Eighteen Montgomery County Public Schools students are among 143 Maryland students named Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholars for 2009 by the Maryland State Department of Education.

Each honoree receives a four-year scholarship worth up to $1,500 per year, to be used for undergraduate study at any institution of higher education based on cost of attendance. The scholars were chosen from more than 600 nominees from across the state.

The Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program is designed to promote student excellence and achievement. The program recognizes exceptionally able students who show promise of continued excellence as they pursue higher education. Principals at public and private schools were invited to nominate students from the top 1 percent of their graduating classes for this prestigious award.

MCPS student winners and their high schools are:

Montgomery Blair: Sahar Shahamatdar
James Hubert Blake: Matthew Stevens
Winston Churchill: Eric Moy
Clarksburg: Stephanie Huang
Gaithersburg: Kathleen Hallock, Vivek Patel
John F. Kennedy: Jared Griffin
Richard Montgomery: Jeremy Blair, Kara Karpman
Northwest: Karen Qi
Poolesville: Alexa Greenberg
Seneca Valley: Victoria Ward
Springbrook: Richard Steinwand
Walter Johnson: David Peter
Watkins Mill: Gretta Digbeu, David Gaynor
Wheaton: Anna Domini Roma
Walt Whitman: Jacob Levitt