National Merit Semifinalists

Jesuit High School principal Mike Scicchitano '01 made a special announcement at Convocation on Wednesday (Sept. 15), recognizing the school's seven National Merit Semifinalists for 2021-22.

The seven Semifinalists are seniors Ben Deakin, Avery Hames, Logan Kant, Trevor Powers, Zachary Reich, Ethan Tiejema, and Andrew Wilson.

Scicchitano congratulated the Semifinalists for their achievement and acknowledged the dedicated teachers who have helped them, while school president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. received them in front of the student body in the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  

The seven Semifinalists are among some 52 Jesuit students over the past nine years to achieve National Merit Semifinalist recognition. Semifinalists are selected based on their PSAT score, a standardized test administered their junior year, and there are about 16,000 Semifinalists annually nationwide.

The qualifying standard on the PSAT for students to be recognized as Semifinalists can change annually and varies from state to state. This year in Florida it was 217, and some 928 students statewide earned Semifinalist honors. Jesuit's top scores on the PSAT this year were achieved by Wilson (227), Reich (224), and Hames (224). 

In addition to the seven National Merit Semifinalists, several more Jesuit students in the Class of 2022 performed very well on the PSAT and will be recognized as National Merit Commended Students at a later date.

The 16,000 Semifinalists will continue in the pursuit of 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be determined in the spring. Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition later this school year. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists attain Finalist standing, and a little more than half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship and earn the Merit Scholar title.

For much more information about the National Merit Scholarship Program, click here. 

Jesuit's 2021-22 Semifinalists are pictured below, L-R: Deakin, Tiejema, Kant, Reich, Wilson, Hames, Powers.