Bel Air Student Wins National Merit Scholarship

BEL AIR, MD — A student from Bel Air has been named winner of a 2021 corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship Program.

Aidan M. Brehm of Bel Air, who attends Loyola Blakefield High School, won the Northrup Grumman scholarship, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Brehm's probable career field is listed as computer programming.

Brehm is among approximately 1,000 high-school seniors from across the U.S. selected for the corporate awards, according to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Program. The corporate scholarships are financed by about 140 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations, officials said in announcing the winners Wednesday.

The awards are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study and students get a stipend that's anywhere between $1,000 to $10,000 each year. Some of the awards include a single payment between $2,500 to $5,000.

Fewer than 25 people in Maryland earned the honor, including nine from Montgomery County, one from Baltimore County, five from Frederick County, five from Howard County and one from Washington County.

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive scholarship and the program says that around 7,500 students will go on to win scholarships in 2021 that total $30 million. Winners of the $2,500 scholarships and the college-sponsored scholarships will be announced later this year.

A total of 16,000 students were selected as finalists for the scholarships and the final winners are candidates "judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies," officials said.