Five from Huntington Commended
by National Merit
Five Huntington High School students have earned "Commended" honors in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship program. Seniors Adam Cerini, Carolyn Fante, Alexandra Kiley, Michael O'Connor and Giancarlo Savoy were all recognized for their high-powered academic performance.
The "Huntington-five" are among 34,000 of the top 50,000 high scorers on the 2010 PSAT/NMSQT. The teenagers received letters of commendation, according to Huntington Principal Carmela Leonardi. "I think this is the largest number of Commended students we have had in recent years," Dr. Leonardi said.
"Commended students are named on the basis of a nationally applied selection index score that may vary from year to year and is below the level required for participants to be named semi-finalists in their respective states," according to the National Merit website.
Commended students do not continue in the annual competition for National Merit scholarships, but they are eligible for special scholarships sponsored by corporate America. About 1.5 million juniors from 22,000 high schools entered the 2011 National Merit competition last spring.