Making a Difference

Two seniors receive National Merit honors

De La Salle Collegiate seniors Jarod Amparo and Justin Desmet have been named Commended Students in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from the National Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, was presented to these scholastically-talented seniors by De La Salle princi pal Nathan Maus. Amparo and Desmet are ranked second and fourth, re spectively, in this year’s senior class of 167 students. Both seniors carry greater than a 4.43 weighted grade-point average. Amparo is a four-year member of the Pilots’ marching band, concert band, student council, DECA, and track & field. He’s also served two years as a student ambassa dor, and is on the school’s Link Crew and National Honor Society this year. He scored a 33 on the ACT and a 1440 on the SAT. Amparo hopes to attend the University of Notre Dame, University of Michigan, or Yale University. A captain on the Pilots’ varsity football team, Desmet is active through the school and his community. He helped organize the Out of Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk in Grosse Pointe Woods last spring, and he tutors classmates in preparation for standardized tests. Desmet is a three-time Scholastic All-Catholic Award recipient, an AP Scholar Award winner, and a Catholic League Scholar-Athlete Leader nominee. He scored a 34 on the ACT and a 1540 on the SAT. Desmet would like to attend Yale University, University of Michigan, or Vanderbilt University. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the na tion are being recognized for their academic promise this month. Although they will not continue in the 2020 compe tition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students place among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2020 competi tion by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Seniors Justin Desmet (left) and Jarod Amparo earned Commended Student recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.