Seven Montgomery County Public Schools students have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships financed by companies, foundations, and other business organizations.

The students are among 11 corporate-sponsored scholars in Maryland. Nationally, 1,050 scholars were chosen from a group of 15,000 finalists in the annual program of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

The winners, intended career fields, and sponsors are:
· Montgomery Blair High School: Aditi S. Bhaskar, geophysics, Lockheed Martin; Christian T. Brown, model design/animation, Northrop Grumman; Patrick R. Conrad, computer science/robotics, Lockheed Martin; Michael R. Price, undecided, SAIC; Minghui Yang, journalism, Lockheed Martin.

· Richard Montgomery High School: Han Xiao, computer science, Mary E. Beyerle Merit Scholarship; Laura T. Melle, international relations, BMC Software, Inc.

Most corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and range in value from $500 to $10,000 annually. Some of the awards provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000.

The scholars are all high school seniors who were selected for their academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, potential for success in rigorous college studies and other criteria of one of several hundred corporate sponsors.