John Janotta, Paynesville Area High School principal, announced Rachel Gifford, right; Amber Ingalsbe, center; and Camille Flanders, left; have been named “commended students” in the 1999 National Merit Scholarship Program.A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by the principal to the students.
Some 34,500 commended students throughout the nation are being honored for their academic promise. They will not continue in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards to be offered next spring because of their scores. Commended students placed among the top five percent of more than one million students who entered the 1999 Merit Program by taking the 1997 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test.
A merit program spokesperson commented, “Recognition of academ-ically talented students and of the key role played by schools in their development is essential to the pursuit of educational excellence in our nation. The young men and women named “com-mended students” are honored for their outstanding scholastic potential demon-strated by their high performance in the very competitive Merit Program. We hope the recognition received by these students will encourage them to take advantage of their opportunities for higher education and to diligently pursue their professional goals.”
All three girls are members of the National Honor Society. Parents of the girls are Larry and Janet Gifford, Roscoe; Dave and Barb Ingalsbe, and Mike and Jo Flanders, rural Paynesville.