32 Orange County Students Named National Merit Scholars

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Thirty-two Orange County students were awarded National Merit Scholarships, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced this week.

The students were among 2,500 nationwide that were chosen from more than 15,000 finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners will receive a $2,500 scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's own funds, with underwriting help from corporations and company foundations.

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The students were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors who looked at their academic record, Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores, school and community activities, essays and recommendations.

The Orange County winners are:

Cypress

• Seungwon Jeung, John F. Kennedy High School, La Plama

Fountain Valley

• Katelyn Tran, Fountain Valley High School, Fountain Valley

Fullerton

• Rhea Ji, Sunny Hills High School, Fullerton
• Cynthia D. Kung, Troy High School, Fullerton
• Irene Pan, Valencia High School, Placentia

Irvine

• Marissa D. Huang, Woodbridge High School, Irvine
• Howard J. Jung, Northwood High School, Irvine
• Andrew J. Kao, Woodbridge High School, Irvine
• Justin Kline, Sage Hill School, Newport Beach
• Amber Lin, Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School, Irvine
• Lawrence B. Liu, University High School, Irvine
• Suhrith S. Muvvala, Portola High School, Irvine
• Alina Samiullah, Portola High School, Irvine
• David Shim, Loomis Chaffee School, Connecticut
• Yangming Sun, Portola High School, Irvine
• Luca G. Valdevit, University High School, Irvine
• David P. Wong, Crean Lutheran High School, Irvine

Ladera Ranch

• Hannah Gu, Tesoro High School, Rancho Santa Margarita
• Jackson D. Story, JSerra Catholic High School, San Juan Capistrano
• Ryan D. Waung, San Juan Hills High School, San Juan Capistrano

Laguna Beach

• Estella Cuyler Newton, Laguna Beach High School, Laguna Beach
• Zoe Tran, Laguna Beach High School, Laguna Beach

Los Alamitos

• Michael Wu, Los Alamitos High School, Los Alamitos

Newport Coast

• Shaurya Mittal, Sage Hill School, Newport Beach

San Clemente

• George Tyler Joseph, JSerra Catholic High School, San Juan Capistrano

Tustin

• Suraj S. Shah, Arnold O. Beckman High School, Irvine

Yorba Linda

• Edwin Danny Anthoniraj, Valencia High School, Placentia
• Adam J. Kim, Valencia High School, Placentia
• Carson Lim, Valencia High School, Placentia
• Aaron Luo, Yorba Linda High School, Yorba Linda
• Ethan C. Swarat, Valencia High School, Placentia
• Angela Yao, Valencia High School, Placentia

This is the second announcement of National Merit Scholars this year. In April, about 700 recipients of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards were named. More winners will be announced in June and July.

By the conclusion of this year's competition, about 6,700 high school seniors will receive a total of roughly $24 million in scholarships, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.