Local wins scholarship

Michael Miller

Today, Newport Harbor High School senior Megan Randall is to become

the only student in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District -- and

one of more than 2,400 nationwide -- to receive a college-sponsored

2005 National Merit Scholarship.

Randall, an aspiring journalist and author, will receive $2,000 to

attend Tufts University in Massachusetts. The scholarship was

sponsored by the university.

“Honestly, I’m a pretty hard worker,” Randall said after hearing

about her honor. “I’m not one of these people who skate by on natural

talent.”

Whether through hard work or natural skill, Randall has packed in

accomplishments over her four years at Newport Harbor High. The

18-year-old Costa Mesa resident has placed first in writing and

second in music composition in her school’s PTA Reflections

Competition. She has served as Recycling Coordinator for Newport

Harbor’s Earth Resource Foundation Club and received the California

Governor’s Scholar Award.

Apart from classwork, Randall has played piano for more than nine

years and belongs to the United States Fencing Assn. and the South

Coast Fencing Center. The last two years, she has served on the City

of Newport Beach’s Smoke Free Beaches and Piers Campaign, helping to

ban smoking on the city’s beaches.

“She’s done a tremendous job here,” said her Newport Harbor

guidance counselor, David Brant. “She’s a very refreshing person --

just an all-American kid.”

Randall, along with 1.3 million other high school juniors, entered

the 2005 Merit Scholarship competition when she took the Preliminary

SAT test in 2003. The highest-scoring students in each state were

named semi-finalists and asked to provide recommendations from

administrators as well as personal essays on their goals. Randall

wrote her essay about her love of creative writing.

Once National Merit semifinalists reach the finalist level, the

scholarship program offers them three types of awards: National Merit

Scholarships for $2,500, corporate-sponsored awards and others

sponsored by colleges. More than 200 higher education institutions

underwrote scholarships this year, with prizes ranging from $500 to

$2,000. Approximately half of all National Merit finalists will be

chosen as scholarship winners this year.

“To have a finalist receiving money is an honor for the school

district, for her school, and mostly for her,” Newport-Mesa

spokeswoman Jane Garland said about Randall. “She’s got one of the

real tough ones.”