St. Joseph Catholic School senior Luke Jones has been named a semifinalist in the 72nd Annual National Merit Scholarship Program and remains in competition for National Merit scholarships worth about $24 million.
Jones is one of more than 16,000 National Merit semifinalists. More than 1.2 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools nationwide entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors.
“Luke is an outstanding student and deserving of this honor,” St. Joseph Catholic School Principal Trey Bailey said. “He is a wonderful representation of the quality of students we have at St. Joe.”
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition that began 1955 and is administered by the private, non-profit National Merit Scholarship Corp.
About 95 percent of the students named a semifinalist are expected to attain finalist standing. And about half of those students will win a National Merit Scholarship and earn the title of Merit Scholar.
St. Joseph Catholic School, founded in 1870 by the Sisters of Mercy, offers seventh- through 12th-grade students of all faith backgrounds an athletic program and rigorous college prep curriculum grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church.
St. Joseph is accredited by the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools and Cognia.
