Mercer Island High School senior Kelly Cotter is the recipient of the National Merit National Distillers Distributors Foundation Scholarship.

Cotter’s probable career field is education reform in the public policy realm, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which recently released the names of the first group of winners in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Cotter is one of approximately 1,000 distinguished high school seniors to win a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship award after advancing to the finalist level in the competition and meeting the criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, residents of communities the company serves, or plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.