CHS senior Payton Whalen was named a National Merit Scholar by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation this past week! This scholarship is awarded to students with exceptional academic careers and is a way to honor their scholarly achievements. 

Back in October, Whalen was recognized as a National Merit Semifinalist along with three other CHS seniors. These students were selected out of 16,000 Semifinalists for 2024. Now, Whalen is being recognized for earning a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship. Whalen’s scholarship was sponsored by Eaton Corporation, an advanced technology company based in Eaton, Ohio. Eaton Corporation has a Charitable Fund that sponsors scholarships and awards for the children of their employees. Whalen is one of 770 high school seniors to have been awarded this sponsored scholarship and Chesterton could not be more proud of his accomplishments. Being awarded this scholarship is no easy task and takes a lot of hard work and dedication.

“I enjoy learning and I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can in my four years of high school. That has definitely helped me get to where I planned,” Whalen said.

Whalen is involved in numerous activities to keep him busy during the school year. He is a part of the Show Choir and has been for the past four years, the debate team, the National Honor Society, the Academic Super Bowl, and Boy’s Tennis. He plans to attend Purdue West Lafayette in the fall to study engineering and possibly something dance-related as it is something he loves doing. Whalen is incredibly humble about his great accomplishment and is honored to have received this generous scholarship.

“It’s awesome! It’s a big honor, especially out of over seven hundred kids. I’m just truly honored,” Whalen said.

The community of Chesterton is happy to support Whalen in his future endeavors at Purdue University.