URBANA — Eighteen members of the Uni Class of 2010 have been recognized as National Merit Commended Students, an honor bestowed upon seniors for their "outstanding academic promise," as stated by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

This year's honorees, representing 29 percent of the 62-student class, are:

• Erika Belmont
• Sian Best
• Katherine Buzard
• Jared Doyle
• Anna Gooler
• Rachel Harmon
• Loic Hostetter
• Daniel Lilly
• Grace Man
• Terry Qi
• Elizabeth Russell
• Brittany Scheid
• Gabriel Smith
• Isabel Vazquez
• Horace Wang
• Daniel Wilson
• Michelle Wong
• Christian Yoder

In September, 14 members of the senior class, or about 23 percent, were named semifinalists, meaning that more than half of the school's seniors earned National Merit honors.

Commended students placed among the top 3 percent of the approximately 1.5 million students who took the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last fall. About 34,000 of the 50,000 highest scorers are named commended students, while the other 16,000 are named semifinalists.

They are no longer in the running for National Merit scholarships, which are limited to those who become finalists. However, they are still considered for other scholarships given by individual companies.

Last year, 14 students out of the 57-member Class of 2009 earned commended status, totaling 24.6 percent of the seniors.

This year's junior and sophomore classes took the PSAT/NMSQT last week at the Hilton Garden Inn.