Five Catholic Central seniors - Patricio Ezdebski, John Harvey, Lucas Jraiche, Oliver Kammeraad, and Joseph Sievert - have been named finalists in the 2024 Competition for National Merit Scholarship Awards.  

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition that began in 1955 among high school students. The competition is organized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that does not receive government funding.  

High school students can enter the competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The test is designed to help screen over 1.3 million entrants each year. Students must also meet participation and published program entry requirements.  

According to the National Merit Scholarship Program’s website, there are three types of Merit scholarship awards offered to finalists: 

1. National Merit $2500 Scholarships 

2. Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards 

3. College-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards  

Approximately 740 special awards are given to students who are not finalists that meet a corporate sponsor’s criteria. This year, the organization chose these five students from a group of 16,000 semifinalists in September 2023 for meeting all requirements to advance to the finalist standing in the competition.  

All finalists will be considered for the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Award, which must be used exclusively toward an accredited undergraduate education at a college or university within the United States. A total of 7,140 winners will be selected in March of 2024. Winners will be notified by email with a confidential notification sent to their high schools.