Brother Martin Principal, Mr. Ryan Gallagher '00, congratulated Luke Alvendia '23 and Evan Carter '23, our National Merit Finalists, over morning announcements today:

"In a Brothers of the Sacred Heart school, we view academic excellence as the development of each student to the maximum of his potential; it means improving students’ skills to help them achieve a sense of personal competency. We do this by challenging you to continuously improve and to achieve at the highest level possible of which you are capable, which in turn, is helping to form you into the person God created you to be. 

This morning, we recognize two members of our senior class for outstanding achievement in the area of academic excellence. 

Last September, 16,000 high school seniors across the country were notified that they had earned National Merit Semifinalist recognition, a recognition reserved for students who score in the top 1% of all high school students who take the PSAT. 

Semifinalists then have to fulfill requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Each Semifinalist submits. From the Semifinalist group, a certain number of students, varying from year to year, advance to Finalist standing after submitting a detailed scholarship application, that includes information about extracurricular achievements, awards, leadership positions, academic records, and SAT scores; typically about 15,000 of the 16,000 semi-finalists earn Finalist distinction nation-wide. 

This year, both Brother Martin semi-finalists earned Finalist distinction for their academic excellence, leadership, and involvement in the life of our school. We recognized these two young men at our November school-wide liturgy, and we congratulate them again this morning for earning the outstanding achievement of National Merit Finalist. 

Our 2023 National Merit Finalists are Seniors Luke Alvendia and Evan Carter. 

Luke and Evan, thank you for your commitment to excellence at Brother Martin and for answering the call as members of the class of 2023 to leave Brother Martin better than when you arrived. Students and Faculty, please congratulate these two students when you see them throughout the day."

Congratulations to our National Merit Finalists on this prestigious achievement!