Laguna Hills Student Awarded National Merit Scholarship

LAGUNA HILLS, CA — A high school student from Laguna Hills was among more than 540 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced Monday.

Anne Weston of Laguna Hills won the esteemed award. A graduate of St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano will study Business at Fordham University, the NMSC said.

Dana L. Stefanides of Aliso Viejo of Aliso Niguel High School, Irvine students Rahan Arasteh of the University High School, Hyunwoo Kang of Arnold O. Beckman High School, Jamie Kim of University High School, Hyoungin Park of Arnold O. Beckman High School; Anne Weston of Laguna Hills, St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano and Joshua Meyer of Mission Viejo of Capistrano Valley High School also won the esteemed scholarships.

Dana L. Stefanides probable career field is Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University.

Joshua Meyer hopes to pursue a career in Law at University of Utah.

Hyounglin Park hopes to study Anesthesiology at the University of Southern California.

Jamie Kim hopes to pursue a career in Medicine at the University of Southern California.

Hyunwoo Kang will seek a career in Medicine also at the University of Southern California.

Rahan Arasteh will seek a career in Law (Intellectual Property) at Vanderbilt University.

These Merit Scholar designees join more than 3,500 other college-sponsored award recipients were announced in June, the press release said. Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from the Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their school. College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship, NMSC said.

This year, 173 colleges and universities — including 95 private and 78 public institutions from 43 states and the District of Columbia — are sponsoring about 4,100 Merit Scholarship awards, according to NMSC. This is the last group of National Merit Scholar designees to be announced in 2019 by NMSC.

There were more than 7,600 National Merit Scholars in 2019, the press release said. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth more than $31 million total.