San Diego Students Win College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — Eight San Diego County students were awarded National Merit Scholarships Monday, joining 1,200 students around the country honored for high test scores, good grades, and meaningful extracurricular involvement.

The most recent batch of scholarships were sponsored by 155 colleges and universities spread across 42 states and the District of Columbia. The winners of these awards will receive between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the sponsoring institution.

In San Diego County, the following students received awards:

Carlsbad

• Marissa Goswami, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego
  • Probable career field: health care
  • College: Tulane University
• Connor C. Qiu, Pacific Ridge School, Carlsbad
  • Probable career field: pediatrics
  • College: University of Southern California

San Diego

• Andrew Y. Chang, The Bishop's School, La Jolla
  • Probable career field: computer science
  • College: Emory College
• Logan D. Garber, Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego
  • Probable career field: aerospace engineering
  • College: Brigham Young University
• David Kim, Del Norte High School, San Diego
  • Probable career field: software engineering
  • College: Purdue University
• Connor S. Macomber, The Bishop's School, La Jolla
  • Probable career field: mechanical engineering
  • College: Purdue University
• Kyle J. Myint, Del Norte High School, San Diego
  • Probable career field: computer science
  • College: University of Arizona
• Cassandra J. Portrey, Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego
  • Probable career field: secondary education
  • College: University of New Mexico

Since the fall of 2021, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation has also announced winners sponsored by corporations and the National Merit Scholarship Committee. In total, 7,200 finalists have been awarded a total of nearly $28 million in scholarships.

Finalists are initially selected based on 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test scores. The 16,000 highest scorers across the country were invited to complete a detailed application that included writing an essay, obtaining a recommendation from a high school official, and submitting an academic transcript and list of extracurricular activities. Semifinalists also had to achieve qualifying scores on the SAT or ACT exams to be named as finalists.

Since 1955, the National Merit Scholarship has awarded roughly $1.3 billion in aid to 368,000 high school students.