Pinellas County Students Awarded $2,500 Merit Scholarships

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Pinellas County students have been named winners of the 2019 National Merit $2,500 Scholarship. The merit scholar winners, announced Wednesday, were among 2,500 winners nationwide and were selected from a pool of more than 15,000 finalists.

Wednesday's announcement is the second group of winners to be announced this year. In April, more than 1,000 recipients of the corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship were named.

A panel of college admissions officers and high school counselors judged the students based on their accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college courses, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation said in a release. The judges looked at grades, difficulty of courses, standardized test scores, contributions and leadership both in school and in the community, an essay and a recommendation from a high school official.

The number of winners in each state was proportional to the state's share of the nation's graduating high school seniors. Additional winners will be named in June and July.

By the end of the year, about 7,600 students will have won merit scholarships totaling more than $31 million. The money can be put toward any regionally accredited college or university in America.

Here are the winners from Pinellas County:

• Charlie Vu Nguyen, Countryside H.S., Clearwater
  Probable career field: Economics
• Eoin R. Olswold, Dixie Hollins H.S., Kenneth City
  Probable career field: Music Composition
• Ashwin Ganesh, East Lake H.S., Tarpon Springs
  Probable career field: Computer Science
• Kyle D. Nguyen, Palm Harbor University H.S., Palm Harbor
  Probable career field: Computer Science
• Alexandra Shanabrook, Palm Harbor University H.S., Palm Harbor
  Probable career field: Law
• William D. Kline, Lakewood H.S., St. Petersburg
  Probable career field: Mathematics
• Erin A. Murphy, St. Petersburg Collegiate H.S., St. Petersburg
  Probable career field: Computer Engineering

The merit scholarship program was created in 1955. Students in grades nine through 12 vie for academic recognition and financial support. About 1.6 million students take the qualifying test every year and about 50,000 of the highest scorers have the chance to be considered.

Patch Editor Paul Scicchitano contributed to this story.