13 More Recent Graduates Win National Merit Scholarships, Bringing Total to 43 for 1998 99

July 21, 1999

Thirteen more 1999 graduates of the Montgomery County Public Schools have won National Merit Scholarships, raising the number of Merit Scholars for the 1998-99 school year to 43. The local scholars account for 34 percent of the 126 scholars selected in Maryland this year.

The additional 13 awards were given by universities to students who will attend those institutions. College-sponsored Merit Scholarships provide between $250 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the sponsor institution.

Listed by their high school, the college-sponsored scholars, the funding colleges and intended areas of study are:

Montgomery Blair HS

Ivan D. Askwith, New York University, business/communications

Manish K. Gala, Johns Hopkins University, biomedical engineering

Nidhi Gupta, George Washington University, medicine

Shada A. Rouhani, Case Western Reserve University, biochemistry

Winston Churchill HS

Stamatis Kantartzis, University of Maryland, medicine

Albert Einstein HS

Timur Chabuk, University of Maryland, computer engineering

Walter Johnson HS

Noelle E. Huard, University of Maryland, electrical engineering

Richard Montgomery HS

Christopher C. Ader, University of Maryland, computer science

Yun-Ju Huang, University of Maryland, English

Poolesville HS

Amy L. Loomis, University of Maryland, computer science

Quince Orchard HS

Sherilyn Farnes, Brigham Young University, English

Rockville HS

Christopher D. Stillion, St. Olaf College, journalism

Thomas S. Wootton HS

Elke K. Chen, University of Maryland, biology/environmental law

In total, 1999 MCPS graduates won 19 college-sponsored scholarships, six corporate-sponsored awards and 18 awards funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The winners were selected from the 131 MCPS semifinalists named last fall for their high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of the 1.2 million students who took the exam. Semifinalists had to meet additional criteria -- such as having extremely high academic records and strong recommendations and confirming their qualifying test performance on a second test -- to be considered for the scholarship awards.

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