Three MCPS Students Earn College-Sponsored National Merit Scholarships

An additional three Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students have earned college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships in the final round of awards from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), bringing the total number of MCPS Merit scholars up to 49 for this scholarship cycle. 

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:

Winston Churchill High School 

Maggie Zhou, University of Maryland

Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School

Emily Annabelle Bupp, Boston University

Avni Koenig, University of Southern California