Oceanside Student Receives 2023 National Merit Scholarship

OCEANSIDE, CA — Fourteen high school students in San Diego County — including a student from Oceanside — received college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Tuesday.

Nationwide, more than 3,000 high school seniors received National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2023 competition to more than 3,800, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The San Diego area winners were:

La Jolla

• Emily K. Zhu, The Bishop's School, La Jolla

Oceanside

• Christopher Lee Hong, El Camino High School, Oceanside

Poway

• Joshua R. Wernli, Rancho Bernardo High School, San Diego

San Diego

• Pranav Bantval, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego
• Brittain A. Belford, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego
• Samantha Chamberlain, San Diego High School of International Studies, San Diego
• Noah G. Israel, Del Norte High School, San Diego
• Kyle M. Kim, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego
• Matthew P. Monroy, Maranatha Christian Schools, San Diego
• Chenxin Ni, Del Norte High School, San Diego
• Leonard A. Wright, Del Norte High School, San Diego
• Stephen F. Xu, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego
• Aidan T. Zhao, Torrey Pines High School, San Diego
• Katherine T. Zhou, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego

This is the third set of winners announced in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. In April, the organization announced about 840 recipients of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships. In May, the organization named 2,500 winners of National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. Additional recipients of college-sponsored awards will be announced on July 10.

In all, more than 7,140 award winners will receive scholarships worth roughly $28 million in 2023, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.