Countywide : 18 High Schoolers Win Scholarships

Seventeen Orange County high school students have won corporate-sponsored college scholarships in the first round of annual awards given by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

Although the students receive the scholarships from their parents’ employers, they first had to qualify for the corporate awards by scoring in the top one-half of 1% of high school students taking the National Merit Scholarship exam. More than 1 million high school students take the exam each year.

The corporate scholarships usually range from $500 to $2,000 a year for four years.

The awards to the Orange County students are part of the first of three rounds of scholarships handed out by the nonprofit corporation. About 1,150 students nationwide won the corporate education grants for 1992.

Local winners were:

Teddy T. Chen, Laguna Hills High School; Louie B. Cheng, Sunny Hills High in Fullerton; Vivian H. Chu, Marina High in Huntington Beach; Jill E. Day, Los Alamitos High; David S. Erikson, Dana Hills High in Dana Point; Mark W. Fender, Brethren Christian Junior-Senior High School in Cypress.

Yvette S. Go, Laguna Hills High School; Darrell B. Hall, Orange High School; Beth S. Kenyon, University High in Irvine; Alfred W. Lee, Irvine High; Christopher M. Lee, El Dorado High in Placentia; Kai C. Lee, El Toro High; Brent J. Lehman, Irvine High; Bianca E. Nelson, Esperanza High in Anaheim; Michelle S. Quiogue, Los Alamitos High; Jeffrey M. Williams, Westminster High; James L. Zanotti, Santa Margarita High in Rancho Santa Margarita.

In addition to the scholarship winners, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. recognized Gordon E. Taylor of Huntington Beach High School with an honorary merit scholarship. Honorary scholarships are given to students who scored exceptionally well on the test and performed well in other academic activities, but whose parents do not work for a participating company.