Jesuit’s 22 National Merit Semifinalists

The National Merit Semifinalists in Jesuit’s Class of 2020 are:

Bottom row (from left): Conor P. Brannan, John Gunaldo, James E. Henican, Frederick J. Junius, Augustus P. Kitchens,

Second row: Luke S. Russo, Christian T. Nguyen, Daniel J. McCabe, Hayes T. Martin, Milan Mardia, Thomas S. Levy, 

Third row: Connor P. Sarrat, Alec M. Scheffler, Dylan M. Sellars, Rayford B. Smith, Dominic J. Stoner,

Fourth row: Aqib F. Zakaria, William C. Wells, Richard M. Welsch, Darren Tsang, Jonathan A. Tittle, and Caden J. Swain.

The 22 National Merit Scholars in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program represented approximately 10% of the 229 Louisiana high school honorees. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to that state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. Nationwide, nearly 1.5 million students entered the competition, and the field was narrowed to only 16,452 semifinalists. Considering semifinalists alone, this number represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. From the elite group of semifinalists, 7,500 students will go on to win scholarships worth over $30 million.

This year’s semifinalists from Jesuit posted scores ranging from 215 to 226 on the PSAT/NMSQT^®, which is used as the initial screen in the annual competition underwritten by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

The faculty, administration, and staff of Jesuit High School congratulate these 22 National Merit Semifinalists for their significant academic achievement.