9 Howard County National Merit Scholarship Winners Named

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The first round of National Merit Scholarship Program winners has been announced, which includes nine students from Howard County.

The first group of winners in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program includes approximately 700 high school seniors who have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by approximately 115 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations. Also included in this category are awards supported by several foundations and individual donors who have established endowments with NMSC.

Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $1,000 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $10,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.

This year's National Merit Scholarship Competition high school juniors entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program when they took the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

In September 2025, more than 16,000 semifinalists were designated on a state-representational basis in numbers proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors.

Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one percent of the nation’s seniors. To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements to advance to finalist standing. Each semifinalist was asked to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay and providing information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions.

Semifinalists also had to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirmed their qualifying test performance. From the semifinalist group, more than 15,000 met finalist requirements. By the end of the 2026 competition, an estimated 6,700 finalists will have been selected to receive National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $24 million.

• Julia S. Goldenberg, majoring in art history from Clarksville, River Hill High School, Mary E. Beyerle Scholarship
• Benjamin J. Hong, majoring in linguistics from Clarksville, River Hill High School, Northrop Grumman Scholarship
• Liam O. Luke, majoring in engineering from Clarksville, River Hills High School, James R. Schlesinger Memorial Scholarship
• Manav Chawla, majoring in computer science from Columbia, Mount St. Joseph High School, Leidos, Inc. Scholarship
• Collin B. McGuire, majoring in electrical engineering from Elkridge, Long Reach High School, Northrop Grumman Scholarship
• Darsh A. Bakshi, majoring in computer engineer from Ellicott City, Centennial High School, General Dynamics Corporation Scholarship
• Christofer Kober, majoring in computer engineering from Highland, River Hill High School, Northrop Grumman Scholarship
• Kelly D. Ho, majoring in electrical engineering, Laurel, Atholton High School, Northrop Grumman Scholarship
• Soha Mahapatra, majoring in business economics, Woodstock, Marriotts Ridge High School, Motorola Solutions Scholarship