This fall, Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area invited high school students from the Greater Washington region to compete for scholarships by writing an essay on the topic, “How can Greater Washington companies responsibly and effectively deal with the economic challenges facing the United States?”

MCPS had nine of the 10 winners of the 2009 Junior Achievement Essay Competition, sponsored by David M. Rubenstein, a co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group. Rubenstein created and funds the competition. The winners are:

First Place
Montgomery Blair HS: Scott S. Yu, senior

Runners Up
Paint Branch HS: Katrina L. Hauprich, junior
Walt Whitman HS: Steven J. Goldberg, sophomore; Jane E. Kessner, senior; Madeline M. Alpert, senior; Caroline B. Sherrard, senior
Richard Montgomery HS: Wilbur E. Shirley, junior; Maya I. Krishnan, senior
Thomas S. Wootton HS: Luke M. Smith, senior

Yu will receive a $20,000 scholarship, and the eight runner-up winners will each receive a $10,000 scholarship.

In addition, Paint Branch High School also received $6,000 for entering the greatest number of eligible applications from the state of Maryland.