“Who’s watching me while I eat my lunch?” Many BPHS students have been wondering this ever since the new display was erected in the cafeteria featuring professional photos of eight star-students.

Joseph Beaver, Gabrielle Brookins, Aaron Coplan, Steven Davis, Alexander Fleming, Jessica George, Emily Kukan, and Giffin Werner were named National Merit Scholars by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The display was a collaborative idea between Dr. J and AP English 12 teacher, Mr. Youngs, to promote academic excellence and to “filter [National Merit] into student-to-student and student-to-parent conversations,” Dr. J said.

Every year, about 1.5 million high school students across the United States of America take the Practice SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The exam is not only a competition for scholarship, but just being commended is so highly regarded by every US university that one may even offer a university-level scholarship.

Out of the gigantic pool of testers, 34,000 top scorers are commended by National Merit.

To put things in perspective, this puts BPHS’s eight Merit Scholars in the top 2% of all students who took the test. However, Dr. J said that he’s not only rewarding them for an exceptional PSAT score, but he said he’s acknowledging them for “a history of good choices.”

Dr. J plans to make Bethel Park history with this display as he intends on renewing the photos every February when the new list of commended students is released by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The amount of Bethel Park’s commended students has already grown from three in 2012 to eight in 2015; Dr. J feels that the display will increase motivation for students to take the PSAT with diligence and in turn, increase the amount of faces on the National Merit Scholar display.

Sophomores are required to take the test, for free, as practice for the SAT and in coordination with the school’s performance profile. However, students that pay to take the test again their junior year are eligible to be commended or even to receive a National Merit Scholarship.

Good luck to students taking the PSAT/NMSQT in the future, and congratulations to the eight seniors that are commended this year!