Twenty-Four National Merit Scholarship Awards Are Announced

Thirty-Six Students Have Won National Merit Scholarships So Far This Year

Twenty-four Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students have won $2,500 National Merit Scholarships after meeting rigorous academic standards and other criteria. They join 12 previous winners this year of corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships. Scholarship winners are chosen from finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

The 24 local scholars account for 44 percent of the 55 winners from Maryland.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (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:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS: Sanford L. Diehl, undecided; Richa Kalsi, medicine

Montgomery Blair HS: Ramita Dewan, medicine; Akimitsu G. Hogge, mathematics; Stefanie A. Robey, anthropology/media; Sahar Shahamatdar, medicine; Elizabeth So, biology

Winston Churchill HS: Andrew H. Cho, law; Mackenzie K. Dolginow, medicine; Vera Khovanskaya, architecture

Richard Montgomery HS: Abiola D. Laniyonu, computer science; Hanfu Chai, business; Kevin F. Haaga, permaculture; Kara J. Karpman, mathematics; Nathan C. Prillaman, academia/music; Ivy H. Zhou, undecided

Poolesville HS: Carly L. Gayle, green architecture/environmental science

Springbrook HS: Liza Roisman, law

Walt Whitman HS: Kavitha Anandalingam, biomedical engineering; Thomas A. Berry, medicine; Seth E. Gordon, aerospace engineering; Hannah N. Vogel, environmental science

Thomas S. Wootton HS: Joanna Dong, medicine; Seth F. Nelson, mechanical engineering

Earlier this year 12 students won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships financed by companies, foundations, and other business organization. These students are among 31 corporate-sponsored scholarship winners in Maryland.

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

Montgomery Blair HS: Mandeep S. Bedi, computer engineering, Computer Sciences Corporation; Samir R. Chainani, electrical engineering, Lockheed Martin; Jessica Chen, medicine, Lockheed Martin; Elaine T. Chung, electrical engineering, Lockheed Martin; Jiali Fang, surgical medicine, Boeing; Sally Huang, accounting, Unisys Corporation; Sneha T. Kannan, medicine, Computer Sciences Corporation; Charles L. Kong, medicine, The Mitre Corporation; Tai Zheng, medicine, Lockheed Martin

Northwest HS: John D. Ingraham, software engineering, Lockheed Martin

Richard Montgomery HS: Leon L. Ko, engineering, Computer Sciences Corporation

Thomas S. Wootton HS: Jonathan J. Liang, biomedical science/engineering, Computer Sciences Corporation


College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners will be announced on May 27 and July 13.