National Merit Finalists pictured standing left to right: Frances Burton, Vivian Zhou, Cristina Chavez, Suzette Kane, Lori Jia Seated left to right: Whitney Middlekauf, Alexandra McGeoch, Mahima Agrawal, Rajya Atluri, Caroline McGeoch Not Pictured: Heather Xiao Additionally, 35 girls were named National Merit Commended Students for the 2016 program. These girls are among approximately 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation who are being recognized for the exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the qualifying test used for the NMCS program. This honor signifies that these students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2016 competition. Commended Students from the Class of 2016 include: Allison Aldrich, Virginia Beshears, Anna Buford, Sloane Castleman, Katherine Clement, Kathleen Cooper, Ida Cortez, Lauren Giles, Anne Gingery, Felicity Henderson, Catherine Jiang, Nicole Krampitz, Zhen Lin, Darcy Malican, Caroline McNamara, Talia Meidan, Gillian Meyer, Kendra Mysore,
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Nathalie Naor, Jemma Nazarian, Julia Pasquinelli, Ilana Perkins, Alexandra Randolph, Manisha Ratakonda, Courtney Rourk, Elizabeth Sachs, Sidra Siddiqui, Sunila Steephen, Olivia Stern, Lily Sumrow, Aleena Tariq, Sarah Taylor, Tala Vaughn, Katherine Warner, and Berkley Wood.
Jennifer Stimpson Attends Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Fifth grade science teacher Jennifer Stimpson attended the 45th annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), an organization started by the African American members of the U.S. Congress
in 1970. During the four-day event, the diverse attendees participated in town hall meetings, leadership dialogues, and social justice forums focused on issues that impact and affect the African American community. Congress holds brain trusts which highlight the work being done by the federal government on particular issues, including transportation, environmental awareness, science and technology, energy, child welfare, health, and criminal justice. Invited by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, Jennifer led the STEM panel as moderator and began the dialogue with panelists about the future of space travel and STEM education for students of color. Panelists included current NASA astronauts, top science and technology directors of the White House, directors of SpaceX, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, and Google. Participating in the CBC gave Jennifer