26 Montgomery County Students Earn $2,500 National Merit Scholarships

26 Montgomery County seniors have earned National Merit Scholarships in the second round of awards from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

Awardees were selected from more than 16,000 students nationwide and were among 47 awardees chosen in Maryland. The awards provide recipients with a one-time award of $2,500 for college tuition.

This group of awardees were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the students and their high schools, including the academic record, scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), contributions and leadership in school and community activities, an essay written by the student, and a recommendation written by a high school official.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) was established in 1955 to honor scholastically talented youth and encourage academic excellence at all levels of education. The scholarships are privately funded by NMSC and are underwritten by more than 400 corporate and college sponsors. Recipients are judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and the greatest potential for success in college.

The winners of the  scholarships, with their intended career fields, are:

Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy

• Tekoa Sultan-Reisler, environmental policy

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

• Sofia G. Fontana, mathematics

Montgomery Blair High School

• Dheeraj U. Keshav, computer science
• Esther Tang, neuroscience
• Christopher L. Tong, chemistry
• Chad K. Yu, applied mathematics
• Mark G. Kokiyelov, physics
• Nicole E. Tran, optometry
• Gabriel D. Wu, Computer Science
• Fiona D. Harrington, environmental science
• Charlotte S. Wallsten, medicine

Winston Churchill High School

• Jeffrey J. Luo, biochemical engineering

Georgetown Preparatory School

• Joshua J. Balbach, chemistry

Colonel Zadok Magruder High School

• Benjamin Kwiatkowski, biomedical Engineering

Paint Branch High School

• Mary E. Shawhan, undecided

Poolesville High School

• Sabrina I. Su, architecture
• Jane Liu, computer science
• Joshua Hou, finance

Rockville High School

• Jaxon D. Lee, computer science

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School

• Jane A. Trainor, medicine

Wheaton High School

• Rebecca J. Baxter, biomedical engineering

Walt Whitman High School

• Susan B. Rodgers, healthcare
• Rachel E. Scissors, biology

Thomas S. Wootton High School

• Amy X. He, healthcare
• Daniel S. Hwang, pubic health
• Jennifer J. Li, computer science

Visit National Merit Scholarship Program to learn more about the program.

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