Northwest Catholic students recognized for academic excellence

Six Northwest Catholic High School seniors have been named National Merit Semifinalists. The students are Haley Derlinga '13 of East Granby, Sarah Gillespie '13 of Manchester, Emily Kearney '13 of Simsbury, Elizabeth Lathrop '13 of Plantsville, Edwin Vincens '13 of West Hartford and Eamon Wizner '13 of Wethersfield.

These students are in the top one percent of scorers among the 1.5 million juniors who took the PSAT/NMSQT exam in October 2011. They will now continue in the competition for designation as a National Merit Finalist and for one of the Merit Scholarships that will be awarded next spring.

Savannah Gaston '13 of Enfield was named a Scholar in the National Hispanic Recognition program. The program recognizes nearly 5,000 Hispanic/Latino students for their high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT exam. In addition, the College Board has announced that 43 students from Northwest Catholic have been named AP Scholars for 2012, based on exceptional achievement on Advanced Placement exams. In addition, the school's AP grade average was 3.80 this year.

NWC had seven AP Scholars with Distinction; eight AP Scholars with Honor; and 28 AP Scholars. Agata Harabasz '12 of East Hampton was also named a National AP Scholar, a distinction awarded to students who earn an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and a score of 4 or higher on eight or more of the tests.

Derlinga, Gaston, Gillespie and Vincens were named AP Scholars. Wizner was named an AP Scholar with Honor. Several West Hartford residents were also named AP Scholars for 2012. Gina Bettencourt '12, Allison Denton '12, Melissa Donnelly '12, Julia Grieco '13, Christopher Laffin '12 and Christopher Lynch '12 were all named AP Scholars. Christopher Freund '12 was named an AP Scholar with Distinction.

Photo: NWC's National Merit Semifinalists are Edwin Vincens, Haley Derlinga, Elizabeth Lathrop, Emily Kearney, Sarah Gillespie, and Eamon Wizner. Submitted.