By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

BUTLER COUNTY Lakota East: Douglas Brown Lakota West: Kristal Dobbins (Honorary Merit Scholarship), Shengy Mao (Cognis Corp, Merit Scholarship) HAMILTON COUNTY Cincinnati Country Day: Jason Juang, April Yee Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy: Jennifer Allen (BP America Inc.) Indian Hill: Jing Liu, Linsey Rogers (International Paper Merit Scholarship) McAuley: Katherine Hart, Elizabeth Meng (Northrop Grumman Merit Scholarship), Moeller: David King, Daniel Schwallie (Tomkins Corp. Foundation), Thomas Lapille Princeton: Andrew Stephan St. Xavier High School: Joseph Knadler, Robert Hobohm, Gregory Lim, Kyle Karches, Nicholas Wolterman (American Financial Group Merit Scholarship), Francis Bergh (Gannett Foundation/Madelyn P. Jennings Merit Scholarship) St. Ursula Academy: Katherine Schroer, Emily Broun, Seven Hills: Megan Hoffmann, Katherine Menzies, Yarl Balachandran, Thomas W. Collins (Aon Corp. Merit Scholarship) Summit Country Day: Lisa Cosgrove Sycamore High School: Jacob Lee, Nitin Sekar, Dennis Jiang Walnut Hills High School: Roaxanne Corkin, Andrew Meiser Wyoming High School: Elizabeth Kersten, Phillip Roebuck- WARREN COUNTY Kings High School: Kera Halbersleben NORTHERN KENTUCKY Dixie Heights High School: Timothy Miller Holy Cross District High School: Paul Schlarman

Thirty-seven Greater Cincinnati seniors are among 3,550 nationally receiving scholarships through the National Merit Scholarship Program, which recognizes the nation's top students.

They were selected from 15,000 finalists and 1.3 million high school students who entered the program by taking the 2002 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors.

All finalists compete for one of the National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. The number of winners in each state is based on its percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

A selection committee that included college admissions officers and high school counselors reviewed the information submitted by finalists and their schools, evaluating each finalist's academic record, scores from two standardized tests, leadership, essay and a written recommendation.

The winners were judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success.

Students received the $2,500 one-time awards from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. or from a private firm. The private awards vary in amount.

On May 26 and July 12, the corporation will name winners of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards. About 8,000 of the 15,000 finalists are expected to receive scholarships.