Thirty-eight students will be recognized for outstanding achievement in Career and Technology Education during an awards ceremony on Thursday, April 22, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Each student will receive a $250 award sponsored by a local business supporting excellence in its field.

This year will also mark the first award of a $5,000 Technology Education Opportunities Scholarship, made possible by a donation from Douglas Schiffman, president of Bethesda-based Nine Lives Computer Company, and his wife, Suzanne. The winner of this year's scholarship is Hoai Dhyen Dinh, a senior at Magruder High School in Rockville, MD.

The awards and scholarships are designed to recognize and encourage students who exhibit outstanding technical, academic and workplace skills and commitment to pursuing careers in such fields as biotechnology, electronics, carpentry, medicine, computer maintenance and repair, professional restaurant management.

"These students are prepared to go to college, but they are also prepared to enter the workforce," said Janice A. McCall, Director, Division of Career and Technology Education. "These are students who have multiple pathways open to them."

Students are being honored from Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Montgomery Blair, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Paint Branch, Poolesville, Rockville, Seneca Valley, Sherwood, Springbrook, Walt Whitman, Watkins Mill, Wheaton and Wootton high schools and the Thomas Edison High School of Technology.

The $250 Career and Technology Excellence Education Awards are provided by local corporations, unions and service organizations recognizing students in each of 38 fields. The awards are intended to support students pursuing further education in their chosen career paths.

Mr. Schiffman's $10,000 donation is being matched by the Montgomery County Public Schools Education Foundation to create seed money for future technology scholarships. He said he hopes his donation will inspire other technology companies to contribute to the scholarship fund so that the program can continue to help students for years to come.

"I believe for a lot of kids, technology is a stepping stone to doing great things," he said. "I hope this scholarship will help a young person who has the skills but perhaps not the means to continue his education in the field of technology."