EIGHT ST. MARY’S ACADEMY STUDENTS AMONG TOP 1% IN NATIONAL MERIT® SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
St. Mary’s Academy Principal Patricia Barr has announced that seven St. Mary’s Academy (SMA) students have been named in the top 1% in the nation as state Semifinalists and seven in the top 5% as Commended Students in the 2007 National Merit® Scholarship Program. An additional student was named in the top1% of the National Achievement Scholarship Program, which honors academically successful Black American high school students. A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, will be presented by Barr to these scholastically talented seniors.
“I am extremely proud that 15 of our 147 seniors have been honored by the National Merit Scholarship committee for their academic excellence,” says Pat Barr, Principal of St. Mary's Academy.
Of the more than 1.4 million students who took the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), SMA students Taylor Ffitch, Malachi Graham, Elena Lien, Janelle Myers, Eleanor Schmidt, Aileen Sheedy, and Bridget Underwood are among only 16,000 national students named Semifinalists, and will continue in the Merit Scholarship® competition toward Finalist standing.
Alice Avery, Hailey Bachrach, Margo Gilbert, Katie Lei, Heather Riggs, Callie Sendek, and Rachel Vranizan are among the approximately 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.
In the top 1% of those 140,000 2008 National Merit Program scholars requesting consideration in the National Achievement Program is St. Mary’s student Bridgid Bello. As one of the 1,600 highest-scoring entrants in the program, she has been designated a Semifinalist in the competition for Achievement Scholarship® awards.
“Our St. Mary’s students obviously excel academically, but no test measures their amazing commitment to learn and grow as human beings,” says Alena Kelly, St. Mary’s Assistant Principal of Academics.
A spokesperson for the National Merit Program commented, “It is important to acknowledge the attainments of the academically talented students and to credit schools for the key role they play in their development.”
Founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Academy of Portland, is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of 716 all-female schools in the country. The student body represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban, and rural communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. St. Mary’s Academy is distinguished by its development of the whole person, and is the only school in the state to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.
