Trumbull Resident Named National Merit Semifinalist

TRUMBULL, CT - From Sacred Heart Academy: Eunji Lee ’18 has been named a semifinalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program.The program honors students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Approximately 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 PSAT, which served as an initial screening of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. These academically talented seniors now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million.

Since freshman year, Eunji has continually explored her academic interests and contributed to our community. She serves as president of National Math Honor Society – Mu Alpha Theta, treasurer of National Honor Society, and captains the Mood Mega Math Challenge teams and Math League. Eunji is a member of Mock Trial, Science National Honor Society, French National Honor Society, Key Club, and Art Club. Having played violin for more than ten years, she has been the Sacred Heart Academy orchestra concertmistress since freshman year, and has represented our school at both the Southern Regional and All State music festivals.

Eunji participates in independent science research and won the third place team award at the 2016 Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair for her project on designing and testing 3D printing prosthetic coverings. As a rising junior, Eunji interned at the University of Bridgeport, helping to write a program to detect spam accounts on Twitter, which won first place at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Connecticut Conference poster competition. She won the second place individual physical sciences award at the 2017 Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair, and was a finalist in the Robotics and Machine
Learning category at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May, for a project using neural networks to detect bleeding in endoscopy images. Last summer, Eunji worked in the clinical chemistry department at Yale New Haven Hospital, designing and conducting a stability and validation study on a newly released blood collection device.

Eunji received the Yale University Book Award and the University of Rochester Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology. She was also awarded the National Center for Women in Informational Technology Aspirations in Computing Award, and her team placed in the top 150 in the nation in the 2017
Moody Mega Math Challenge. Eunji has won silver and bronze medals on the National French Exam and received the Sr. Antonine Memorial Scholarship before entering Sacred Heart Academy. She was recently named an AP Scholar with Distinction.

Outside of school, Eunji enjoys volunteering for Music Haven and the Bridgeport Kids Empowered by Your Support music programs. She teaches violin to elementary and middle school students, in addition to helping out with organizational and planning duties and has also performed alongside students at concerts and various events. Since fourth grade, Eunji has been a member of the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestra’s principal group.

Eunji, a resident of Trumbull, looks forward to exploring her interests in research, science, and technology in college, where she would also like to continue to share her music.

Founded in 1946 by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sacred Heart Academy successfully prepares young women in grades 9 – 12 for learning, service, and achievement in a global society. The Academy welcomes 500 students from more than 80 schools and 60 towns in Connecticut and is accredited by the
New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Visit www.sacredhearthamden.org to learn more.

Image via Sacred Heart Academy