Twenty Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) seniors were selected as candidates for the Presidential Scholars award, one of the highest honors given to high school students in the United States. Students are invited to apply based on their scores on the SAT or ACT exam. The program also recognizes students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts. Last year, MCPS had 15 Presidential Scholars candidates, including one scholar in the arts.

All 20 candidates this year were chosen from high school seniors nationwide for academic achievement. There were no MCPS candidates for the arts component of the program this year. Candidates and their schools are: 
 
Montgomery Blair High School: Jessica Chen, Edward Gan, Sneha Kannan, Willy Li, Daniel Stiles, Monica Wei, Henry Zhang

Winston Churchill High School: Lucas Chang, Andrew Cho

Richard Montgomery High School: Kevin Haaga, Kara Karpman, Claire Kwong, Abiola Laniyonu, Rebecca Portman, Nathan Prillaman

Poolesville High School: Carly Gayle

Walt Whitman High School: Thomas Berry, Rachel Zhang

Thomas S. Wootton High School: Jonathan Liang, Andrea Tian

Presidential Scholars finalists will be selected in mid-April, and up to 121 academic scholars and 20 arts scholars will be selected in May. The scholars will be honored during a national recognition week this June in Washington, D.C.