Two more Quakertown Community High School seniors are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise by the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Nam Le and Hailey Reiss each received a Letter of Commendation for their outstanding performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test in 2017.
Last month, Mikayla Fuentes and Adria Retter were recognized for qualifying as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists. That puts four QCHS seniors, the most ever in one class, in the top one percent of all high school students nationwide.
"I expect that number to grow incrementally over the next couple of years as more and more students are challenging themselves to our curriculum," Superintendent Dr. Bill Harner said. "These accomplishments are a testament to the hard work of our students, and the outstanding job our teachers are doing in the classroom."
Both Nam and Hailey expressed surprise that they were selected for such a high commendation. "I'm extremely excited because it's such a huge honor," said Hailey, who scored a 1,440 on the PSAT. "It was kind of a shock. I thought my score would be good, but I didn't think it would be that good."
Nam, who scored a 1,410, said he was "glad and grateful" to have the commendation, and agreed with Hailey's comment that "it's something that will look nice on a college application."
More than 1.6 million students took the 2017 Preliminary SAT a year ago. The 50,000 highest scorers are being recognized. Approximately 16,000 of those high performers were recently designated National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists. The next 34,000 achieve Commended Student status.
Hailey is involved with Mini-THON, National Honors Society, Model U.N. and is captain of the lacrosse team. Nam runs outdoor and indoor track, is part of Best Buddies Pride Pack at Quakertown Elementary School, the Technology Student Association, NHS and Student Council.
Both Nam and Hailey have taken advantage of the 28 Advanced Placement classes QCHS has to choose from. Nam is currently taking AP English Literature, U.S. Government & Politics, Environmental Science, AP Calculus BC, and Physics II. Hailey is studying in AP Physics, AP Literature & Composition, and AP U.S Government & Politics. She also takes a course at DeSales University (Crime and Society) three days a week.