SJ students recognized for performance in National Merit Scholarship Program

Mr. Michael Welch ’78, headmaster, and Dr. Jacob Conca, principal of Saint John’s High School, are pleased to announce that one Saint John’s senior has been named a semifinalist for the 2014 National Merit Scholarships, and thirteen other students were sent letters of commendation for their qualifying test scores.

“Their success is certainly attributable to their individual effort and intelligence, and the seriousness with which they pursue their studies,” Dr. Conca said. “It is also a direct result of the dedicated teaching and preparation they receive at Saint John’s High School.”

The National Merit semifinalists scored among the top 1 percent of the 2012 Preliminary SAT, which serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Of the 1.5 million high school juniors who took the test, only 16,000 were named semifinalists, of whom about 15,000 are expected to be named finalists in February. Winners of the more than 8,000 scholarships, which are given by several sources, will be notified in April through July.

The next 34,000 students nationwide — all of whom scored in the top 5 percent on the PSAT/NMSQT — were sent letters of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Thirteen Saint John’s students received letters of commendation. Their names and hometowns are printed below the semifinalist’s:

National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

Ara Hagopian ’14 (Spencer)

Commended Students

Allen Burgess ’14  (Shrewsbury)

Nicholas Flowers ’14 (Charlton)

Curran Kalia ’14  (Southborough)

Daniel Kerrigan ’14  (Sterling)

Usmann Khan ’14  (Shrewsbury)

Conor Morrison ’14  (Mendon)

James O’Connell ’14  (Worcester)

Robert O’Gara ’14 (Ashland)

Leo Pagano ’14  (Worcester)

Matthew Santoso ’14 (Northborough)

Mahidar Shapally ’14  (South Grafton)

James Sullivan ’14 (Northborough)

Daniel Waskevich ’14 (Worcester)