La Lumiere Seniors Commended

national-merit-winner-george-koehmLa Lumiere High School seniors George Koehm Jr. of La Porte and Marina Wallinski of Rolling Prairie were named commended students in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Koehm Jr., son of George and Jerianne Koehm, is a captain of the Laker football team and plays varsity basketball and track as well. Walinski, daughter of Robert and Margaret Walinski, is a four-year member of the award-winning La Lumiere Science Olympiad team and the Girls Golf squad. She also volunteers at the Michigan City Public Library and enjoys performing in La Lumiere's drama productions.

national-merit-winners-walinskiHeadmaster Michael Kennedy is pleased with the success of Koehm, Walinski and the rest of the Class of 2014.

"I am very proud of the La Lumiere Class of 2014," he said. "With a National Merit semifinalist and two National Merit commended students, our student body is seeing the benefits of many years of hard work. The recognition of these individuals is representative not just of a talented class, but of our entire student body. La Lumiere is fortunate to have students like George and Mariana, they are model students, but they are also contributing citizens and strong scholar-athletes."

Commended students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2014 competition by taking the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.