National Merit Scholarship Program Recognizes Five USJ Students
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| USJ students recognized by the National Merit Foundation are left to right Ben Wilson, H.J. Percival, Keith Nord, Hunter Meriwether, and Krista Douglass. |
Five members of University School of Jackson’s Class of 2008 are being recognized by the National Merit Foundation as Commended Students. This recognition goes to students who placed among the top five percent of college-bound juniors who took the PSAT exam last fall.
USJ students being recognized are…
• Krista Douglass, daughter of Jason and Amber Anderson and Greg and Jenny Douglass, is Student Government Association vice president, yearbook editor, and was voted “most likely to succeed” by her peers. She has attended USJ for 16 years. She would like to major in pre-med at Rice or Wellesley.
• Hunter Meriwether, son of John and Joy Meriwether, has attended USJ since second grade. He was voted Mr. USJ by his classmates and is captain of the football team. He plans to major in biology or marine biology in college.
• Keith Nord, son of Keith and Laura Nord, has attended USJ since kindergarten and is the captain of the cross-country team. He would like to attend either Notre Dame or MIT where he will study biology or psychology.
• H.J. Percival, son of Hisman and Ruth Percival, is commended in the National Achievement Scholarship Program that recognizes 3,000 Black American students for their outstanding academic achievement. H.J., who entered USJ his sophomore year, would like to attend Vanderbilt or Tulane. He is president of the Chess Club and vice president of the Debate Club.
• Ben Wilson is the son of Donald and Elizabeth Wilson. Ben plays golf for USJ and has been selected for the sixth consecutive year to the All-Northwest Honor Choir. He would like to study either pre-med or pre-engineering and music in college.
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| USJ students recognized by the National Merit Foundation are, front row, left to right Will Lewis, Lauren Dowling, Katie Treneff; and second row, Alex Kurth, Greg Updike, and Thomas Egan. Andrew LeCroy, is pictured, below. Not pictured is Brendan White. |
Class of 2007 National Merit Students
The National Merit Foundation recognized eight students from the 2007 graduating class at the University School of Jackson. One student, Lauren Dowling, is a National Merit Finalist; six are National Merit Commended Students; and one student is a National Hispanic Scholar.
Lauren is the daughter of Dr. Clarey and Moira Dowling. As a semifinalist, Lauren has the opportunity to become a National Merit finalist and compete for Merit Scholarship awards. Colleges at the top of Lauren’s list are Northwestern and Stanford.
USJ’s six Commended Students, their parents, and top college choices at this point are:
• Thomas Egan, son of Dr. James and Jeanne Egan, University of Southern California or Stanford.
• Will Lewis, son of Roger and Michelle Lewis, Vanderbilt.
• Katie Treneff, daughter of Tim and Christy Treneff, Ohio State or UT Knoxville.
• Greg Updike, son of Keith and Karen Updike, undecided.
• Brendan White, son of Jerry and Lynn White.
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| Andrew LeCroy |
• Andrew LeCroy, son of John and Vickie LeCroy, Georgia Tech.
Alex Kurth, son of Veronica and Bernhard Kurth, is being recognized as a National Hispanic scholar. He would like to attend Vanderbilt.
More than 1.4 million juniors entered the 2007 National Merit program by taking the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The 16,000 National Merit semifinalists represent the top one percent of college-bound students who took the qualifying test; commended students represent the top five percent. Of the 175,000 Hispanic students nationwide who took the qualifying test, only 4,700 are recognized as Hispanic scholars.
Class of 2006 National Merit Students
Four members of University School of Jackson’s Class of 2006 were recognized by the National Merit Foundation. Two of the seniors are National Merit Finalists; two are Commended Students.
National Merit Finalists were…
• Cal Bowen, son of Mike and Wendy Bowen.
• Karen Wong, a National Merit scholar and daughter of Bill and Samira Wong.
Commended Students were…
• Kristen Currie, daughter of Dean and Debbie Currie.
• Russ Duck, son of Jeff and Alicia Duck.
Class of 2005 National Merit Students
The Finalists are…
• Robert Egan, son of James and Jeanne Egan.
• Michael Hammond, son of Jere and Linda Hammond.
• Molly Reeves, daughter of Jere and Carla Reeves.
USJ’s Commended Students are…
• Lauren Hillam, daughter of Brad and Katie Hillam.
• Kristin Wheeler, daughter of David and Brenda Wheeler.