Whitney High Senior Receives Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarship Worth More Than $200,000

Sayoni Saha, a senior at , is one of 15 students who have won the prestigious Angier B. Duke Memorial scholarships -- a full scholarship to Duke University worth more than $200,000 over a four-year period, the university announced Thursday.

Each of the recipients will be receiving full tuition, room and board, and mandatory fees for four years, as well as a six-week summer study program at the University of Oxford in England. They are also offered up to $5,000 for research or other educational enrichment programs, according to the school.

Sayoni resides in Cerritos with her parents Sharmila and Krishnendu Saha. She was one of three other Californians to win the award. The other students were Katherine Jane Fernelius of Rancho Santa Margarita and Manoj Kanagaraj of Chino Hills.

"The scholarships are awarded to outstanding students who show promise of being intellectual leaders. The awards stem from the Angier B. Duke Memorial Inc., established in 1925 by university co-founder Benjamin Newton Duke in memory of his son, Angier Buchanan Duke," the university stated.

The scholarship's alumni include 12 Marshall Scholars and 18 Rhodes Scholars, including the renowned writer/Duke English professor Reynolds Price, who passed away last year; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Anne Tyler; NASA project scientist Hal Weaver; and Dr. Lynt Johnson, chief of transplant surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center.

For more information about the A.B. Duke Memorial Scholarship visit abduke.duke.edu.

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