CARMEL — Four Carmel High School students, Sunny Hung, Steve Brisley, Shataakshi Dube and Reid Watson, were among those honored as National Merit Semifinalists at Monday night’s school board meeting.

The four then took the microphone during public participation to ask the school board and teachers to come together for a new contract. The teachers have been working under terms of expired contract since July 1, 2008.

Hung, one of 34 National Merit Semifinalists from Carmel High School, said Carmel has consistently had 30 or more students to National Merit Semifinalist status (among the highest scorers in the state on the PSAT).

“This success is largely to due to the quality and the effort of the teachers here,” Hung said.

As student body president, Brisley said he organizes many of the biggest events.

“Over the past year I’ve witnessed an immense drop in the availability of teachers to volunteer outside of the classroom,” Brisley said. “We feel this is due in a large part to teachers being frustrated with the unresolved contract issues and having an increased workload because of budget cuts. Events such as Dance Marathon, which raised nearly $160,000 for Riley Children’s Hospital (in February) would not be possible without the enormous effort of the teachers.”

Dube praised the dedication teachers have for their students.

“Whether it’s writing letters of recommendation or offering simple words of encouragement, Carmel teachers are concerned with more than just students’ performance in class,” Dube said. “This is incredible considering just how busy they are. Personally I can attest to the impact a teacher has had on my life.”

Dube said her science teacher encouraged her to apply for MIT summer independent research program. The teacher then wrote her a letter of recommendation and helped her with the application. Dube got accepted. Her positive experience has her planning to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering.

Watson said the students understand the difficulties the teachers and board face in deciding the issue.

“It’s easy for all of us to overlook the contributions teachers make outside of hours of 7:50 to 3:05 Monday through Friday,” Watson said. “We ask that all in attendance here please consider the teachers’ sacrifices outside of the classroom. In the best interests of Carmel Clay students, we ask both sides to make concessions to resolve this issue in a rapid matter. Because in the end education is about the students.”