Two high school seniors named National Merit Semifinalists
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Two high school seniors named National Merit Semifinalists
Two Ouachita Parish students have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists -- Parker Beaird from West Monroe High School and Marx Vaessler from Sterlington High School.
These two scholars are among the 16,000 semifinalists in the 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship program.
In addition to the semifinalists, the district also had three National Merit Commended Students -- Gavin DeCarlo, Kenzie Johns and Madelynn Rawls from West Monroe High School.
More than 1.2 million high school juniors entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test), which served as the initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 students who also took the PSAT/NMSQT.
Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for 2027 National Merit Scholarship awards, the designation recognizes students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and potential.