Competitor Brings Home Bronze

Reposted from the Montclair Times

Sara Meretab, a junior at Montclair High School, represented the Montclair NAACP at the national ACT-SO competition held in late July in Los Angeles.

ACT-SO stands for Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics. The competition is an enrichment program under the administrative aegis of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The rallying call of Montclair NAACP president Thomas Reynolds has been "Montclair has no shortage of talent," and Meretab proved that true by winning the bronze medal in mathematics on July 24.

"We are extremely proud of her dedication," Reynolds said. "To have one of our own win the gold medal at the state level, then the bronze nationally, is an amazing achievement."

Meretab's project was an evaluation of the Federal Reserve's influx of money into the economy and its effects on the nation's inflation rate for 2011. She is a member of the MHS Fed Challenge team led by Tom Manos.

Montclair had been without an ACT-SO team for almost 10 years.

ACT-SO is a yearlong mentoring program for high-schoolers that culminates at the state level with a competition. The 16 teams in New Jersey compete in 26 categories ranging from drama, painting, photography and music composition to architecture, mathematics, biology and aeronautics.

State winners go on to compete in a national competition. Sometimes called the "Olympics of the Mind," the NAACP ACT-SO program seeks to promote academic and artistic excellence and positive interaction between students and the adult professional community.

ACT-SO also encourages more minority youth to pursue higher education. ACT-SO participants in the past have included Hill Harper, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Mae Jameson, Anthony Anderson, Kanye West, and John Singleton.

"We are always looking for new students to showcase, volunteers to mentor, and sponsors to make sure this program continues," Reynolds said.

The Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence and the Montclair African American Clergy Association provided support for Meretab and the seven other students who represented Montclair.

To find out more about ACT-SO, contact Reynolds at 973-746-9315 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .