National Merit Scholars announced

Fifteen students from Lake County are among the 2,500 high school seniors who have won $2,500 National Merit Scholarships for 2009.

The students were chosen from a pool of 15,000 finalists.

The winners were picked for having the "strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies," according to the NMSC.

Local winners are:

• Tyler A. Bartlow, Long Grove, Stevenson High School.

• Laurence Brouillette, Buffalo Grove, Stevenson High School.

• Hannah E. Gelbort, Highland Park, Highland Park High School.

• Ana E. Istrate, Deerfield, Deerfield High School.

• Kristin L. Lewis, Gurnee, Warren Township High School.

• Alexei Louchkov, Buffalo Grove, Stevenson High School.

• Matthew K. Nichols, Buffalo Grove, Stevenson High School.

• Andrew C. Quinn, Lake Forest, Lake Forest High School.

• Michelle Ran, Buffalo Grove, Stevenson High School.

• Nicholas Rock, Kildeer, Illinois Math and Science Academy.

• Andrew R. Silvis, Libertyville, Libertyville High School.

• Choong Hwa Shin, Buffalo Grove, Stevenson High School.

• Kevin M. Stone, Antioch, Carmel Catholic High School.

• Henry B. Wood, Lincolnshire, Stevenson High School.

• Fangzhou Yu, Buffalo Grove, Stevenson High School.

The award competition for these students began in 2007 when more than 1.5 million juniors in over 22,000 high schools took the qualifying PSAT test.