Four East Syracuse Minoa high school students have been honored by the National Merits Scholar Program, including senior Caitlyn Ransom, who has been named a National Merit semifinalist.

Ransom, an ESM senior, is now part of a group that represents the top scoring (approximately 1 percent) of U.S. high school seniors who took the qualifying PSAT exam. She joins an estimated 16,000 academically talented high school seniors named 2017 semifinalists, who now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million.

In addition to Ransom’s honor, ESM seniors Summer Cardarelli, Jared Thomas and Cody Habbel have been named National Merit Commended Students in the National Merit Program after placing among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who took the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. They each received a Letter of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements.