13 area high school students awarded national scholarships

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By Staff Report Updated 8:43 AM Thursday, April 21, 2011

EVANSTON, Ill. — Thirteen high school seniors from the Miami Valley region were among 1,800 winners of awards from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced today.

The students received awards from two categories: seven area African-American high school seniors each received the National Achievement $2,500 Scholarship, while six students were awarded corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships.

The corporate-sponsored scholarships range between $500 and $10,000 annually, though some provide single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Corporate sponsors provide these scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of the communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.

The winners are among about the more than 160,000 students who entered the 2011 National Achievement Scholarship Program by requesting consideration when they took the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Local National Achievement $2,500 Scholarship winners and their high schools:

• Megan M. Ayers, of Springfield, Chaminade Julienne High School, whose probable career field is neuroscience.

• Emily K. Bingham of Englewood, Northmont High School, whose probable career field is English.

• Keta E. Burke-Williams of Dayton, Miami Valley School, whose probable career field is political science/law.

• Elisse T. Hill of Mason, Seven Hills School in Cincinnati, whose probable career field is chemical engineering.

• Avery T. Jennings of Hamilton, Fairfield High School, whose probable career field is broadcast journalism.

• Lynessa J. McGee of Mason, Ursuline Academy in Cincinnati, whose probable career field is medicine.

• Lynsay M. Strahorn of Harrison Twp., Chaminade Julienne High School, whose probable career field is medicine and is attending Cleveland State University.

Local Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners and their high schools:

• Justine Chu of West Chester, Lakota East High School, whose probable career field is accounting. He received his scholarship from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

• Michael D. Fu, Beavercreek High School, whose probable career field is engineering. He received his scholarship from Computer Sciences Corp., based in Falls Church, Va. with a local office in Beavercreek.

• Kevin D. Gaitonde, Centerville High School, whose probable career field is aerospace engineering. He received the Maynard H. Murch Memorial Scholarship, which is sponsored by Robbins & Myers, Inc.

• William J. Porter IV, Miamisburg High School, whose probable career field is medicine. He received the Avery Dennison Scholarship, which is based in Pasadena, Calif., with local office in Miamisburg.

• John C. Quinn, of Centerville High School, whose probable career field is chemical engineering. He received the Liberty Mutual Scholarship.

• Nitya L. Sreevalsan of West Chester, Lakota East High School, whose probable career field is medicine. He received his scholarship from the Siemens Foundation.

The National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners for the class of 2011 will be announced on May 4; followed by the winners of the college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards that will be announced on May 25 and July 11.

By the conclusion of this year’s competition, about 7,800 academic champions will have won National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $35 million.

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