Five West Caldwell Students Recognized as National Merit Scholars

Four James Caldwell High School students were recoginized as National Merit Scholars this week, JCHS Principal Dr. Kevin Barnes reports.

Senior Joshua M. Kopen received the honor of Semi-Finalist and seniors Samantha Chang, Harjot S. Sidhu, Hunter S. Smith and Spencer D. Wielgus were named Commended Students. A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Committee will be presented to these scholastically talented students.

Semi-Finalists represent less than one percent of all U.S. high school seniors, representing the highest scoring entrants in each state. Merit Scholarship winners will be notified between April and July of 2015.

“We would like to extend our congratulations and thanks to these students for representing our school and state in such a positive way,” said Dr. Barnes. “Earning the honor of being named a Commended Student or Semi-Finalist is truly an accomplishment.”

Approximately 16,000 semi-finalists nationwide, or one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, have an opportunity to continue in the competition for Merit Scholarship® awards.

To become a finalist, a semi-finalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the earlier qualifying performance.

Commended students are recognized nationwide for their academic promise, placing among the top five percent of more than 1.4 million students in 21,000 high schools who entered the competition. Students enter the competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).

Pictured in the photo (back row, left to right: Commended student Spencer D. Wielgus, Semi-Finalist Joshua M. Kopen, Commended student Hunter Smith, and (front row) Commended students Samantha Chang and Harjot S. Sidhu. Commended students are recognized nationwide for their academic promise, placing among the top five percent of more than 1.4 million students in 21,000 high schools who entered the competition. Semi-Finalists represent less than one percent of all U.S. high school seniors, representing the highest scoring entrants in each state.

For more information on the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District, please visit the district website.