We are proud to announce that senior Joshua Allen has advanced to semi-finalist status in the National Merit Scholarship Program. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition among high school students for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. United States high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which serves as an initial screen of over 1.3 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
Semi-finalists are the highest scoring entrants in each state and represent less than 1% of each state's high school seniors.
Five CCC seniors altogether were recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars – in addition to Allen were Olivia Eckardt, Clara Dalhoff, Jayden Tran, and David Sewell.
These five students continue Clearwater Central Catholic High School's ongoing tradition of academic recognition through the National Merit Scholarship Program. Several years of CCC graduating classes have produced five or more commended scholars since the school began its partnership with SARA and Ray Dass Merit – including the Classes of 2023 (K. Phy, A. Donnelly, F. Celis Galindo, M. Elliott, and A. Galaura) and 2022 (T. Galloway, R. Buete, A. Carson, R. Deputy, H. Miranda-Plaza, D. Porcelli, and M. Reimann).