Redmond High School students Maya Balakrishnan, Tara Balakrishnan and Jihoon Lee are among six high school seniors at the Lake Washington School District who will receive $2,500 National Merit scholarships.

The remaining three district students to receive the scholarships are Audrey Hsu and Sam Schwabacher from Juanita High School and Suejean Hwangpo from Lake Washington High School.

Four more Redmond residents will also receive a $2,500 scholarship each: Kaustubh Deo from University Preparatory Academy in Seattle, Kolya Malkin from the Transition School for Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington, Katelyn Petrin from The Bear Creek School in Redmond and Emily Thacher from The Overlake School in Redmond.

These 10  students are among 2,500 high school seniors nationwide to win this scholarship. They were selected from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit Scholarship winners are finalists in each state who have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies. A committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors selected these students as scholarship winners. These scholars may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.