McLean Graduates Among Last 2019 National Merit Scholars

MCLEAN, VA — The final National Merit Scholarship winners for 2019 include two graduates from McLean. The additional 540 winners won scholarships sponsored by colleges and universities and were announced Monday.

Ellen R. Chen of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology won a scholarship to University of Chicago and plans to study computer science. The other winner, Nicole K. Owens of National Cathedral School, won a scholarship from Vanderbilt University and will study computer science.

The newly-announced winners are among 4,100 college-sponsored scholarship winners announced in June. College-sponsored scholarships run between $500 and $2,000 each year for up to four years at the financing college. This year, 173 colleges and universities sponsored scholarships in 43 states and DC.

In all, more than 7,600 National Merit Scholarships were given out in 2019. Other scholarships were sponsored by corporations and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation itself.

Over 1.6 million juniors were entered for National Merit Scholarships by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT. The selection was narrowed down to 16,000 semifinalists based on the highest scorers in each state.

To become finalists, semifinalists completed a scholarship application with an essay describing leadership positions and contributions to school and community activities, had an outstanding academic record, and were recommended by a school official. Students had to also take the SAT and earn scores reinforcing their achievement on the PSAT.

Around 15,000 became finalists, and about half of these were chosen for National Merit Scholarships in 2019.

Other 2019 winners of National Merit Scholarships from McLean are:

• Christopher C. Barre of Heights School, scholarship from Northrop Grumman
• Collin T. Dent of Gonzaga College High School, scholarship from the Raytheon Company
• Liana S. Keesing of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from Leidos
• Marisa Mihori of Langley High School, scholarship from Northrop Grumman
• Caroline C. Howley of McLean High School, scholarship from National Merit Scholarship Corporation
• Isabella P. Swigart of McLean High School, scholarship from National Merit Scholarship Corporation
• Christopher X. Bi of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from National Merit Scholarship Corporation
• Eric Gan of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from National Merit Scholarship Corporation
• Jennifer S. Pruitt of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from National Merit Scholarship Corporation
• Joyce E. Yang of Georgetown Day High School, scholarship from National Merit Scholarship Corporation
• John D. Beckner of Langley High School, scholarship from Northwestern University
• Kristen E. Waagner of McLean High School, scholarship from Northwestern University
• Walker T. Haynes of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from University of Chicago
• Anica L. Huang of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from Virginia Commonwealth University
• Jocelyn Liu of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, scholarship from University of Southern California