Caddo Parish Public Schools continues to set the standard in the region for academic opportunities for students to excel. This year 18 students from three district high schools have been named as National Merit Scholarship Program Semi-Finalists. Comprising the 18 students selected for this distinguished recognition are 14 seniors from Caddo Parish Magnet High School, two seniors from C.E. Byrd High School and two seniors from Captain Shreve High School.
To qualify for as a Semi-Finalist, Caddo’s students were among approximately 1.5 million high school juniors from across the United States who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test with the hope of making it to the next round of the scholarship competition. From the 1.5 million students, approximately 16,000 were designated as Semi-Finalists. Caddo's 2022-2023 school year semifinalists are:
C.E. Byrd High School
- Hannah Pearce
- James Stratton
Caddo Parish Magnet High School
- Calvin Alexander
- Muny Chan
- Jessica Chu
- Morgan Conduff
- Hugo Cuellar
- Nhi Dao
- Merritt Hughes
- Caleb Joseph
- Raj Letchuman
- Jazmyn Mason
- Devon Meyer
- Andrew Minagar
- Eshika Tandon
- David Zhu
Captain Shreve High School
- Christopher Barnard
- Jeffrey Souto
“Each year, Caddo is excited to lead northwest Louisiana in students participating in the National Merit Scholarship competition and this year is no different as 18 students have been named as Semi-Finalists,” said T. Lamar Goree, Superintendent of Caddo Schools. “We congratulate these incredible students, their schools and their families for this prestigious accomplishment and look forward to seeing each of them named as Finalists in the coming months.”
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
In addition to scholarships directly from National Merit, approximately 220 corporations and business organizations will provide at least 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located.
Also, about 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
To become a finalist, semifinalists and high school officials must submit detailed scholarship applications, with an academic record, participation in school and community activities, and demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards. Semifinalists must have outstanding academic records throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by high school officials, and write essays.
Merit Scholar designees are selected because of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.