At its Oct. 28 meeting, the Northampton Area School District Board of Education lauded academic excellence for awards received by students and faculty.

Honored were National Merit Scholarship students Jordan McCarthy and Jonathan O’Rourke, Northampton Area High School seniors, and American Association Teachers of German Center of Excellence Award recipients Theresa Wenck, Courtney Schnyderite and April Krempasky, NAHS German teachers, and Christine Manto, Northampton Area Middle School German teacher.

“We have two presentations that center on academic excellence,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said at the meeting.

“It’s a great honor to be selected as a National Merit Scholarship student,” Kovalchik said. “It’s been a very long time since we’ve had students honored.”

McCarthy, a daughter of Jane and David McCarthy of Northampton, is a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist who plans to attend college to major in neuroscience.

O’Rourke, a son of Juane and Jay O’Rourke of Lehigh Township, is a National Merit Scholarship commended scholar who plans to attend college to major in aerospace engineering.

“We’re very happy to have National Merit Scholarship winners,” NASD Director of Curriculum and Instruction Lydia Hanner said. “We had meetings with students, and we adjusted our curriculum to meet their needs.”

According to NAHS Principal Luke Shafnisky, the National Merit Scholarship recognizes students for their scores on the PSAT, a college aptitude test taken in the junior year. The test is taken by 1.5 million students in 21,000 high schools. Of these, 50,000 - or 3 to 4 percent - are chosen as commended scholars, and 16,000 - or 1 percent - are chosen as semifinalists.

“I’m very grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had at Northampton Area High School,” McCarthy said.

“Thank you for all the fantastic academic opportunities, curriculum and extracurricular, I’ve had at Northampton Area High School,” O’Rourke said.

School Director Dr. Michael Baird announced that McCarthy and O’Rourke and their parents would attend a dinner in spring 2020 honoring National Merit Scholarship students to be presented by Colonial Intermediate Unit 20.

The four NASD German teachers recognized at the board meeting will receive their awards Nov. 23 in Washington, D.C.