Five Nichols School Seniors Earn National Academic Recognition

Nichols School seniors Mia Cruz ’21, Patricia O’Donnell ’21, Joseph Ricotta ’21, Ben Upshaw ’21 and Chenming Zhou ’21 earned national commendations this week for their academic accomplishments. O’Donnell, Ricotta and Zhou were recognized as Commended Students in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program, and Cruz and Upshaw were named College Board National Recognition Program Scholars.

 

The 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program recognized O’Donnell, Ricotta and Zhou alongside about 34,000 Commended Students throughout the country for their exceptional academic promise. Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of the more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Competition by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

 

Based on their results in the PSAT/NMSQT, Cruz was named to the College Board National Hispanic Recognition Program, and Upshaw was named to the College Board National African American Recognition Program. Cruz and Upshaw placed within the top 2.5% of all students nationwide who took the 2019 PSAT/NMSQT and identified as one of the following: African American, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, or attend school in a rural area, or are from a small town.

 

Congratulations to all the honorees and we wish you all the best as you prepare for your collegiate studies!