Twenty-four Pine Crest School seniors named Commended Scholars in 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program

Pine Crest, Florida – Twenty-four students from Pine Crest School’s Class of 2027 have earned national recognition after being named Commended Scholars in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The recognition highlights students who demonstrated strong academic performance based on results from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, commonly known as the PSAT/NMSQT.

Across the United States, approximately 34,000 students are being recognized as Commended Students this year for showing exceptional academic promise. The distinction is based on scores students earned when they took the PSAT/NMSQT during their junior year.

Pine Crest School’s group includes students from across the Class of 2027, with 24 seniors receiving the honor.

The students recognized are Luke Anderson, Reese Boyd, Weston Cejudo, Natalie Chen, Sam Crimaldi, Sara El-Sharif, James Greenberg, Tyson Jacobs, Alaina Jamal, Georgia Kolettis, Aditya Kumar and Ben Lazar.

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Also named Commended Scholars are Helaina Leuca, Zachary Low, William North, Levent Ozaktay, Joshua Perlman, John Promnitz, Audrey Rao, Nicola Remmel, Auden Silcock, James Swanson, Rachel Vainder and Jacob Yellin.

Each of the students is a member of Pine Crest School’s graduating Class of 2027.

The National Merit Scholarship Program uses the PSAT/NMSQT as an important part of its annual academic recognition process. Students take the qualifying test during their junior year, with scores helping determine those who receive recognition through the program.

This year, Pine Crest’s 24 honorees join roughly 34,000 Commended Students recognized nationwide.

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The designation recognizes their academic promise and their performance on the qualifying examination. While thousands of students across the country receive the Commended designation, the honor places the Pine Crest seniors among a nationally recognized group of high-performing students.

For the Class of 2027 honorees, the recognition comes during their senior year and acknowledges the results they achieved on the PSAT/NMSQT a year earlier.

With students from the graduating class represented throughout the list, the latest National Merit recognition adds another academic distinction for the 24 Pine Crest seniors as they continue their final year of high school.