14 OLP Students Recognized by the National Merit and National Hispanic Recognition Programs

By Teri Heard, Assistant Principal of Curriculum & Instruction

The results are in and students from the Academy of Our Lady of Peace excel in English, Math, and Science. Nearly 100% of OLP students exceed the college readiness standards for English & Writing while simultaneously outperforming their peers across the nation in Math and Science by 21%. As a result, our students are earning national recognition for their academic achievements.

Each year in October, juniors across the country take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) which enters them into the National Merit® Scholarship Program. Of the 1.6 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program. More than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the approximately 50,000 high scorers receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise and about 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, are notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists. These Semifinalists will find out in February if they will continue to the Finalist stage of the competition. Additionally, about 5,000 of the 250,000 Hispanic/Latino juniors who take the test will earn the National Hispanic Recognition.

The Academy of Our Lady of Peace is honored to announce the following 14 National Merit and National Hispanic Students:

National Merit Semi-Finalist:
Allison Grygar ’18

National Merit Commended:
Dana Adcock ’18
Melissa Ahrens-Viquez ’18
Angela Balistrieri ’18
Carolina Borbon ’18
Catherine de Frates ’18
Megan Gronstad ’18
Allison Grygar ’18
Tifany Nguyen ’18

National Hispanic Recognition:
Melissa Ahrens-Viquez ’18
Therese Arguilez ’18
Carolina Borbon ’18
Diana Renteria ’18
Sofia Steinberger ’18
Nicole Valdivia ’18