Four Lemont Students Earn National Merit Commended Student Recognition

LEMONT, IL — Lemont High School seniors Mira Antonopoulos, Sarah Hagen, Natasha Joseph and Shannon O’Donnell all have been recognized as National Merit Commended Students thanks to their performance on either the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) or the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

Given to high school juniors, more than 1.6 million students took the PSAT/NMSQT in October 2015. Approximately 16,000 students are named as National Merit Scholar Semifinalists, and roughly 34,000 students are designated as Commended Students. Of those named as Semifinalists, more than 90 percent attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of those earn a National Merit Scholarship and receive Merit Scholar accolades.

The scores compiled by Lemont High School’s four honorees ranked them among the top five percent of all U.S. students from the Class of 2017 who took the PSAT/NMSQT or the SAT last year.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955. Its scholarships are underwritten by its own funds and approximately 500 business organizations and higher education institutions that share its goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.