(Standing, from left) Tom Connelly, Elizabeth Nagel, Jared White, Michael Whittaker, Eric Pedone, Ashley Gunville, Chris Chaisson, Corey White, Matthew Harper, Laurence Moss, Tim Spear, Steven Dudley, Rashaunah Williams, Matthew Rossbach, Michael Kean, (sitting, from left) Melissa Harmon, Caitlin Listro, Shannon McGuire, Melissa Locke, Jasmin Simmons, Jacquelin Magby, Katherine Gray.
Marian excels again in National Merit, Achievement Marian Catholic seniors, Thomas Connelly (Mokena) and Michael Kean (Chicago), have earned Semifinalist status in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program. Semifinalists numbering 16,000 nationally now have the opportunity to continue in the competition for approximately 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $33 million, that will be offered next spring. To be a Finalist, students must have an academic record of very high performance, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance. More than 1.4 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2007 National Merit Program by taking the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. Ten Marian seniors also earned status as Commended Students (top 50,000 in the nation) in the National Merit Program, including Katherine Gray (Oak Forest), Ashley Gunville (Olympia Fields), Melissa Harmon (Crete), Caitlin Listro (Crete), Shannon McGuire (Matteson), Elizabeth Nagel (Flossmoor), Eric Pedone (Tinley Park), Matt Rossbach (Crete), Jasmin Simmons (Matteson) and Timothy
Spear (Mokena). Five students earned recognition as Semifinalists in the National Achievement Scholarship Competition. They rank among more than 1,600 high school seniors named Semifinalists in the 43rd annual program, a competition for Black American High School Students. Marian students include Melissa Locke (University Park), Jasmin Simmons (Matteson), Corey White (Homewood), Jared White (Homewood) and Michael Whittaker (Olympia Fields). Seven Marian Catholic High School seniors are among 3,000 National Achievement Scholarship Program participants being "referred" to U.S. Colleges and Universities. Marian referred students include Briana Briscoe (Crete), Chris Chaisson (Flossmoor), Steven Dudley (Richton Park), Matthew Harper (Harvey), Jacquelin Magby (Dolton), Laurence Moss (Country Club Hills) and Rashaunah Williams (South Holland). More than 130,000 African-American students took the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) to enter the program. The 3,000 referred students are in the top five percent of students testing. The students will be referred to more than 1,500 colleges and universities.
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