Portsmouth Abbey School has announced the names of six students who have been named Commended Students in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.  They are:  Joseph Chu '07, of South Korea; Alex Cusack '07, of Rumford, RI; Ryan DaPonte '07, of Bristol, RI; John Gallagher '07, of Little Compton, RI; Jeffrey Popham '07, of Bristol, RI; and Traver Tischio '07, of Brick, NJ.

The students, all Sixth Formers, are among a group of some 34,000 high school candidates who received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise.  Their commendations are based on high scores achieved on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).  The Commended Students were chosen from an original group of more than 1.4 million high school juniors who entered the prestigious contest.  The six students, while no longer in competition for Merit Scholarship awards, may still receive one of 1,500 Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and business organizations.  

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition among high school students for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955.  Portsmouth Abbey School's Lucas Zipp '07 was recently named a Semifinalist in the nationwide program.