Congratulations to the seven Cardinals who were named Commended Scholars and Semifinalists in the prestigious 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Commended Scholars are high-achieving students recognized for their outstanding performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Commended Scholars represent the top 3% of test-takers nationwide!
The Pope Francis Prep seniors who were named Class of 2026 National Merit Commended Scholars are: Akosua Ahenkang, Isabella Clarkson-Perez, Andrew Gagne, Marcus Tran, and Logan Vaghini.
Each year, Semifinalists are selected based on their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT, placing them among the top scorers nationwide. More than 1.3 million juniors entered the National Merit Scholarship program by taking the PSAT last October. Only about 16,000 earned recognition as Semifinalists, and two of them are from Pope Francis Prep!
Congratulations to the two seniors named Semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition: Lainey Czerwiec and Oliver Tran. Locally, Lainey and Oliver are the only two students to be recognized for this achievement from the 23 cities and towns in Hampden County.