See Loudoun County Students Awarded $2,500 National Merit Scholarships

ASHBURN, VA — In the second round of scholarship winners in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program announced Wednesday, 12 students from Loudoun County were among the winners.

There are 2,500 winners of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's $2,500 scholarships from its own funds and organizations sponsoring awards through the corporation. A committee of college admissions officers and school counselors chose the winners based on their application information.

Winners are named in each state in proportion to the state's share of U.S. graduating seniors. According to the corporation, these winners "are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies." Students may use the one-time scholarships at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

Virginia had 63 scholarship winners, 12 of whom reside or go to school in Loudoun County:

• Aditya Bansal, of Aldie, Lightridge High School, plans to study computer science
• Avni Garg of Ashburn, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, plans to study applied mathematics
• Ian C. Park of Ashburn, BASIS Independent McLean, plans to study electrical engineering
• Samvrit V. Rao of Ashburn, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, plans to study orthopedics
• Naeva B. Shah of Ashburn, Independence High School, plans to study finance
• Ria Singh of Ashburn, Stone Bridge High School, plans to study computer science
• Callia Q. Sun of Ashburn, Riverside High School, plans to study applied mathematics
• Aakash N. Maskeri of Chantilly, Lightridge High School, plans to study computer engineering
• Ray Y. Zhang of Chantilly, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, plans to study science/research
• Lucas A. Pham of Leesburg, Riverside High School, plans to study computer science
• Lamees Alkarmi of Sterling, Dominion High School, plans to study electrical engineering
• Suchir Godavarthi of Stone Ridge, John Champe High School, plans to study aerospace engineering

These winners joined around 770 corporate-sponsored scholarship recipients named in April. These scholarships were sponsored by corporations, company foundations and other business organizations and typically go to National Merit Scholarship finalists who are employees' children or students pursuing college studies or careers that the sponsor wants to support.

On June 5 and July 15, more scholarship recipients will be announced. Around 3,600 students will receive these college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners.

SEE ALSO: 2025 National Merit Scholarships Awarded To Ashburn Students

In all, over 6,870 high school students will be awarded approximately $26 million in National Merit Scholarships this year.

Students were entered into the National Merit Scholarship competition as juniors taking the PSAT in 2022. In October 2022, around 16,000 semifinalists were named based on each state's proportion of graduating seniors. Semifinalists were the top scoring entrants in their states and represent less than 1 percent of seniors in the U.S.

To be considered for finalist status, semifinalists had to submit a detailed scholarship application with an essay and details on extracurricular activities, awards, and leadership positions as well as demonstrate an outstanding academic record and have an endorsement from a high school official. Around 15,000 finalists met requirements for finalist status and were eligible to be chosen for corporate-sponsored, National Merit Scholarship-sponsored and college-sponsored awards.

Patch editor Michael O'Connell contributed to this report.