10 Howard County Students Named National Merit Scholars

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday that 10 students from Howard County have been awarded $2,500 scholarships as part of its 2020 program. National Merit $2,500 scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

These scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; 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 finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

The scholarship winners from Howard County are:

Bill W. Tong of Columbia, Atholton High School
Probable career field: Finance

Samuel D. Levine of Elkridge, Long Reach High School
Probable career field: Mechanical Engineering

Natalie G. Good, Ellicott City, Glenelg Country School
Probable career field: Surgical Medicine

Richard Huang, Ellicott City, Centennial High School
Probable career field: Aerospace Engineering

William R. L. Li, Ellicott City, Mount Hebron High School
Probable career field: Economics

Lorelei N. Loraine, Ellicott City, Mount Hebron High School
Probable career field: Economics

Abhinav R. Modugula, Ellicott City, Long Reach High School
Probable career field: Computer Science

Ameya M. Sriram, Ellicott City, Centennial High School
Probable career field: Psychology

Claire R. Brinster, Glenelg, Glenelg High School
Probable career field: Neuroscience

Yashvi P. Shah, Laurel, Reservoir High School
Probable career field: Medicine

This is the second announcement of winners in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. On April 22, more than 1,000 recipients of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards were named and on June 3 and July 13, approximately 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners will be announced. By the end of this year’s competition, an estimated 7,600 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million.

This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2018 when more than 1.5 million juniors in approximately 21,000 high schools took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named semifinalists on a state-representational basis. Only these 16,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From the semifinalist group, some 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2020 program, about 7,600 finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of more than $30 million in college scholarships.