It is a great honor to be acknowledged for one’s hard work and diligence in high school, and a handful of Pelham seniors gained such honor when they were named National Merit Semifinalists. Seniors Elise Aronson, Rachel Brewer, Richard Che, Ben Glickman, and Liam Ronan were among the 16,000 semifinalists in the country who earned top scores due to their outstanding PSAT results from last October. Through an application process, the students can go on to become finalists. To get this far, however, required some hard work.

“My advice would be to take the PSAT as seriously as you would take any other test,” Elise Aronson said. “Even though it doesn’t count for a grade it’s still worth it to try,”

In addition to the semifinalists, three other seniors were honored for their hard work on the PSAT. Charlotte Edmunds, Sarah Ellenbogen, and Michael Salama were designated as Commended Students. These seniors are among the 34,000 students in the nation to be recognized for their remarkable academic achievements. These Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 out of nearly two million students who took the 2017 PSAT.

“It felt gratifying and I felt proud of my achievement,” Ellenbogen said.

High schools across the nation will be notified in early February if their Semifinalists have advanced to Finalist standing. More than $32 million in National Merit Scholarship funding is given out to scholarship winners.