11 Recognized in 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program

Congratulations to the NCHS Class of 2013's National Merit Scholarship Program's* Semifinalist and 10 Commended students. Semifinalist is Velani Dibba. Velani represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors (1.5 million) who entered the National Merit program by taking the PSAT qualifying test, and were the highest scoring entrants in the state. Velari has an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,400 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered next spring.

Those named as Commended -- scoring in the top 5% nationally on the PSAT-- are Kelly Jones, Emily Korzekwa, Madeleine Marshall, Brandon Mason, David Matassa, Kyle Pecot, Bradley Speak, Lauren Urso, Colton Wayne and Jonathan Baker.  About 34,000 Commended students nationwide are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.
 

All 11 National Merit recipients are pictured above: (front row): Colton Wayne; (seated, left to right): David Matassa, Kelly Jones, Lauren Urso, Bradley Speak; (standing left to right): Madeleine Marshall, Jonathan Baker, Brandon Mason, Kyle Pecot, Emily Korzekwa and Velani Dibba.
 

*The National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a not-for-profit organization established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. For more information, visit National Merit Scholarship Program.
 

Eight Seniors Named 2012-2013 National Hispanic Scholars

Eight Nolan Catholic seniors have been named 2012-2013 National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) Scholars: (pictured above standing, left to right): Lucas Fierros, Ryan Hernandez, Colton Wayne, Patricia Conley, David Matassa, David Gray, (seated, left to right): Nina Gallegos and Rebekah Hernandez.

The NHRP was initiated in 1983 to identify outstanding Hispanic/Latino high school students. This year, the NHRP is recognizing about 5,000 Hispanic/Latino students selected from a pool of more than 253,000 who took the PSAT/NMSQT in their junior year. Students recognized have achieved a minimum PSAT/NMSQT score for their region. Students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher are designated as Scholars and those with GPAs of 3.0 to 3.49 are designated as Honorable Mention.

The NHRP does not provide monetary awards, but being named is an important academic achievement. Congratulations to all of our Scholars!