16 Students Received Commended Recognition by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation
Lisa Peterson | Director of College Counseling
Sixteen seniors have been named Commended Students by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation of which 3 have advanced to the semifinals.
The 2018 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists are: Ivan Barral, Andres Dones, and Conner Yurkon. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.
“These students are leaders in their class and have worked very hard to achieve such an honor,” said School Principal Jose E. Roca. “Their dedication to their academics and community exemplify our motto of being men for others. We wish Ivan, Andres, and Conner luck as they continue in the process and congratulate the other 13 young men that were commended.”
The commended students are:
Ivan Barral
Andrew Burch
Daniel Corrada
Andres Dones
Ricardo Espina
Daniel Fager
Thomas Gallinar
Javier Guerrero
Eduardo Hernandez
Justin Izquierdo
Gabriel Krikorian
Jorge Moscoso
Allan Navarro
Deiter Prussing
Roger Torres
Conner Yurkon
The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT)—which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.