Three Huntington Students Earn National Merit Commended Honors
Three more current Huntington High School students have earned honors in this year’s National Merit Scholarship Program. Seniors Fiona Byrne, Kay Lodge and Dylan Payne garnered “Commended” status, which places them among the top 50,000 students of the more than 1.5 million entrants in the 2008 program.
The National Merit Scholarship Program, which dates to 1955, is an academic competition that provides recognition and scholarships for top students. About 34,000 students receive Letters of Commendation with the rest advancing to the semifinals. There are more than 21,000 high schools in the United States.
“As you can imagine we are very proud of these students,” Principal Carmela Leonardi said. “The seriousness with which they undertake their studies is impressive. We are all benefiting from their talents and hard work.”
The competition begins each year when students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Competitors must also meet various stringent participation requirements. They are eventually assigned a “selection index” that is based on their critical reading, math and writing skills scores.
One of Huntington’s Commended students was within a handful of points of advancing to the semifinals. Some Commended students are later considered for special scholarships sponsored by corporations.
The three seniors were commended for their “exceptional academic promise” demonstrated on the qualifying test. “This is an outstanding achievement for three deserving students,” Superintendent John J. Finello said. “We are very happy for them and their families.”
Several weeks ago Huntington senior Chris Lau was informed that he had been named a National Merit semifinalist, allowing him to move on in the prestigious competition. Mr. Lau is considering a number of colleges, including the University of Pennsylvania.
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