Advocate staff photo by PATRICK DENNIS --A banner hanging from the school congratulates Baton Rouge Magnet High for winning the National Blue Ribbon School award .
Advocate staff photo by PATRICK DENNIS --A banner hanging from the school congratulates Baton Rouge Magnet High for winning the National Blue Ribbon School award .
A total of 235 high school seniors in Louisiana, half of them in the New Orleans area, have been named National Merit semifinalists.
They are among 16,000 semifinalists across the nation in the class of 2023. They are now in the running for about 7,250 National Merit scholarships worth nearly $28 million to be offered in the spring.
The 235 Louisiana semifinalists, who were announced Wednesday, are the students who scored the highest in the state during the 2021 administration of the PSAT, a preliminary test to the well-known SAT college placement exam.
Of the 235 semifinalists, 122 are from the New Orleans metro area, 64 are from the Baton Rouge area and eight are from Acadiana. The Houma-Thibodaux-Morgan City area has four semifinalists, and Lake Charles has two.
Thirty-five are from north Louisiana, 21 of them from Shreveport.
Baton Rouge Magnet High has 28 semifinalists, the most of any school in the state. That’s a big jump from the 10 semifinalists the school had last year. Baton Rouge Magnet is followed by Haynes Academy For Advanced Studies in Metairie with 20 semifinalists, same as it had last year.
For the New Orleans area, other schools with many semifinalists are Jesuit High with 16, Ben Franklin High with 14 and Patrick F. Taylor Science And Technology Academy with 10.
For the Baton Rouge area, Catholic High has 11 semifinalists while Episcopal High and St. Joseph’s Academy had six each.
In the Acadiana area, Lafayette High leads schools there with three semifinalists.
Thirteen high schools across Louisiana had at least five semifinalists. Caddo Magnet in Shreveport, with 14, is the only north Louisiana school in that group.
Here are the semifinalists by region and by school:
Ascension Episcopal School in Youngsville: Madeleine F. Sorrell.
David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy in Lafayette: David M. Erny.
Episcopal School Of Acadiana in Broussard: Charles T. Blem.
John Paul The Great Academy in Lafayette: Patrick E. Fontenot.
Lafayette High: Michael D. Curry; Da-Mien H. Nguyen; and Kerry L. Pan.
Southside High in Youngsville: Alyssa F. Walker.
Baton Rouge Magnet High: Zainalabedeen N. Al-Naseri; Alex L. Asevedo; Benjamin P. Beasley; Ryan Ding; Kristina D. Duong; Nada M. Elseifi; Alexander R. Frederic; Ralston K. Graves; Ethan Guo; Michelle Huang; Pranav R. Jadhav; Nithya A. Jones; Sarah Li; Nicole Lin; Daniel Liu; Keanna M. Luo; Andrew E. Melancon; Yehjune Moon; Malayasia S. Moses; Orna Mukhopadhyay; Kalina G. Namikas; Mason R. Pentes; Molly N. Roberts; Sophia M. Schafer; Conrad A. Schoegl; Nancy D. Shi; Alexander Q. Wei; and Alexander Wu.
Catholic High in Baton Rouge: Bennett C. Castro; Ryan J. Cedel; William N. Creech; Everett G. Deblieux; Peyton B. Leblanc; Edward C. Mayeux; Andre J. Miller; Kyle A. Oubre; Joseph P. Peak; Sidney C. Scheumack; and Nicholas L. Schroeder.
The Dunham School in Baton Rouge: Jackson H. Ford; Jake T. Rizzo; and Austin C. Stevens.
Dutchtown High in Geismar: Joshua K. Gallo; Ileana H. Raymundo; and Ashton A. South.
Episcopal High in Baton Rouge: James A. Be; Tanvi Dhaka; Scott A. McAdams; Carter C. McLean; Guy A. Modica; and Thomas A O'Connor.
Live Oak High in Watson: MacKenzie R. Himel.
LSU Lab School in Baton Rouge: Natalie G. Shearer.
Parkview Baptist High in Baton Rouge: Georgia J. Lauve.
St. Amant High: Ephraim S. Craddock.
St. Joseph's Academy in Baton Rouge: Corinne Ellis; Maria Hargrave; Camille Kleinpeter; Madeline Krzystowczyk; Meredith Martin; and Ava Nesbit.
St. Michael The Archangel High in Baton Rouge: Angelique M. Deville and Braeden A. Fox
Zachary High: Claire E. Venable.
Academy Of The Sacred Heart in New Orleans: Melanie H. Demarcay; Isabelle C. Moore; and Anna E. Watson.
Archbishop Chapelle High in Metairie: Mary C. Salvaggio.
Archbishop Hannan High in Covington: Jonathan Breaux and Leah Chatelain.
Archbishop Rummel High in Metairie: Peter D. Crean and Diego A. Swonger.
Belle Chasse High: Jace M. Luckoski.
Ben Franklin High in New Orleans: Sebastien Barrau; Lillian Chan; Alastair Deng; Henry Farnsworth; Eve Glovinsky; Lena Hoover; Isaac C. Jabaley; Zishen Li; Amy Liu; Matthew Scarmuzza; Andrew Schafer; Lee Tao; Karma J. Williams; and Christina You.
Brother Martin High in New Orleans: Luke M. Alvendia and Evan L. Carter.
Chalmette High: Coby J. Barrow.
Christ Episcopal School in Covington: Kai R. Harrison.
Covington High: Mason S. Estrada.
Fontainebleau High in Mandeville: Daniel S. Crossland; Hayley N. Pettus; and Matthew G. Robert.
Haynes Academy For Advanced Studies in Metairie: Vrishaan Bhrugushastri; Derek Chen; Jerry Chen; Wyatt Clakeley; Khalil El-Abbassi; Hamza Habib; Muhammed Habibovic; James Lee; Ari Li; Kade Marcon; Snehalata Mondal; Farzeen Nafees; Jacob Niyazov; Drima Patel; Divya Pellegrin; Hudson Perez; Brinley Pethe; Jack West; Mason Williams; and Victor Wu.
Homeschool: Carter G. Fayard; Iden Anthony Leyton-High; and Mei S. Miller.
Isidore Newman School in New Orleans: Thomas H. Dwyer; Sofia M. Gershanik; Peyton Morgan R. Johnson; Elizabeth J. Payne; Sebastian A. Strauss; Cora J. Villere; and Katherine F. Williams.
Jesuit High in New Orleans: Aidan L. Couvillon; Andrew P. Davis; Patrick J. Dowd; Dylan A. Falcon; Chase V. Haydel; Dalton P. Haydel; Kyle D. Jackson; Daniel J. Lee; Jake B. Morvant; James M. Nolan; Ethan M. Roberts; Wade S. Rogers; Preston J. Rumney; Asher A. Terrell; Derek Tsang; and Aeric D. Wender.
Lusher Charter School in New Orleans: Richard E. Exnicios; Elizabeth F. Francis; Eva M. Kusiatin; Jack Li; Atticus V. Stricklin; Nathaniel R. Tuttle; and William P. Xi.
Mandeville High: Amelia G. Barilleaux; Sophia L. Bulovas; Phoebe A. Endriss; Riley E. Lenahan; Jake M. Tirado; and Matthew A. Truehart.
Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans: Sophia M. Greene; Madison M. Nguyen; and Abigail R. Toups.
Northshore High in Slidell: Ryan L. Bennett; Dylan D. Nguyen; and Taylor L. Vander.
Patrick F. Taylor Science And Technology Academy in Avondale: Ameen Abdalbaqi; Adrien M. Bordelon; Lucille A. Broussard; Trevor Bryan; Mohammad K. Ibrahim; Kai Loo; Javier R. Torres; Long M. Tran; Dominic H. Vu; and Miguel M Wilches.
St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie: Alexis L. Akers; Tristan N. Karno; and Blake F. Verdigets.
St. Mary's Dominican High in New Orleans: Brooke E. Babin; Katherine N. Ellis; Christina M. Rareshide; and Abi C. Scanlan.
St. Paul's School in Covington: Nicholas J. Achee; Keegan E. Burrell; Samuel A. Gold; John A. Keller; John Z. Palmer; Sean Roberts; and Peter G. Verges.
St. Scholastica Academy in Covington: Bracy Kergosien.
Ursuline Academy in New Orleans: Mae Louise ZhiYing Stock-Bordnick.
Email Charles Lussier at clussier@theadvocate.com and follow him on Twitter, @Charles_Lussier.
A total of 234 high school seniors in Louisiana, more than half of them in the New Orleans area, have been named National Merit semifinalists.
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