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.