Dan Noel, principal for South Effingham High School, has announced that John Thomas Mahany, a senior at SEHS, has been named a Commended Student in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Mahany is the son of Thomas and Susan Mahany of Rincon.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2008 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.4 million students who entered the 2008 competition by taking the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

According to a spokesperson for the program, “The young people named Commended Students in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program are distinguished by their strong academic performance in this rigorous competition.”