Cate School headmaster, Ben Williams announced Thursday that 12 of the school’s students have been named Commended Students in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship program.

The students to receive the recognition are Ahmed Bou-Rabee of Kuwait, Wonshik Chung of South Korea, Brennan Cusack of Santa Barbara, Katharine Groetzinger of Waco, Texas, Lauren Gurley of Santa Barbara, Angela Lee of Los Angeles, Christopher Lin of Arcadia, Spencer McAvoy of Burlingame, Kate Montgomery of Santa Barbara, Jason Park of Sunnyvale, Sunghyun Park of South Korea and Dominique Pincot of Santa Maria.

Letters of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corp., which conducts the program, will be presented by the headmaster 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 2011 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2011 competition by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“Recognition of high-achieving students is essential to advancing educational excellence in our nation,” a spokesperson for NMSC said. “As demonstrated by their outstanding performance in our highly competitive program, the young men and women named Commended Students represent some of the most academically talented students in our country. We sincerely hope this recognition will enhance their educational opportunities and encourage them in their pursuit of academic success.”

— Don Orth is the communications director for Cate School.