Kamehameha Senior Earns Academic Recognition

Lily P. Ayau, a senior at Kamehameha Schools Hawai’i, has been named a Commended Student in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program. She has been presented a Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

“On behalf of the student body and faculty and staff of Kamehameha Schools Hawai’i, we send our deepest aloha to Lily and her ‘ohana as a Commended Student in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program,” said Kumu Lehua Veincent, Kamehameha Schools Hawai’i campus principal. “This honor will open the portals of academic opportunities for Lily in her pursuit within the post-secondary area. Nui ki makou ha’ahea ia ‘oe e Lily. E ho’omau ‘oe a pae I ke one o ka lanakila! We are very proud of you Lily. Continue to persevere until you arrive upon your shores of victory.”

Ayao, who wishes to study history on the East Coast, is among 34,000 Commended Students in the nation being recognized for outstanding academic promise. Commended Students will not continue in the 2015 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, but they are place among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2015 competition by taking the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“I’m incredibly honored to represent Kamehameha Schools in receiving this commendation,” Ayau shared. “KSH has always served as a home for me, and the teacher there helped to foster a sense of curiosity within me that without which I could not have achieved this distinction. I’m so humbled by the hard work of the faculty and staff in their dedication to student’s learning. It’s thanks to them that I am who I am today.”