Corporations Give 16 Students Scholarships

Sixteen Orange County high school students were awarded college scholarships by nine local businesses in the first of three batches of awards given by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

The nonprofit organization announced 1,100 winners nationwide this week who are receiving corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships, with awards ranging from $500 to $10,000 annually. Some scholarships are single payments of $2,000 to $5,000.

The corporate awards are typically given to scholars who are children of employees, who live in the community the company serves or whose career goals match the sponsors’ interests.

Winners of the 1998 Merit Scholarships are chosen from a group of 15,000 finalists who are among 1.1 million juniors in the United States taking the PSAT/NMSQT, the 1998 pre-college entrance exam. These students have high test scores, good grades, a recommendation from the principal as well as involvement in extracurricular activities.

Four students were given scholarships by the Boeing Co: Diane E. Carrera of Troy High School and Yolanda Y. Hong of Sunny Hills High School, both in Fullerton; Eileen Y. Chang of Edison High School and Mark W. Haney of Huntington Beach High School.

Four students received awards from Raytheon Co: Alexander A. Lau of Servite High School in Anaheim; Jonathan N. So of Irvine High School; Julia K. Adams of Cornelia Connelly School in Anaheim and Chris A. Klimmek of Cypress High School.

Two awards were given by Rockwell International: Lars E. Lynch of Dana Hills High School and Irene C. Pau of University High School in Irvine.

Gina A. Guarienti of Rosary High School in Fullerton received the Unisource, Worldwide, Inc., scholarship; Michael W. Kang of University High School in Irvine won the Xerox Foundation scholarship; Neetin N. Gulati of El Toro High School in Lake Forest won the Pharmacia & Upjohn Foundation scholarship; Juhwan Suh of Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo won the Unisys Corp. scholarship; Corinne E. Purtill of Huntington Beach High School won the Gillette scholarship; and Charles Leopold of Gilbert West High School in Buena Park received the Morton International scholarship.

Two more rounds of scholarships will be awarded through July. By the end of the competition, 7,400 finalists nationwide will receive about $28 million for their college undergraduate studies.