Class of 2024 - College Bound

This summer, Jesuit High School’s Class of 2024 is matriculating at outstanding universities throughout Florida, across the country, and even across the pond in London.

For Jesuit students, for many years, the desired college destination has trended strongly toward Gainesville and Tallahassee. That has continued with the Class of 2024 as both major state universities continue to generate very high interest. At FSU, 72 Tigers in the Class of 2024 were accepted, which is a little more than 50% of those who applied and more than twice FSU’s overall acceptance rate. Among the 30 enrolling are Ryan Lavallee (pictured on the homepage), student council president Jake Killian, 4-year straight-A students Wes Baum and Liam Freeland, and Willy Suarez, who won the Guy Toph Award as Hillsborough County’s best football player and will wear No. 85 for the Seminoles.

At UF, 50 Jesuit students earned acceptances, which was a little more than 40% of those who applied, and 28 are enrolling, including two of the Class of 2024’s three tri-Valedictorians, National Merit Finalists Tyler Tyson and Michael Jacolow (pictured on the homepage). Other Gators-to-be include mechanical engineering major Carlos Pasquotto and a slew of National Merit Finalists – Gabe Brazzeal, Nicolas Herrero, Christopher Kelly, Derek Lezama, Ward Sanders, and Simon Wills – who chose UF over dozens of acceptances to highly selective universities nationwide.

The third of the tri-Valedictorians, Diego Tobon, who was a standout on Jesuit’s championship Quiz Bowl team, is headed to the Ivy League and the University of Pennsylvania. Tobon chose Penn over several Ivy league schools along with Vanderbilt, Duke, UF, and others.

Once again in 2024, several Jesuit graduates accepted military academy appointments and will serve their country. Two are headed to West Point and the U.S. Military Academy: Jake Prabhakaran, who will join Army’s gymnastics program, and Kaden Plummer, who will play soccer. Two-time State Champion Roman Lermer will wrestle for the U.S. Air Force Academy, and he will be joined in Colorado Springs at the AFA by Teejay Weaver.

Jesuit’s Class of 2024 received some extraordinary scholarships. Masque standout Kai Gibron earned the prestigious Meadows Artistic Scholarship Award to Southern Methodist and will enroll at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts. National Merit Finalist Ethan Hahn received the phenomenal Schellmann Scholarship to the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, a comprehensive full scholarship-plus. Ethan’s brother Jackson Hahn, a 4-year straight-A student, earned the Volunteer Scholarship to Tennessee. Evan Rordam chose a full scholarship to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he will play football, over several other offers. And Donovan Terry, who earned top awards at Jesuit in the arts, service, and athletics, accepted a full scholarship to Norfolk State in Virginia, where he will join the school’s renowned track & field program after a record-setting career at Jesuit.

Catholic universities are a popular choice for Jesuit graduates. James Slack, who earned the Elliott Award at graduation for his “commitment to Christ and the Church,” is headed to ­a Catholic school, the University of Dallas, and Jonathan Prince will attend Villanova University. Another graduation award winner, Gavan Award recipient and National Merit Finalist Diego Mejia (who is pictured on the homepage) is continuing the Jesuit pipeline to the University of Notre Dame. A trio of Tigers are headed to Georgetown University, the oldest Jesuit college in the U.S.: National Merit Finalists Alex Freund and Tristan Garcia (who is pictured on the homepage), and State Champion baseball player Jackson Thomas, who will play baseball for the Hoyas. Others attending Jesuit universities include Gavin Paglieri at Boston College and Griffin More, will throw the shot put and discus for the track & field team at Saint Louis University.

Many in the Class of 2024 are attending top universities in the southeast, including Jacob Hernandez at Georgia Tech and 4-year straight-A student James Hanna at North Carolina. Joining Hanna, who earned the St. Peter Claver Service Award at Jesuit, in Chapel Hill is football star Peter Pesansky, who is now an Atlantic Coast Conference rival of his partner the past three years on the Jesuit defense, Clemson-bound football standout Drew Woodaz. Pitcher Aden Knowles joins the North Carolina State baseball program, which reached the College World Series this season.

Many more are staying in-state. Central Florida accepted 58 members of the Class of 2024, with Anne Frank Humanitarian Award recipient Chancellor Haber and St. Genesius Theatre Arts Award winner Aeden Gregory among those enrolling at UCF. Other in-state schools matriculating freshmen from Jesuit include Florida A&M, Florida Polytechnic, Florida Gulf Coast, Embry-Riddle, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Florida Southern, Lynn University, and the University of Miami.

Many have opted for college in or near Tampa, including 16 at South Florida, among them Jesuit’s Altar Server of the Year Award recipient Marvin Martirez. Award-winning musician Harry Hanes received a Presidential Scholarship and Music Departmental Scholarship to the University of Tampa. Soccer captain Alejandro Vargas signed to play at Saint Leo University, and National Merit Finalist and State runner-up golfer Drew Campbell will attend Eckerd College on a full scholarship. Campbell is among the more than 30 athletic scholarship signees in the Class of 2024, including swimmers Aidan Clements (Auburn) and Liam Maloney (Babson College), football players Gary Givens (Valparaiso) and Bryson Goodwin (Temple), State Champion wrestler Brandon Cody (Colorado School of Mines), and 11 baseball signees.

It is a big year for commercial flights from Tampa to Denver among Jesuit’s Class of 2024. In addition to Cody and the two attending the Air Force Academy, Lermer and Weaver, two more are enrolling at the University of Colorado, Nate Wasylik and 4-year straight-A student Zach Dorton, and Colin DeVito is headed to Colorado College. Two are enrolling in esteemed Big Ten institutions: Max Schellman received the Dean’s Scholarship at Indiana University and Sam Jacobs selected Purdue University over acceptances to UF and FSU.

Same as every year with Jesuit's newest graduates, the college application and acceptance process has been about finding the best fit for each student. This year, for one member of the Class of 2024 that means leaving the continent altogether. Jackson Andrews will cross the Atlantic and attend University College London.

Congratulations to the 221 members of the Class of 2024 as they, in the words of Saint Ignatius, “Go forth and set the world on fire.”