Ithaca High School Acting Principal Martha Hardesty recently announced that 15 seniors have been named Commended Students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. The honored students are Alejandro Bustos, Daniel Choi, Isabelle Cohen, Owen Cryer, Peter Golovakov Malagardis, Alexis Kim, Yooni Kim, Chloe King, Veronika Liivak, Lucas Mattingly, Claire Park, Michael Perelstein, Nicolas Poelling, Anika Rassnick, and Sean Silvers. Each student will receive a Letter of Commendation from the school and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which oversees the program.
Nationwide, about 34,000 students are recognized as Commended Students for their outstanding academic achievements. While these students will not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, their performance on the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) places them among the top 50,000 students who entered the 2025 competition.