jayakumar, Mt. Lebanon; Michael T. Muehl, Mt. Lebanon; Danielle R. Nathanson, Mt. Lebanon; Ryan F. Pollock, Mt. Lebanon; Ankit N. Medhekar, Moon Area; Stacey S. Chen, North Allegheny; Michael J. Heckmann, North Allegheny; Katherine L. Luo, North Allegheny; Dakota E. McCoy, North Allegheny; Kristen A. Yealy, North Allegheny; Andrew A. Hawley, Norwin; Netta Sadovsky of Pittsburgh, Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis; Molly S. Brean, Pittsburgh Allderdice; Miriam E. Shiffman, Pittsburgh Allderdice; Moises W. Arriaga , Sewickley Academy; James A. Nocita, Sewickley Academy; Daniel R. Scofield, Washington, home school; John K. Subosits, Upper St. Clair; and Matthew H. Stoffregen, Woodland Hills.