Long Beach High School senior Natalie Swegler has been named a National Merit Commended Student through the National Merit Scholarship Program. She earned this honor as a result of her scores on the Preliminary SAT, which serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. Commended Students represent the top five percent of more than 1.6 million students who entered the competition by taking the PSAT.

An honors student, Natalie takes a combination of International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement and Syracuse University Project Advance courses. She excels as a scholar, is a member of the National Honor Society and last year was the highest scorer for Long Beach High School in the American Math Competition. She also serves as spirit chair of the senior class
Natalie has a love for music and is the president of Tri-M Music Honor Society and a drum major of the marching band. She plays the flute and piccolo and performs in the pit orchestra for various school musicals.

Also an athlete, Natalie is a passionate volleyball player and two-year captain of the varsity team. She is an all-conference player, has been named to the all-tournament team for the county championship and also plays club volleyball for an elite travel team. She participates in Athletes Helping Athletes and has mentored young volleyball players for both Long Beach CYO and the Future Stars (players under 12) at her volleyball club.
In her spare time, Natalie dances and performs at the same studio she has been practicing at since the age of four. She works at a local ice cream shop and has volunteered for the summer reading program at the Long Beach Public Library. For college, she plans on combining her love of math and science to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering.