Nine Students Receive National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarship

Nine MCPS students from five high schools have been awarded National Merit college-sponsored scholarships financed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), bringing the total number of MCPS Merit scholars up to 46 so far this year. 

Sponsoring colleges or universities select scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

The NMSC was established in 1955 to honor scholastically talented youth and to encourage academic excellence at all levels of education. This year’s recipients of National Merit college-sponsored scholarships are:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

Mathilda R. DeCosse, Vanderbilt University

Andrea J. I, University of Southern California

Margaret G. VanDerWoude, University of Alabama

Montgomery Blair High School

Riley MacArthur, Case Western Reserve University

Justin Rosentover, Case Western Reserve University

Richard Montgomery High School

Joah Karnik Kraft, Macalester College

Alfred Meng, University of Maryland

Sherwood High School

Joshua J. Canagarajah, University of Maryland

Wheaton High School

Solomon S. Silver, Grinnell College