NEW ULM – Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School seniors Elizabeth Halvorson and Henry Manthe were both recognized and named as commended scholars by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The National Merit program honors individual students who show academic ability and potential for success in college studies.

Over 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Of the top 50,000, Halvorson and Manthe were among the 34,000 students to receive letters of commendation for their outstanding academic achievements.

Manthe said he was excited to get the commendation. He had known that his PSAT score was in the range for commended status, but had not been c

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