National Merit Scholars From Pasadena Schools Announced

Pasadena — The next group of 2021 National Merit Scholarship winners include four high school students who attend classes in the Pasadena area.

The National Merit winners from several Pasadena-area schools are among the more than 3,100 announced nationally this year to receive between $500 and $2,000 scholarships from colleges and universities across the country, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. said in a news release Wednesday.

National Merit Scholarship winners from Pasadena schools in 2021 include:

• Jennifer L. Spinoglio, a Westridge School student who will head to the University of Chicago to study public policy.
• Sarah Ashley Thein, a Polytechnic School student who will study neuroscience at the University of Chicago.
• Simone M. Kang, a Westridge School who will head to Texas A&M University to study computer engineering.
• Frances H. Chiu, a South Pasadena High School who will study neurobiology at Emory University.

The National Merit winners announced this week will have their scholarships funded by the colleges and universities that they will attend. One hundred and sixty colleges and universities — including 85 private and 75 public schools — took part in the merit scholarship program in 2021.

An additional group of college-sponsored National Merit scholars will be announced in July, the scholarship corporation said. This group is part of the approximately 7,500 National Merit scholarship winners who will be selected by the end of 2021. National Merit scholarships via corporate-sponsored awards and the corporation’s own $2,500 scholarships were announced earlier in the spring.