REGION : 14 Area Students Win Merit Scholarships

Fourteen local high school seniors, including seven from ABC Unified School District and five from Montebello Unified, have won National Merit Scholarships that usually range from $250 to $8,000.

The winners from ABC Unified, serving the Cerritos area, are Sejal H. Shah of Cerritos High School and Billy C. Chen, Jennifer Y. Lee, Susan Y. Peng, Jennifer H. Tai, Winston C. She and Carolyn K. Yu, all of Whitney High in Cerritos.

The winners from Montebello Unified are Jennie M. Cheung, Arnold W. Kim and Gilbert W. Kim of Schurr High in Montebello, Sheldon C. Lim of Montebello High and Luis F. Perez of Bell Gardens High.

Other local winners, who attend private schools outside the area, are Menachem M. Gold of Long Beach and Stephen W. Cheng of Montebello.

The 6,700 winners nationwide were selected on the basis of standardized test scores, grades, activities and a letter of recommendation from their schools.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. is an Illinois-based, nonprofit agency established to recognize exceptional high school seniors and to help them pay for college.