In accordance with the Basilian values of goodness, discipline, and knowledge, the Class of 2025 has earned a historic 31 total National Merit recognitions this fall. Seniors Peter Bryant, Everett Denson, Robert Pacini, Michael Richards, and Evan Wagner have received the honor of National Merit Scholar Semifinalist.

On September 11, officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of the 16,000 semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship program. Over 1.3 million juniors entered the program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Based on their high scores, this year’s semi-finalists represent less than one percent of United States high school seniors.

The Class of 2025 boasts 5 National Merit Scholar Semifinalists.

These academically talented Eagles now have the opportunity to continue in the competition for the 6,870 available National Merit Scholarships, worth nearly $26 million. The announcement for NMSQT finalists will be announced in February 2025, and the scholarship recipients will be notified later in the spring.

Across the board, St. Thomas High School students scored an average 196 points higher than the Texas state average and 167 points higher than the United States average on the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Seven other hardworking St. Thomas seniors received the distinction of Commended Scholars, due to their high performance on the same test. These Eagles are: Paul Anderson, Edward Bocock, Eric Curran, Bryan Husband, Milan Jones, Dylan Martinez, and Preston Underbrink.

To round out the historic thirty-one recognitions for the school, nineteen other members of the class of 2025 also earned national distinctions.

The National Hispanic Recognition Award recipients are: Noah Beard, Angel Benavides, Philip Burguieres, Noah De Meritt, Nicolas Gleason, Christian Hernandez, Marc Martinez, Luis Oliver Lebron, John Diego Pollock, Aidan Pulido, Michael Rodriguez, Preston Underbrink, Benjamin Valdes, Sebastian Vargas, Tyler Veillon, and Lucas Wood.

The National First Generation Recognition Award recipients are: Angel Benavides and Sebastian Vargas.

The National African American Recognition Award recipients are: Andrew Bondunrin and Sebastian Vargas.

The National Indigenous Recognition Award recipients are: Noah Finkelman and Ryley Sauvinet.

The St. Thomas High School community is proud of the Class of 2025’s many achievements and the hard work, dedication, and faith it took to earn these distinguished academic honors.

Article by Sarah Jane Lasley