Distinguished scholars win recognition

By Roman J. Uschak, Staff Writer
Monday night’s Nutley Board of Education meeting honored a number of outstanding local high school scholars who are expected to attain even greater heights in the future.
The gathering before more than 60 members of the public at the Walker Middle School saw the board honor three different groups of special awards students who are currently studying at Nutley High School.
They included the 2010 Garden State Scholarship Program Edward J. Bloustein Scholars; a 2010 College Board National Merit Scholarship Program finalist and three Commended Students, and the 2010 College Board Advanced Placement Scholar Award winners.
A number of the honorees were in attendance on Monday night, while others had previous commitments or were preparing for upcoming examinations.
The Bloustein Scholars included Paula Caputo, Brandon Cresci, Steven Filippi, Scott Kilianski, Jonathan Konel, Philip Lam, Jeffrey Lin, Lily Pfaff, Patrick Roche, Achal Shah, Julia Sinitsky, Brendan Striano and Menghui Zhu.
Bloustein Scholars must be ranked first, second or third in their graduating class, and must also be ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating class at the end of their junior year. Alternatively, they can also be selected if they are ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating class and have posted a combined score of 1260 or higher on the critical reading and mathematics portions of the Scholastic Aptitude Test used for college admissions. The scholarships also carry individual $1,000 awards, regardless of financial need.
Roche was a Finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program, while the trio of National Merit Commended Students included Pfaff, Shah and Laura Washington.
“They were in the top five percent of the students who entered the competition,” said Nutley High lead counselor Jill Divilio.

Read more in this week's Nutley Journal, Click Here to SUBSCRIBE TODAY