Record 17 CVHS Students Recognized as National Merit

On Wednesday, Oct. 19th, 17 students who took the PSAT during October 2010 were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments. According to Principal Mike Campbell, this is a record number of academic achievers to be honored all at one time by the high school based on National Merit recognition.  The honorees received a certificate to mark their achievement in a school ceremony, and a reception was held in their honor afterwards in the school’s Media Center.

To put these honors in perspective, it helps to realize that over 1.5 million juniors from roughly 22,000 high schools took the PSAT last year. 

National Merit Semifinalists

Of the students who took the PSAT as a junior, the top 16,000 students who represent less than 1 percent of US high school seniors are recognized as National Merit Semifinalists. There were roughly 52,000 juniors from 477 schools in Virginia who took the test. From the state of Virginia, 369 students were recognized as National Merit Semifinalists.

Of the 369 students, Alaina Forte finished as one of the top 316 students in the state of Virginia; Maria Lee finished as one of the top 257 students in the state; Keegan Collins finished as one of the top 200 students in the state; and Chantelle Tait finished as one of the top 60 students in the state of Virginia.  

Alaina, Maria, Keegan, and Chantelle all have an opportunity to continue in the National Merit Scholarship competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million dollars.

Commended Students

The next group of students recognized were the Commended Students.  These students were recognized for the exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the PSAT. This year 34,000 students were recognized nationally as Commended Students, placing among the top 5 percent of all juniors who took the PSAT in 2010. Our students all placed within the top 1,900 juniors who took the test in the state of Virginia. Twelve students earned this honor, placing among the top 1900 students in the state of Virginia:   

Sara Emsley, Mary Graft, Erika Hubbard, Phillip Kang, Chahyun Kim, Samuel Maney, Alexander May, Emily McLenigan, Sapna Rao, Ravneet Singh, Kelly Strauch and Bo-Won Suh.

National Achievement Program

The final exceptional scholar recognized during the ceremony was Texas Williams. He was one of 3,100 outstanding participants in the National Achievement Scholarship Program, scoring in the top 3 percent of more than 160,000 Black American students who requested consideration in the 2012 National Achievement Program.

—Karen Fulkerson is publicity chair of the Centreville High PTSA