After being named a National Merit Scholar finalist, a Nansemond River High School student has secured a valuable National Merit Scholarship to the University of Oklahoma.

Nathen Sargent said he scored a 207 out of 240 when he took the PSAT test in his junior year, and he was notified in September that he could apply for the scholarship.

He also had to take the SAT test to prove his worthiness, he said.

He recently received notification he was a National Merit finalist, which qualified him for the University of Oklahoma scholarship.

Good for up to five years, the scholarship will pay for all his tuition and most of his board, and also includes a stipend for books and technology.

In all, it’s a $160,000 tuition waiver, according to Sargent’s mother, Maria Kindel, Suffolk program manager for Girls on the Run.

“We are very proud of him,” she stated. “He was also accepted and offered scholarships to Oklahoma State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.”

Nathen Sargent is from Oklahoma, where his father and stepmother, Jason and Trudi Sargent, still live.

Thus, he says, his plan to work in the petroleum industry is fairly natural for him.

Petroleum is “kind of big out there,” he said. “Also, I’m really interested in chemistry and physics, and that’s what petroleum engineering is.”

From a military family — stepfather Lt. Jonathan Kindel serves in the Navy — Sargent moved to Suffolk in August. He has mixed emotions about returning to Oklahoma, looking forward to reconnecting with old friends but knowing he’ll miss those he’s made here.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he ultimately concluded.

Sargent’s scholarship will allow him to earn a Bachelor of Science in petroleum engineering and an MBA, which he said would increase his potential to end up in an administrative position.

“I’m not sure what my ideal job would be,” he said, “(but) I’m looking at being a petroleum physicist.”

Having skipped the fifth grade, Sargent has just turned 17. Despite being new in his senior year, he lettered on the cross-country team and says he made some good friends in his honors and Advanced Placement classes.

“I was fairly excited with being able to receive a scholarship to go to school for what I wanted to do,” Sargent said, adding the summer will include Scout camp.