Thirty Students Have Won National Merit Scholarships So Far This Year


Nineteen Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students have won $2,500 National Merit Scholarships after meeting rigorous academic standards and other criteria. They join 11 previous winners this year of corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.

The local scholars account for more than a third of the 54 winners from Maryland. Nationally, 2,500 winners were chosen from among finalists in the 2007-2008 program, sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

NMSC finances most of the NMSC $2,500 scholarships with its own funds. Companies and businesses that sponsor awards through NMSC also help underwrite the scholarships with grants.

Listed by school, the latest MCPS winners and their intended career fields are:

Montgomery Blair HS: William C. Burton, physics; Noori Chai, neurology; Jason H. Choi, undecided; Andrew F. Kung, physical science; Benjamin Y. Lee, physics/mathematics; Louis E. Wasserman, education; Julie Zhu,economics/painting; Christina Zou, medicine

Winston Churchill HS: Laura M. Heller, psychology; Stephanie A. Michael, business

Richard Montgomery HS: Julie Chang, public service/advocacy; Edward D. Lee, undecided; Benjamin Lu, research; Lindsey Y. Shi, chemical engineering

Quince Orchard HS: David A. Somers, physics

Walt Whitman HS: Melanie R. Friedrichs, economics

Thomas S. Wootton HS: Joanna Y. Cornell, economics; Lauren A. Pace, medicine; Steven E. Zhang, biology

The winners are finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Earlier this year 11 students won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships financed by companies, foundations, and other business organization. These students are among 26
corporate-sponsored scholarship winners in Maryland.

The corporate winners, their intended career fields and scholarship sponsors are:

Montgomery Blair High School: Priyanka Gokhale, medicine, Lockheed Martin; Walker L. Hatchett, engineering, Merit Marsh & McLennan Companies;Priyanka Nargundkar, political science, Lockheed Martin; Christopher R.
Silberholz, education (math/computer science), Computer Sciences Corporation;Jenny Wang, medicine, Lockheed Martin

Winston Churchill High School: Ari I. Becker, computer science/engineering,Computer Sciences Corporation

Richard Montgomery High School: Katherine C. Gao, medicine, Lockheed Martin

Walt Whitman High School: Mary C. Bartlett, chemical engineering, Accenture;Damjan D. Korac, mechanical engineering, Science Applications International Corporation

Thomas S. Wootton High School: David R. Engoron, international relations,Lockheed Martin; Natalie M. Milioutina, international economics, General Dynamics

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners will be announced on May 28 and July 14.

More information is at the link below.