By Satvika Ananth
Staff Writer
Video by Brian O’Connor

On Oct. 28, Coppell High School hosted a luncheon in the library to honor students recognized for their National Merit Scholarship Qualification test.

Honorees included National Merit Semifinalists, National Merit Commended Students, National Achievement Outstanding Participant, National Achievement Semifinalists and National Hispanic Scholar. CHS recognized at least one student from each of the National Merit categories.

The luncheon began with students mingling and enjoying a lunch of pizza and salad. The counseling department, Associate Principal Leanne Dorhout and Principal Brad Hunt were there to congratulate the honorees.

Hunt formally congratulated the students for their achievements. He explained that not only had CHS achieved the highest number of National Merit Semifinalists in its history, the entire population of National Merit honorees was larger than ever before.

“It’s important that we’re able to honor students for their accomplishments, and it’s also good that students are able to see how many are being recognized and to know that we’re proud of them,” Dorhout said.

Hunt also stressed the students present were not only academically successful, but also involved with several organizations throughout the school and continue to make a difference on the campus.

Counselors Penny Davis, Chastity Lansdell, Alice Sandel, Mindy McMinn, John Crook and Debbie Fruithandler presented students with certificates recognizing them for their achievements, and each group of honorees took a group picture before returning to their seats.

However, the fun was not yet over for the students: Their greatest excitement came when Hunt announced that all the students would be receiving “I Rock CHS” shirts, inciting shouts of glee across the library.

“I definitely thought the I Rock CHS shirts were the best part of the lunch,” senior Drew Hasson said.

After picking up their shirts, students were able to enjoy some cake and celebrate the event until fifth period began.

“I was really proud of everyone who got recognized,” senior Bryce Heatherly said. “They’re all good kids and upstanding CHS students.”

National Merit Commended Student

Satvika Ananthanarayan

Erin Barlow

Joseph Bossmann

Robert Bush

Leslie Cameron

Anna English

Tyler Farnum

Rebecca Fowler

Kevin Garza

Lauren Hall

Andrew Hasson

Arnold Hechanova

Katherine Howeth

Rachel Humphries

Chaitnya Jayanti

Daniel Lee

Alexandra McCully

Meg Milosevich

Danielle Mullings

Matthew Pearce

Gregory Porter

Caitlin Randall

Colton Reese

Nafeeshathul Riyaj

Sara Saastamoinen

Matthew Seitz

Matthew Share

Dinah Smith

Jennifer Song

Blake Van Patten

Kris Von Handorf

Kyle Willett

Joshua Yo

National Hispanic Scholar Recognition Finalist

Duncan Dominguez

Aaron Endelman

Kevin Garza

Sara Johnson

Alfredo Zurita

National Achievement Outstanding Participant

Hubert Adjei-Kontoh

Catherine Hemphill

National Achievement Semifinalist

Damilola Salako

Gabriel Samuel-Ezeugoh

 National Merit Semifinalist

Annie Abraham

Suwetha Amsavelu

Paul Blazek

Ashwin Chandra

Peter Chang

Daphne Chen

Elisa Farrell

Patrick Foss

Bryce Heatherly

Lucy Huo

Christopher Nguyen

Katherine Quill

Bharadwaj Raghavan

Nathan Reck

Eric Ressler

Henry Trahan

Jeffrey Xue

Weiqi Yang

Quinn Zhang

Zachary Zoda