ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 8, 2011) -- Eight Albany High School seniors have been recognized this fall in the annual National Merit Scholarship and National Achievement Scholarship programs, ranking them among the top students nationally.

 

Kolel Pryor has been recognized as a semifinalist in the National Achievement Scholarship program, ranking him among the top 1,600 -- or top 1 percent -- of 160,000 students participating in the program to recognize outstanding African-American high school students. Students were selected based on their high achievement on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

 

Pryor will learn in late January if he has been selected as one of approximately 1,300 national finalists. Pryor is the first Albany High student to qualify as a National Achievement Scholarship semifinalist since Selina Ullrich in 2008.

 

His twin brother, Jarell, has been recognized as an Outstanding Participant in the National Achievement Scholarship program, ranking him among the top 3,100 students, or top 2 percent.

 

The Pryors are pictured at right in their photo from the 2010-11 City School District of Albany calendar -- that's Kolel in the blue.

 

Six Albany High students have been recognized as National Merit Scholarship Commended Students. They are among 34,000 students nationally to achieve that distinction, ranking them in the top 2 percent out of 1.5 million students.

 

The Commended Students are Seamus Daniels, Molly Davis, Grant Dias-Carlson, Christopher Hogan, Maya Kovach and David O'Connor.

  

"We are proud to recognize each of these eight students for their high academic achievement and their commitment to academic excellence," said Superintendent Raymond Colucciello, Ed.D. "They are examples once again of how well Albany High School's finest students measure up against their peers from across America."