A trio of Wooster High School seniors has been honored for academic excellence.
Marisa Lanker, Jennifer Philippon and Michael Pinkham were recognized for their exceptional academic promise by being named Commended Students in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a nationwide competition for recognition and awards conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Of the more than 1.5 million high school juniors from 21,000 high schools across the country who entered the 2011 competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last fall, only 34,000 were recognized as Commended Students.
Earning Commended Student status places Lanker, Philippon and Pinkham in the top five percent of the students who entered the competition.
Testing in the top five percent nationally is an absolutely remarkable achievement, said Superintendent Michael Tefs.
With their drive, dedication and a world-class education from Wooster City school district faculty, these students will go far and are sure to be phenomenally successful, Tefs added.
I have had the pleasure of watching these students grow academically over the years, some of them since middle school, said Anita Jorney-Gifford, Wooster High School principal.
They should be very proud of their accomplishments, and I have no doubt they will be successful in whatever they choose to do after graduation, Jorney-Gifford added.
Just weeks later Lanker and Pinkham received another prestigious award when they were recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for their outstanding writing abilities.
The NCTE is a 100-year-old, 35,000 member professional association of educators in English studies, literacy and language arts.
As part of their mission of improving the teaching and learning of English and language arts at all levels of education, the association invites teachers to submit the works of their talented students for the NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing program.
Of the 1,649 students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Canada and American schools abroad nominated during their junior year by their teachers, Lanker and Pinkham were among the 520 students recognized with Certificates of Superior Writing.
In addition to being among the 520 students honored, Marisa and Michael are two of only 16 students to be recognized in Ohio, said Kristi Hiner, Wooster High School language arts teacher.
This is quite an accomplishment, and we, as a department, are extremely proud of them, Hiner added.
As part of the program each nominated student submitted a sample of their best independently written prose or verse and an impromptu essay on a topic selected by the NCTE and written during a supervised 75-minute period. The works were then judged by a team of English teachers who looked for writing that demonstrated effective and imaginative use of the language to inform and move an audience.
The winning students and their schools were presented with certificates of recognition and the names of the students and their schools were posted on the NCTE website. Each student also received cards highlighting their achievement to include with their college applications.
These are two extremely talented students, said Jorney-Gifford in congratulating the pair on their accomplishments.
Along with a world-class education from Wooster, these achievements will help them succeed after graduation, she added.
For more information on the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing, log on http://www.ncte.org.
Information on the National Merit Scholarship program can be found at http://www.nationalmerit.org.
