4 Silver Spring Students Awarded Corporate National Merit Scholarships

SILVER SPRING, MD — Around 1,000 high school seniors nationwide have been awarded company-sponsored merit scholarships, including four in Silver Spring.

"Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the Finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors," a release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation says. "Corporate sponsors provide National Merit Scholarships for Finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage."

Here are the students from Silver Spring who received a scholarship:

• Kevin J. Gehl, a student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, was awarded a scholarship from the estate of Mary E. Beyerle. Kevin plans to study law in college.
• Celeste R. Basken, a student at Montgomery Blair High School, received a scholarship from the National Distillers Distributors Foundation. She plans to study environmental policy in college.
• Aditya Chattopadhyay, a student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, plans to study computer science. Aditya was awarded a scholarship from CACI.
• Alena Y. Hu, a student at Montgomery Blair High School, plans to study mechanical engineering. Alena was awarded a scholarship from Leidos, a global science and technology solutions and services company.

High school juniors are entered into the National Merit contest by taking the PSAT. In September, 16,000 semifinalists were chosen and were asked to complete an application with included an essay and information about leadership and extracurricular activities, submit proof of their academic record, get an endorsement from a school official and earn a top ACT or SAT score.

The National Merit Corporation said most of the scholarships are renewable each academic year and range from $1,000 to $10,000, though some are one-time payments between $2,500 and $5,000.