9 Merit Scholarship Winners Announced

In the first of three batches of awards given out by the National Merit Scholarship Corp., nine Ventura County high school students scooped up scholarships for the college of their choice.

The nonprofit group announced this week the winners of the corporate sponsored Merit Scholarships with awards ranging from $500 to $10,000 a year.

Nicholas Briggs of Simi Valley High School won the Boeing Merit Scholarship, while students at Thousand Oaks High swept up the other eight awards.

Thousand Oaks High student Christopher Brooks also won a Boeing scholarship. His classmates Rachel Deonier and Joanne Hsieh won scholarships from Amgen. Thousand Oaks High senior Christine Lieu won a GTE Corp. scholarship, while classmate Brian Stevenson received an award from Litton Industries. Kelly Byrd and Darlene Staines of La Reina both picked up Amgen scholarships. And Diana Ho of Westlake High School scooped up the Rockwell International scholarship.

Merit Scholarship winners were chosen from a group of 14,000 finalists, who were among the 1.1 million high school juniors across the nation taking the PSAT/NMSQT, 1995 pre-college entrance exam. Finalists have high test scores, good grades, a recommendation from the principal as well as involvement in extracurricular activities.

The corporate awards are typically given to scholars whose parents work at the firms, who live in the community the company serves or whose career goals match the sponsors’ interests.

The nonprofit has two more groups of scholarships to award. Winners of the National Merit $2,000 Scholarship offered on a state-by-state basis will be announced April 30. The Merit Scholarship awards sponsored by the colleges and universities for finalists who attend their institutions will be announced May 21. Additional winners will be announced in July.