Oakville High School seniors Sarah Harton and Jared Bronson join Mehlville High School seniors Ian Brickey, Donald Mertens and Jessica Rapp as Mehlville School District students who have been named as Commended Students in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program.

A Letter of Commendation from the school principals and the National Merit Scholarship Corp., which conducts the program, will be presented to these scholastically talented students, according to a Mehlville School District news release.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2007 competition for Merit Scholarship awards, these Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than one million students who entered the 2007 competition by taking the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“Recognition of academically talented students and the key role played by schools in their development is essential to the pursuit of educational excellence in our nation,” a spokesperson for the National Merit Program commented in the release. “The young people being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding academic potential by their strong performance in this highly competitive program. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and that they will continue to pursue scholastic excellence.”

The Commended Students’ parents are: Nancy and Charles Harton, Shauna and Vance Bronson, Laurie and John Brickey, Ann and Chris Mertens and Lisa and Steven Rapp.

The district previously announced that two high school seniors have been selected as semifinalists in the 52nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Earning the prestigious honor were Lauren Miller of Oakville Senior High School and Emily Fiasco of Mehlville Senior High School.