The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has named 44 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:

Olivia Strahan of Herndon High School (mathematics). James Smith of Lake Braddock Secondary School (electrical engineering). Tyler Larkworthy of Langley High School (computer science). Nikhil Sakhamuri of Langley High School (economics). Kathryn Howley of McLean High School (economics). Casey Grage of Madison High School (neurobiology). Katrina White of Madison High School (environmental policy). Grace Yu of Oakton High School (computer science). Millen Anand of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) (chemical engineering). Allen Cheng of TJHSST (undecided). Jake Cui of TJHSST (computer science). Stephen Dempsey of TJHSST (undecided). Joyce Duan of TJHSST (computer science). Pranav Gulati of TJHSST (computer science). Matthew Guo of TJHSST (medicine). Dhruv Gupta of TJHSST (computer science). Shrey Gupta of TJHSST (computer science). Tarun Kamath of TJHSST (medical research). Min Jae Kwon of TJHSST (computer science). Rachel Li of TJHSST (computer science). Kevin Lin of TJHSST (applied mathematics). Jeffrey Liu of TJHSST (biochemistry). Jessica Nguyen of TJHSST (bioengineering). Thuy-Vi Nguyen of TJHSST (neuroscience). Sayan Paul of TJHSST (computer science). Katherine Pruitt of TJHSST (undecided). Claudia Richoux of TJHSST (physics). Nirmaan Shanker of TJHSST (engineering). Emilio Sison of TJHSST (mechanical engineering-robotics). An Smith of TJHSST (medicine). Johnson Song of TJHSST (undecided). Matthew Sun of TJHSST (computer science). Virginia Sun of TJHSST (international relations). Julian Vallyeason of TJHSST (chemical engineering). Akhil Waghmare of TJHSST (engineering). Shuxian Wang of TJHSST (computer science). Kevin Xu of TJHSST (undecided). Hitesh Yalamanchili of TJHSST (computer engineering). Victoria Yang of TJHSST (engineering). Alec Zhang of TJHSST (applied mathematics). William Zhang of TJHSST (computer science). Jenny Zhu of TJHSST (biomedical engineering). Stephanie Introne of Westfield High School (aerospace engineering). Chaeyoon Shim of Woodson High School (computer science).

Each of the FCPS winners received a scholarship supported by the NMSC’s own funds with the exception of William Zhang, whose scholarship was underwritten by the Norfolk Southern 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.

Note: For more information, contact the FCPS Office of Communication and Community Relations at 571-423-1200.