Craig Reichl, principal of Lehighton Area High School, has announced that Matthew Eckhart has been named a commended student in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

A letter of commendation from the school and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by Reichl to Eckhart.About 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2017 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, commended students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2017 competition by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.