EARLIER THIS YEAR, 15 Uni seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists. Now 19 of their classmates have been added to the list of students receiving National Merit honors.

The seniors, representing almost 30 percent of the 64-member Class of 2008, were named National Merit Commended Students.

In all, 34 seniors earned either commended or semifinalist status this year, about 53 percent of the class.

The commended students are:

• Micah Berman
• Thomas Bozada
• Chelsea Freeland
• Erin Hayes
• Samuel Imlay
• Shivani Khanna
• Hannah Lake-Rayburn
• Ran Ma
• Daniel McNamara
• Christopher Nixon
• Jacob Olshansky
• Larissa Pittenger
• Isaac Radnitzer
• Michael Renner
• Zoë Schein
• Jessica Stark
• Bhaskar Vaidya
• Amy Wiltzius
• Carl Zielinski

Commended students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.4 million students who entered the competition by taking the 2006 PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Although they cannot continue in the National Merit Scholarship Program, they are eligible for other scholarships sponsored by various businesses and corporations.

Last year, 15 seniors were semifinalists and 21 seniors were commended in the competition, making up about 61 percent of their class.