Red Bank Regional seniors Joe Ferguson and Gabriella Recalde were recently recognized by the Board of Education for their honors of National Merit Commended Scholar and National Hispanic Scholar, respectively.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
At its February meeting, the Red Bank Regional High School Board of Education honored a pair of RBR seniors as its commended scholars. Joseph Ferguson of Little Silver was honored as a National Merit Commended Scholar, while Gabriela Recalde of Millstone was named as a National Hispanic Scholar (NHRP) through the National Hispanic Recognition Program.
This National Merit award is based on the commended student’s performance on the 2014 Preliminary Sat/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test, and represents the top 5 percent of the more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2014-2015 competition. The National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) identifies and celebrates students who score within the top 2.5 percent among Hispanic and Latino PSAT/NMSQT takers. Out of over 225,000 high school juniors self-identifying as Hispanic/Latino, only 5,000 are selected as NHRP Scholars.
Joseph is an outstanding academic student who has made the school’s high honor roll every marking period of his high school career. He is a member of RBR’s Spanish and Music Honor Societies. A piano major in the school’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy, he is a gifted pianist who also plays with the RBR jazz band. He plans to attend a college with a strong music conservatory, and has expressed a desire to become a music educator. Joseph has mentored elementary students in music as a volunteer, and also earned his Eagle Scout, the highest level of Boy Scouts.
Gabriella is a student in the RBR Academy of Pre-Engineering. As a member of the Technology Student Association, she has represented RBR a regional competitions, and serves as secretary of that organization. She is also a member for the National Technical Honor Society, as well as the National Honor Society. She will be attending Lehigh University next year to pursue her studies in Chemical Engineering. Gabriela has aspirations to also attend law school upon completing her bachelor’s degree.
