Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon announced today that 25 Staples High School seniors have been named Commended Students in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program.
A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation will be presented by the Staples Interim Principal Mark W. Karagus to students “who participate and excel in nearly every activity Staples High School offers.,” Landon said.
“They’re singers, athletes, journalists, computer whizzes, piano players, artists and actors,” Landon said. “They take advanced placement and honors classes, along with culinary, graphic design and are active in community service clubs.”
The commended students are: Jordan Adler, Nicolas Amato, Rees Chang, Claudia Chen, Devon Debalsi, Jason Garland, Aliza Gross, Joshua Hauser, Halley Jonas, Charles Krawiec, Maya Lawande, Yevgen Lensky, James Lewis, Jackson Livingstone, Arianna Markel, Vignesh Namasivayam, Joseph, Pravder, Douglas Raigosa, Julia Saveliff, Julia Schorr, Audrey Seo, Ethan Shenhar, Arun Soni, Jimmy Ray Stagg and Angela Yu.
About 34,000 students out of the 1.5 million nationally who entered the 2016 competition via the 2015 Preliminary SAT received commendations for “exceptional academic promise,” Landon said.
Today’s announcement follows Landon’s Sept. 9 release that Staples netted 12 Merit semifinalists, representing fewer than 1 percent nationwide competing for 7,600 scholarships.
