TOLEDO—A Toledo St. John’s Jesuit High School student was named a college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship winner.

Patrick J. Dungar was one of more than 2,800 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities. He won the National Merit University Of Central Florida Scholarship and plans to study mathematics and computer science.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among finalists in the 2010 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.

More than 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2010 National Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, some 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state representational basis, in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors.

To compete for Merit Scholarship awards, semifinalists had to advance to the finalist level of the competition by fulfilling additional requirements. Each semifinalist submitted a scholarship application that included presenting an outstanding academic record; being endorsed and recommended by a school official; and earning SAT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance. Each semifinalist also wrote an essay and provided information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions.