Newtown High School (NHS) students who earned Commended Student recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program were celebrated at the school on September 26.

After the 16 students were gathered in the school’s counseling department, NHS Principal Dr Kimberly Longobucco shared the news by saying, “You are our group of Commended Students.”

It was a surprise for the students.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, students qualify for the honor by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Of the roughly 1.5 million students who took the test, roughly 34,000 high performers are being honored as Commended Students.

NHS’s Commended Students, in alphabetical order, are Michael Enaye, Jacob Goldstein, Trey Hazard, Jackson Hebner, Richard Irving, Con Kyprianou, Sachin Mansukhani, Fritz Maurath, Quinn McAndrew, Eileen McCleary, Shivani Mendiratta, Annelie Minor, Keenan Murphy, Nihal Nawaz, Kayleigh Roche, and Colin Zhang.

Each student received a letter of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation in recognition of the honor.

NHS students Sophia Guizzo and Jake Pare were previously honored at NHS, on September 12, as National Merit Scholarship program semi-finalists, as reported in The Newtown Bee.

Dr Longobucco told the Commended Students it is “a big deal” to be among the highest scoring students in the country.

“We are very proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself,” said Dr Longobucco.