Wylie East High School seniors Emily Gardner and Mark Pollard have been named Commended Students for the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.

“To qualify for the program we had to score in the top five percent on our SAT test. My score was a 213,” Pollard said.

Commended students placed among the top five percent of  more than 1.5 billion students who entered the competition by taking the 2010 Preliminary SAT(PSAT) and the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test(NMSQT).

Seniors Alexander Rosales and Justin Waganhauser were named as Scholar students for 2011-2012 National Hispanic Recognition Program.

“We have to be at least one-fourth Hispanic and have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher to qualify. We were chosen out of 5,000 students,” Waganhauser said.

Both students are being recognized for excellence in academic achievement.

“I am very proud to be named as one of the first seniors at Wylie East High School to achieve this award. It means a lot to my family,” Rosales said.

Maranda Bethel and Joshua Dorsey were named as an Outstanding Participant for the 2012 National Achievement Scholarship Program.

“It felt pretty amazing to get this award. My counselor called me in and told me. I never expected I would be qualified for this,” Dorsey said.

This award is given to African American students who demonstrate excellence in academic achievement.