Revere shines in National Merit competition

by Sheldon Ocker

Revere High School again scored well in the National Merit Scholarship competition, with 19 students achieving semifinalist or commended student status.

The eight Revere National Merit semifinalists will continue in the competition with hopes of becoming one of approximately 7,200 National Merit finalists, who will receive college scholarships. More than 1.3 million juniors (in 2022) began the National Merit journey by taking he PSAT test.   

Revere’s eight semifinalists: Zach Iler, Andy Long, Kish Mendpara, Katie Nowakowski, Neal Pannala, Noah Restivo, Leah Valentine and Shane Yankovitz.

Revere’s 11 commended students: Madeline Binder, Daniel Choi, Serena Guo, Ainsley Jacquemain, Fuma Kondo, Rishit Kulkarni, Ethan Mark, Derek McBennett, Grady McGrievy, Ty Muehlfeld and Heidi Tucker.

Revere Principal Andy Peltz put his students’ achievements into perspective, explaining that of all the student who took the PSAT last year, 50,000, or 3%, were recognized as commended students or National Merit semifinalists.

He added that 16,000 students nationally, or 1% of those who took the PSAT, were named National Merit semifinalists.

“We had 209 students in our [2022] graduating class,’’ Peltz said. “Four percent are being recognized as semifinalists. … If you are a commended scholar, you are in the top 2 or 3% of all the students in the nation. We had 11 of them. Over 5% of our students fell into that category.’’

Peltz credited Revere’s success to the lengthy process of educating kids from kindergarten to high school graduate.

“This is not just a high school award,” he said. “This takes years, 13 years, of preparation and dedication. … I just want to thank all the educators in Revere Local Schools for preparing our students to be able to reach our high expectations.’’

The Richfield Elementary PTA, as is its custom, gave out 680 pumpkins for students to decorate. … Also at Richfield, parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for the evenings of Nov. 2 and 11. … The entire first grade visited the high school football field with their fathers or their favorite “dude,” as varsity football players came by to play catch with the younger kids.

Bath Elementary counselors Kristi Kerrigan and Stephanie Macauda conducted “Stress Less Days” for each grade.  The purpose is to manage stress and reduce anxiety. Third-graders and fifth-graders already have had their sessions. The fourth grade will take its turn next spring. ∞