By: Community Recorder
Covington Catholic's seven National Merit Finalists are, in front, from left, Lucas Timmerman, Peter Schaefer and Mitchell MacKnight; and in back, Adam Flynn, Sean (Chris) Fagin, Benjamin Darpel and Logan Boyle.
A total of seven seniors at Covington Catholic are finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Corp.'s 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. This total of seven is the most of any high school (public or private) in Northern Kentucky.
Last spring, roughly 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools across the country entered the 2016 program by taking the PSAT/NMSQT Qualifying Test. Of those juniors, only 16,000, or about 1 percent, were named National Merit Semifinalists, based on their scores on this exam. Finalists, named from among these academically talented students, will advance one step further in the competition for some 7,400 scholarships worth more than $32 million, to be awarded in the spring of 2016. Nationwide, about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
The seven CovCath seniors who have been named National Merit finalists (including home parish and parents) are:
• Logan Boyle, St. Joseph Crescent Springs, Tim and Kathleen Boyle
• Benjamin Darpel, St. Pius X, Paul and Cheryl Darpel
• Sean (Chris) Fagin, St. Timothy, Sean and Laura Fagin
• Adam Flynn, St. Agnes, Kevin and Jackie Flynn
• Mitchell MacKnight, St. Pius X, David and Gretchen MacKnight
• Peter Schaefer, St. Joseph Crescent Springs, Jack and Maria Schaefer
• Lucas Timmerman, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Jerry and Jennifer Timmerman
According to Principal Robert Rowe, "Our administration and faculty, and the Covington Catholic community are extremely proud of these seven students on being named National Merit finalists. Every one of these young men are exceptional students with a diligent work ethic. Covington Catholic High School takes great pride in our academics as illustrated by our consistently high standardized test scores and educational accolades, but more importantly, we are proud of the well-rounded community leaders we produce."