19 students named National Merit winners

Daniel Copeland, Eric Dong, Swetha Surianarayanan, Nick Mecilkaski, Eileen Lambert, Karen Li, Briana Miller, Corinna Slater, Paul Barrett, JJ Haight, Christopher Elegante, Christopher Shriver, Nathan McWhirter, Josh Clement, Andrew Colsch, Patrick Bradley. Not pictured: Joshua Clement, Michael Cooper, Eileen Tracy Lambert, Nicholas J Mecikalski.

Bob Jones High School has 19 National Merit scholars this year.

Some were admitted to Stanford University, Duke University, Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern and the University of Cambridge in England.

“Most of these students were heavily engaged in Advanced Placement coursework and/or some dual enrollment classes,” said Bob Jones college and career advisor Sheila Roberts

The students were chosen from a pool of more than 16,000 finalists this year, but only 15,000 were chosen as finalists.

“With so much talent, it is easy to see why BJHS students are able to compete in the top college programs in the U.S.,” she said.

Next week, Roberts said a 2011 alumnus will return from Harvard to speak to rising seniors interested in selective colleges.

Roberts said being a National Merit winner not only opens the doors to those private and selective colleges, but it also means full scholarships to many state colleges and universities.

“It is very fulfilling to work with all students and to assist them in meeting their goals,” she said.