Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School senior Simon Mendelsohn has been named a National Merit Scholarship winner.

The prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program awards students in recognition of academic promise and distinguished performance.

Mendelsohn, a Livingston resident, has played an active role at RKYHS both in and out of the classroom and is a leader in his academic pursuits. In addition to his classroom successes, he has served as captain of the RKYHS chess team, captain of the Science Olympiad team and captain of the varsity track team; He has been a member of the debate team, model UN team, varsity tennis team and varsity soccer team.

During the summers, Mendelsohn participated in the Science and Start-Up Initiative at the Technion University in Haifa, Israel where he analyzed the successes and failures of entrepreneurs in Israel and created a potential start-up which was presented to possible investors. He also spent a summer at the Tikvah program on Jewish Philosophy held at Yale, and two summers at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.

Among the many awards and honors Mendelsohn has received are the Yale Book Award, Bausch + Lomb Honorary Science Award, first place in the Circuit Lab event of the Science Olympiad Competition, and the Coach’s Award on the varsity track team.

Mendelsohn will be attending Yale University after graduation.

The national scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.

Mendelsohn will receive a $2,500 scholarship and was selected from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists.