Schools
Fountain Valley High Student Named National Merit Scholar
Pauline P. Hyunh, will received award from the University of Southern California for at least four years of college.
student Pauline P. Huynh was named a 2012 National Merit Scholar this week.
Hyunh, who plans to attend the University of Southern California, is one of about 8,100 students across the nation to win the award.
And getting the scholarship isn’t easy, according to Eileen Artemakis, director of public information for the National Merit Scholarship Corp.
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“They have to high grades through all of high school, and they have to take the most rigorous college-type courses,” Artemakis said.
Students who score high enough on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test became semifinalists for the award, and semifinalists who submitted scholarship applications and scored high enough on the actual SAT were named finalists.
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More than half of the finalists received the final award this year.
“They’re just all-round great kids,” Artemakis said. “I would think that college campuses would love to have them.”
According to the Orange County Register, 105 students in the county garnered the award this year, and Hyunh was the only National Merit winner from Fountain Valley.
Huynh will receive a scholarship between $500 to $2,000 from USC for up to four years of undergraduate study.
Altogether, National Merit winners will receive more than $35 million in scholarships this year for college undergraduate study.
Throughout the past 57 years, more than 292,000 students have received the award, totaling nearly $1 billion in scholarships, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corp. website.
