Cranford Students Earn Academic Accolades

is known for its academics and is ranked 13th among public high schools in New Jersey. This year, the school proved why it is so highly recognized as four of its students were announced as semi-finalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The Scholarship Program is based on the results of the PSAT, which all students take in their junior year of high school.

The students are seniors Matthew LaFronz, Kevin Strotz, Victoria Treboschi and Anna Zhao. In addition, Christine Albert, John Christiano, William Daly, Rebecca Deczynski, Jennifer Heine, Meghan Heine, Kevin Hernandez-Rives, Kaitlin Hipkin, Dylan Kelly, Carl Lieberman, Timothy Nichols, Danny Rahal, Jeremy Rodriguez and Galen Vosseller were also commended for their results.  

“I’m really proud of the kids,” said Barbara Carroll, the assistant principal of academic affairs at Cranford High School. “It’s phenomenal. We encourage the kids to take hard classes.”

Carroll said she is not surprised that 14 of her students were commended, but is amazed that four of them could be finalists. Because of the 23 Advanced Placement classes offered at Cranford High School, students are challenged and work extremely hard all of the time, she said.

“One of the biggest factors is that we offer so many AP classes,” Carroll said.

Each year, two thirds of the top 50,000 scores are commended for their results. Then 16,000 students are selected as semi-finalists. About 90 percent of the nation's semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Lafronz, who recently achieved a perfect score on his ACT exam, said he is not surprised about the amount of students who were commended because Cranford provides a great education for the students. After having to fill out an application, get recommendations and write an essay to become a finalist, LaFronz said it was almost like applying to college. He said he is excited about this opportunity and hopes to be selected, but did acknowledge it is a bit of a strange process.

“It seems weird that you put in that much work and 90 percent of you get chosen,” LaFronz said.

Treboschi, who did not think she did great on the test, could not contain her excitement when she spoke to Cranford Patch. While she hopes to become a finalist and get a scholarship towards college, being recognized is truly an honor, she said.

“I didn’t expect to do well, I was just taking a test,” Treboschi said.