Rachel Hagler Named Commended Student in National Merit Program

(October 10, 2008) In late September, more than two-thirds or about 34,000 of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT® receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit® Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses. RHS senior Rachel Hagler received one of those letters of commendation naming her a Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship Program. This places her among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the competition by excelling in the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

As a junior, Rachel was a member of Riverhead’s Channel 12 Long Island Challenge Team. The Team won their first three rounds. This year, as a senior, Rachel is a member of Mentathletes, the National Honor Society and the National Foreign Language Honor Societies for Spanish and Latin. An outstanding scholar, Rachel is taking a full course load including Latin and Spanish level 5 and several AP courses including Art History. She is also the literary editor for Labyrinth, the high school’s creative writing publication, and the co-captain of the girls’ cross country team. She also participates in winter and spring track.

Outside of school, Rachel is a member of Shalom Teens, through which she participates in community service projects.

Her post high school plans include attending college next fall with aspirations of becoming a political science major with a journalism minor.

“I would like to be a political journalist and possibly a foreign correspondent. My favorite subjects are history and language arts. Over the summer, I took classes at Boston University in political theory and foreign affairs.”