Twelve members of Episcopal’s Class of 2006 have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Eight seniors were tapped as semifinalists in the annual National Merit competition based on their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT. They are: Zach Barilleau, son of Paul and Lucie Barilleau; Ben Bologna, son of Bill and Diane Bologna; Michael Bujol, son of David and Susan Bujol; Stanley Chen, son of Felix and Hua Chen; Michael Gieger, son of Ernie and Diane Gieger; John-Paul Grenier, son of Christopher and Andrea Grenier; Kenneth Leu, son of Jasong Leu and Lih-Lain Lin; and Sean Swanner, son of John and Sherry Swanner. Bologna and Gieger took the PSAT/NMSQT while they were attending St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie.

The following four students were recognized as Commended Scholars for their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT: Bryce Beard, son of Bill and Jan Beard; Alex Blanche, daughter of Shelley and Wilfred Barry and Mark and Janece Blanche; Stephen Cassidy, son of Steve and Jan Cassidy; and Trey Miller, son of Tom and Shawn Miller.

The National Merit Semifinalists join approximately 15,500 academically talented high school seniors in qualifying for this honor. As semifinalists, the students will have the opportunity to compete for about 7,600 merit scholarships worth approximately $28 million. Before they can be considered for merit scholarship awards, semifinalists must advance to the finalist level of competition by fulfilling additional requirements, which include having an outstanding academic record and submitting SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance.