Recent Awards Bring Total for the Year to 58


Seventeen seniors from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) have won college or university-sponsored National Merit Scholarships, bringing this year’s number of MCPS Merit scholars to 58.

The local scholars in this round of awards are among 36 winners from Maryland and 2,100 winners nationally who were selected to receive scholarships financed by colleges and universities.

The winners, intended majors, and sponsoring institutions are:

• Montgomery Blair High School
Rachel Kirsch, mathematics, University of Maryland; Abhishek Dhar, medicine, Northwestern University; Erik Li, bioengineering, University of Maryland

• James Hubert Blake High School
Adam Purucker, law, University of Maryland

• Damascus High School
Erica Choi, law, New York University

• Gaithersburg High School
Andrew Breiner, political science/English, New York University

• Walter Johnson High School
Derby Cox, journalism, University of Maryland; Kevin McCoy, economics, Clemson University

• Richard Montgomery High School
Derek Turnbull, international development, Washington University; David Liu, business, Washington University; Christopher Higgins, engineering, University of Maryland; Dora Larson, law, University of Maryland

• Paint Branch High School
Rachel Blair, medicine, University of Maryland

• Quince Orchard High School
Nicholas Cutler, film, Macalester College

• Springbrook High School
Pratiksha Thakore, bioengineering, University of Maryland

• Walt Whitman High School
Justine Cummins-Oman, psychiatry, Brandeis University; Benjamin Umans, science, University of Chicago

Earlier this year, 22 MCPS students won $2,500 awards funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, and 12 won corporate-sponsored scholarships. Seven students previously won college-sponsored awards.

More than 200 higher education institutions are underwriting college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Program.