37 seniors at area Catholic high schools named National Merit semifinalists

HOUSTON — An elite group of 37 high school seniors at Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese were named semifinalists on Sept. 11 in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship program, based on scores in last year’s Preliminary SAT college entrance tests. As semifinalists, these teens have the chance to compete for 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $26 million offered next spring. 

This year’s group is more than twice as many as last year’s semifinalists. 

The students recognized are Erin Baumeister from Incarnate Word Academy in Houston; Gabriela Arenas, Maria Paulina Ferrante, Karina Fung, Scarlet Jacobson, Emily James, Winston Jenkins, Michelle Nguyen, Alexis Vu and Alyssa Wang from St. Agnes Academy in Houston; Peter Bryant, Everett Denson, Roberto Pacini, Michael Richards and Evan Wagner from St. Thomas High School in Houston; Elias Al-Ramahi, Christopher Bezemek, David Calderon, Maxwell Chen, Peter Cyr, Blaise Dorenbaum, Daniel Guo, Luke Holmes, Ethan Johnson, Maxwell Johnson, Matthew Mejia, Henry Omanga, Matthew Parker, Andrew Robertson, Michael Rodriguez, Marcus Rohrig, Justin Wang, Allen Wu, John Yates, Oliver Zhang and Jason Zhao from Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston; and Matthew Parmenter at St. John XXIII College Preparatory in Katy. 

These students are among a select 16,000 students from across the country. More than 90% are expected to be named finalists, and roughly half will earn scholarships. Of the 1.3 million juniors in 21,000 high schools who took the preliminary SAT exam in 2024 across the U.S., these students are in the 1% of the highest scorers. 

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. This includes submitting a detailed scholarship application with information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership capabilities, and honors and awards received. Finalists will be named in February 2025.