St. Bernard Prep student earns National Merit Semifinalist honors
Published 9:42 am Tuesday, September 24, 2024
- Fr. Joel Martin, president of St. Bernard Prep School, and Headmaster Phuong Nguyen congratulate Prep School senior Willa Smith on her recognition as one of this year’s National Merit Semifinalists.
A St. Bernard Preparatory School student has earned a spot this year on the nation’s short annual list of high school academic high achievers.
St. Bernard Prep senior Willa Smith has been named a semifinalist in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program, the school shared in a statement this week. With the recognition, Smith joins an elite group of 268 Alabama students to receive the honor this year, whose academic accomplishments rate each National Merit Semifinalist in the top one percent of all U.S. high school seniors.
Smith was selected from a nationwide pool of more 1.3 million students from 21,000 participating high schools. Students took part in the 2025 competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists represent the highest-scoring entrants from each U.S. state.
St. Bernard Prep President Fr. Joel Martin expressed the school’s pride at cultivating one of its own to qualify academically for the nationally recognized honor.
“We are rightly proud of Willa for this achievement and wish her success as she advances in the National Merit Scholarship competition,” said Martin. “She is deserving of recognition in this and in all areas of her exemplary life at St. Bernard.”
Each National Merit Finalist is required to maintain an outstanding academic record throughout high school, as well as secure a recommendation from a school official, write an essay, and present SAT or ACT scores that confirm their earlier performance.
Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be awarded in the spring of next year. Finalists will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships, awarded on a state-representational basis. In addition, about 770 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships will be offered by approximately 130 corporations and business organizations. In all, about 150 colleges and universities will provide about 3,600 scholarships to finalists who attend their institutions.
The National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced between April and July 2025.
