COMPANY AIDS TOP STUDENTS; AMGEN ANNOUNCES SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS.

Byline: John Huddy Daily News Staff Writer

For Mayanne Chen and Karen Daugherty, the hours spent cracking the books are finally paying off - literally.

The graduating seniors will be honored today as recipients of $16,000 scholarships from the Amgen Foundation, which recognizes academic achievement.

``I found out in April that I was getting the scholarship,'' said Daugherty, one of four valedictorians at Simi Valley High School. ``I was really happy because the (college) I'm going to is pretty expensive and this will definitely help pay for it.''

Amgen, a global biotechnology company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, grants scholarships every year to children of its employees. Chen and Daugherty each will receive $4,000 for the next four years. Scholarships also will be given to Adam Thomason from Cate High School in Santa Barbara County and Debra Woods of San Marino High School.

``This is a beneficial program for not only the community, but for the students as well,'' said Lory Forgay, an Amgen spokeswoman.

David Chang and Larry Daugherty, the girls' fathers, both work in Amgen's new product and technology section. Karen's mother, Betsy Daugherty, works in the company's research services division.

The Amgen scholarship program was established in 1995 in cooperation with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Eleven students have benefited thus far.

The scholarship finalists were selected by National Merit, which evaluates each student's participation in significant activities and contributions to the school and community, as well as their standardized test scores and the school's recommendation of the student and his or her self-description of interests and goals, Forgay said.

Karen Daugherty plans to attend the California Institute of Technology, where she will major in biochemistry - an interest she attributes to her parents' influence.

``My parents were always telling me about the latest developments and experiments,'' Daugherty said. ``I thought it was really interesting. I've always enjoyed studying science.''

In addition to the scholarship program, Amgen has an annual program to honor outstanding teachers. It also has provided more than $170,000 for science projects and services in Ventura County schools.