Schools
WHIZ KID: Dulaney Grad Receives National Merit Scholarship
Whiz Kid is a weekly column highlighting a high-achieving local youngster!
Recent graduate Kathleen “KC” Schmitz was one of eight Baltimore County Public School graduates to receive a college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship during the final round of selection this month.
Fordham University in New York has awarded KC the scholarship to assist her in her upcoming undergraduate career there, in addition to the full Presidential Scholarship the school had already awarded her.
KC was also awarded a National Honor Society scholarship.
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“She’s pretty motivated,” said her mother, Katie Schmitz. “She took all the advanced placement [courses] she could take, and she’s gotten through them all.”
This year, 4,888 students in the U.S. qualified for the college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship based on their SAT scores and an application, an essay, an outstanding academic record and a recommendation. Additional finalists, including three more from BCPS, were awarded scholarships sponsored by corporations and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation itself.
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“It was a whole lot like the college application process,” KC said. “It wasn’t that strenuous.” An essay she had already written on her Fordham application did double duty.
KC plans to study international business, pick up another language and travel. At Dulaney, she studied French and Spanish. At Fordham, she plans to minor in French and will probably study abroad at a sister school in France for a semester.
“The honors program that I got into, it’s 23 people total,” KC said. “It’s called the Global Business Honors Program. I am doing the global specialization, and they do require you to study abroad.”
Before school starts at the end of summer, KC will be traveling to Honduras for the second time with Students Helping Honduras (SHH), a nonprofit organization that raises money, helps build schools, digs wells and supplies electricity to communities in Honduras.
Fordham doesn’t have its own SHH chapter yet.
“I am planning on starting one as soon as I get there,” KC said.
