Submitted by Marie Kalita-Leary, Mercy High School Director of Communications.Â
(Middletown – Oct. 15, 2018) — Sister Mary McCarthy, President of Mercy High School, announced that Olivia Dworak, Kaitlyn Leahy, AnnMarie Rotatori, Sarah San Vicente and Kaley Sperling have been named Commended Students in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, will be presented by Sr. Mary to these scholastically talented seniors.
About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2019 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2019 competition by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).
“The young women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC. ”These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”
Olivia Dworak is the daughter of Bruce and Linda Dworak of Cromwell. She is an officer of the Fight Against Cancer Club at Mercy and is a member of Medical Minds and Mercy Ambassadors. When she is not at Mercy, she enjoys service work with Rustic Pathways and Cromwell Youth Football.
Kaitlyn Leahy is the President of National Honor Society, a Mercy Ambassador Officer, and founder of her charity Heart over Hunger. She also enjoys riding horses competitively as well as running on the Mercy Indoor and Outdoor Track Teams. She is the daughter of Kevin and Tracy Leahy of Durham.
AnnMarie Rotatori, the daughter of Bill and Patty Rotatori of Wethersfield, is Vice President of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society and is an active member of many clubs such as Fight Against Cancer, Broadcast Journalism, and Mercy Ambassadors. She enjoys dance and has studied tap, jazz, ballet, and Irish step for fifteen years.
Sarah San Vicente is the captain of the Mercy Swim and Dive Team, and she has been swimming for over ten years. She is also the President of the French National Honor Society and a member of the Mercy Ambassadors. She is planning to be a biology major in college, with a pre-med focus. She is the daughter of Joshua and Jennifer San Vicente of Higganum.
Kaley Sperling, daughter of April Meyers of Old Saybrook and Brandy Sperling of Knoxville, TX, is currently co-president of the Mercy Ecology Club, treasurer of French National Honor Society, and the student representative of the Old Saybrook Town Conservation Commission in addition to being a member of 4H for seven years. She loves animals and the environment and spent part of her summer studying Marine Biology on the Gulf of Mexico through a program by Duke University.
