Marist High School Senior Named National Merit Semifinalist

OAK LAWN, IL — A Marist High School student who scored a perfect 36 on the ACT test in May, has been named semifinalist on Wednesday for a 2022 National Merit scholarship.

Kelly A. Hughes, of Oak Lawn, was among 16,000 semifinalists nationwide who qualified by achieving one of the state's highest scores on the 2020 Preliminary SAT, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

To make it to the finalist round in February, the students must submit an application with a recommendation from an official at their high school.

About 7,500 scholarships worth nearly $30 million will be awarded to finalists before the end of July 2022, according to the scholarship corporation, an Evanston-based nonprofit founded in 1955 to run the program.

Those merit scholarships include about 4,000 sponsored by colleges and universities, 2,500 sponsored by the nonprofit’s own funds and about 1,000 provided by corporations and business organizations.

Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. The scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April.