Centre High School senior Jacob Jirak has been named a Commended Student in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Jirak received a Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Jirak was one of 34,000 students throughout the nation who were recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although he will not continue in the 2011 competition for a National Merit Scholarship, he placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who took the 2009 preliminary SAT/NMS qualifying test.