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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Thirty-Two FCPS Students Win National Merit Scholarships

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has named 32 Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students winners of $2,500 National Merit® Scholarships.  The students are part of a group of approximately 2,500 National Merit® finalists chosen to receive scholarships primarily financed by the NMSC. 

Winners of the scholarships, with their probable career fields in parentheses, are: 

• Alexandra Tanner of Lake Braddock Secondary School (education—music).
• John Weidinger of Lake Braddock Secondary School (military service).
• Zachary Charles of McLean High School (economics).
• Frank Sponn of Madison High School (performing arts—dance).
• Jessica Levine of Marshall High School (journalism).
• David Levonian of Robinson Secondary School (chemical engineering).
• Allison Whitlock of South Lakes High School (international relations).
• Varun Bansal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) (environmental engineering—science).
• Thomas Bettge of TJHSST (law).
• Jonathan Choo of TJHSST (medicine).
• William Czaplyski of TJHHST (medicine).
• Jared Hallett of TJHSST (mathematical research).
• Michael Howard of TJHSST (engineering).
• Lily Hsiang of TJHSST (technology management).
• Blair Hu of TJHSST (bioengineering).
• Peter Im of TJHSST (chemical engineering).
• Brian Han Jang of TJHSST (biomedical engineering).
• Seung-Hyuck Kim of TJHSST (law).
• Joy Lee of TJHSST (medicine—research).
• Carolyn McCallister of TJHSST (English).
• Sumit Malik of TJHSST (chemistry).
• Kyle Markwalter of TJHSST (clergy).
• Jed Metge of TJHSST (engineering).
• William Minshew of TJHSST (engineering—physics).
• Monica Mowery of TJHSST (neurosurgery).
• Barbara Pelham-Webb of TJHSST (biogenetics—mathematics).
• Narendra Tallapragada of TJHSST (electrical engineering).
• Maya Wei of TJHSST (operations research).
• David Wu of TJHSST (medicine).
• Yangbo Xu of TJHSST (engineering).
• Katherine Zettler of TJHSST (management—consulting).
• Jiho Kim of Woodson High School (undecided).

Each of the FCPS winners received a scholarship supported by the NMSC’s own funds with the exception of Tallapragada, whose scholarship is sponsored by the AMETEK Foundation.

Each scholarship winner was evaluated on his or her academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay describing interests and goals; and a recommendation from a high school official.  The number of winners named in a state is in proportion to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors.

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