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
