Ten students from Montgomery County Public Schools have landed National Merit Scholarships for college tuition funding.
Sponsoring colleges and universities chose the scholarship winners from finalists in the 2018 program. The financial assistance to each student will total between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years.
The MCPS student winners come from Montgomery Blair High, Clarksburg High, Poolesville High, Richard Montgomery High, Walt Whitman High and Thomas S. Wootton High. Their names, intended career fields and sponsoring university or college are:
- William A. Ederer (Blair), chemical engineering, Arizona State University;
- Rahul Jain (Blair), astrophysics, University of Maryland;
- Noah B. Kim (Blair), computer programming, University of Southern California;
- Nikita Singh (Blair), medicine, Vanderbilt University;
- Matthew D. Evenson (Clarksburg), computer programming, University of Southern California;
- Benjamin M. Gherman (Poolesville), undecided, Northwestern University;
- Alisa Gao (Richard Montgomery), media, Northwestern University;
- Samantha I. Koretsky (Richard Montgomery), physics, University of Chicago;
- Rory P. Nevins (Walt Whitman), undecided, University of Chicago; and
- Nicholas Christovich (Wootton), computer engineering, Northeastern University.
Rockville fifth-grader yanks kindergartner out of car’s path
A fifth-grader from Flower Valley Elementary School was recently recognized by county police for pulling a kindergartner out of danger.
Jarius Taylor is a member of the Rockville school’s safety patrol and was keeping watch at the intersection of Baur and Lake drives on April 26 when a school bus arrived to pick up students. As a kindergartner began to run across the street to board the bus, Jarius noticed that a car was coming down Baur Drive and wasn’t slowing down for the bus. Jarius moved quickly to pull the child to safety, and for his actions, he received the Lifesaving Award last week from the traffic director of the Montgomery County Department of Police.
Local teen honored with congressional award
Rockville student Angela Wu is among more than 440 other youth from across the nation to receive a 2018 Congressional Award Gold Medal.
Winners have in the past two years all logged at least 800 hours in voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness and expedition or exploration. The award ceremony will take place Thursday on Capitol Hill.
Wu of Wootton High in 2016 was chosen to shadow Montgomery County Council member Craig Rice as part of his Council Member for a Day Challenge. She’s also garnered attention for starting a petition to toughen penalties for parents or other adults who host underage drinking parties.
Bethany Rodgers can be reached at bethany.rodgers@moco360.media.