17 High School Students Awarded $2,000 Scholarships

Seventeen high school students from the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Conejo and Simi valleys are among 1,800 recipients of National Merit $2,000 Scholarships in 1989.

The nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corp., founded in 1955, honors students based on superior academic and extracurricular accomplishments, reflecting their potential to flourish in college.

A national 16-person committee, consisting of college admissions officers and secondary school counselors, chooses each state’s winners in proportion to the size of the state’s graduating class.

Each student receives a single allotment of $2,000.

Winners of National Merit Scholarships are:

Geoffrey A. Talvola of Agoura, Agoura High School; Michael P. Markmiller of Calabasas, Viewpoint School; Lynn E. Lapoe of Glendale, Glendale High School; Christina J. Dixon, Matthew L. Mayers and Mark L. Paskowitz, all of Granada Hills and Granada Hills High School.

Jennifer J. Yem of North Hollywood, North Hollywood High School; Erica B. Palmer of Saugus, Saugus High School; Gregory Engel and Kathryn Lin, both of Sherman Oaks and the Buckley School; Omar B. Skulason of Simi Valley, Simi Valley High School; Grace S. Bhudhikanok of Van Nuys, Birmingham High School.

Van Nuys residents Susan S. Huang, Van Nuys High School, and Gayle T. Isa, Ulysses S. Grant High School; Thousand Oaks residents Jennifer K. Connor, La Reina High School, and Stephen C. Yen, Thousand Oaks High School, and Marc Sarti of Woodland Hills, Taft High School.

There are two other categories of National Merit awards: corporate-sponsored scholarships, which are offered to students who have qualifications of particular interest to a sponsoring corporation, and college-sponsored awards that are given to students who will attend colleges and universities that finance Merit Scholarships.

About 6,000 Merit Scholarships, totaling about $24 million, are offered annually. The program is funded by more than 600 independent-sponsor organizations and institutions.