Parkland Honors Students For National Merit Standings

The Parkland School Board on Tuesday recognized students who had special achievements in The National Merit Scholarship Program and the National Achievement Scholarship Competition.

National Merit Scholarship Program

High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the preliminary qualifying tests.

At the board meeting held at Lehigh Carbon Community College, Parkland High School Principal Howard Lessel introduced the semi-finalists and the commended students in the program.

Eight semifinalists were recognized: Jack Huang, Camille Johnson, Reno Kriz, Zhiheng Qin, Benjamin Spikol, Matthew Stein, Lincoln Walton and Tristan Winick.

Lessel said finalists in the program will be announced later this year.

The board also congratulated seven who are “commended students” in the program because of their performance: Scott Berman, Sachin Gandhi, Andrew Kim, Andrew McKeon, Paul Peng, Carly Trachtman and Brooke Troutman.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955.

National Achievement Scholarship Competition

In addition, the Parkland School Board, at its meeting, recognized Joshua Tempro, a semifinalist in the 2012 National Achievement Scholarship Competition.

The program honors scholastically promising black American high school students and increases their educational opportunities.

Tempro is believed to be the first Parkland student to reach the semi-finalist level, a school guidance counselor said.