Last week the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that three CWA students scored in the top one percent of college-bound students on the PSAT.  Seniors Iean Drew, Austin Jung and Blake Walsh were named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. This week CWA is pleased to announce that 13 additional students scored in the top five percent of test takers and have been named National Merit Commended Students.  A seventeenth Tarrier scored in the top one percent of African American test takers and was named a semifinalist for the National Achievement Scholarship.

McCauley lives in Tacoma and became a Tarrier in fourth grade.  He plays football and soccer and is on the chess team.

CWA’s commended scholars are:

Rebecca Bonner of Lakewood, who entered CWA in the second grade and has played volleyball and golf.

Nathan Ip of Lakewood, a CWA “lifer” who became a Tarrier in Beginning School.  He has been a member of the chess and soccer teams.

Grant Kekel of Graham, who came to CWA his freshman year.  He plays football for the Tarriers.

Max LaBerge of Tacoma, who entered CWA in kindergarten.  He competes in track and cross-country and won the 3200 meter state championship title last spring.

Jenny Lee of Lacey, who entered CWA in the middle of her sophomore year.  She has played golf and sang in the school choir.

Min Lee of University Place, who entered CWA her sophomore year.  She has competed in golf, track and field, and cross-country and also played in the school orchestra.

William Livingston of Federal Way, who entered CWA in fifth grade.  He has participated in band, cross-country, track and field and Knowledge Bowl.

Michael Mayer of Gig Harbor, who entered CWA in the first grade.  He plays football and baseball.

Ben Mishkin of Olympia, who entered CWA in fifth grade.  He is a member of the state champion Knowledge Bowl team and is involved in plays and improvisational theater.

Toby Shorin of Olympia, who entered CWA in fifth grade.  He has been involved in track and field, fall and winter plays, and the improvisational theater troupe.

Jens Winship of Tacoma, who entered CWA his freshman year.  He has been involved in plays, improvisational theater and track and field.

Jasmine Ye of Olympia, who entered CWA in seventh grade. She has been involved in tennis and journalism.

Cassandra Zhu of Lakewood, who entered CWA in kindergarten.  She has sung with the school choir.

In addition, one of the nation’s top African American test takers is a CWA student.

Of course, the PSAT isn’t the only – or necessarily the best – measure of academic success but there are some interesting things to note about these students successes:

•    14 of 17 have participated in competitive athletics at CWA and one of these students won a state championship title in track and field last spring.  One competes in swims for another local high school one plays hockey on nationally competitive team.  Only one has opted for PE over athletics.

•    Four are very involved in theater and five have gone well beyond the required coursework in visual arts.

•    Six have participated in chess, Knowledge Bowl, student government, the literary magazine staff or journalism.

•    Their GPAs rank from 2.92 to 3.96 and the mean is 3.51.  (The mean GPA in the Upper School hovers around 3.0 for the student body as a whole.)

•    They all either have taken or are now taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and many have also taken honors and advanced courses.  They average 4 APs per student but some have taken as many as nine.  Together they have taken 71 AP courses and 15 honors or advanced courses.

•    11 of 17 exceeded the school’s foreign language requirement by the end of their junior year, having completed at least third-year level Spanish, Japanese or French.  Most continued on to 5th-year, AP or independent study.

•    35% are students of color.