Alisha Uduevbo,  Leonard Gu and Clare Simon have been named Commended Students by the National Merit Scholarship.

Locust Valley High School seniors Leonard Gu, Clare Simon and Alisha Uduevbo have been named Commended Students by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for their high marks on the PSAT.

Gu takes part in the school’s science bowl, robotics club, global students society, National Honor Society, Foreign Language Honor Society in French, Music Honor Society and orchestra while also competing on the bowling team. He is also a co-president of the Asian Entertainment and Culture Club along with his sister Katherine. Gu hopes to study physics and meteorology in college and is hoping to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell or Dartmouth in the fall.

Simon is a member of the cross-country team and is interested in studying engineering at college in the fall. She also has an interest in art, having produced several environmentally focused pieces for her class. Her most recent piece, a forest scene painting with actual leaves and tree bark attached to the image, will appear in the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Gardening Calendar and Guide this fall.

“It’s definitely a difficult balance because you have to make time to do review of things you think you already know but need to brush up on,” Simon said of preparing for the PSAT and SAT while completing regular schoolwork. “Setting aside time in the morning and evening a few times a week was very important leading up to the exam.”

Uduevbo is focused on excelling in her IB Biology class, as she hopes to study medicine in college possibly at Brown University where her sister goes. She is the DECA club treasurer and participated in the global students society, the Asian Entertainment and Culture Club, and the bowling team with Gu.