Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • October 1 2021 17 BILOXI -- St. Patrick Catholic High School is proud to announce that Jameson Thriffiley has been named a 2022 National Merit Semifinalist. National Merit Semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. Last October, the St. Patrick Class of 2022 took the Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or the PSAT/NMSQT. Out of about 1.6 million high school seniors from around the United States, 16,000 became National Merit Semifinalists based on their academic performance on the PSAT/NMSQT. “I am very honored to be named a National Merit Semifinalist,” Jameson Thriffiley said. “I knew I had the reading score; however, I have been working hard for months on my math to improve my skills in that area. This is something I have been planning to achieve.” “All of us at St. Patrick are extremely proud of Jameson for being named a National Merit Semifinalist,” Principal Dr. Matt Buckley said. “He is most deserving of this honor, and his dedication to our school and to his success are highly notable.” Thriffiley is the son of Dr. James and Angie Thriffiley of Gulfport. He is a member of St. James Catholic Church. After high school, Thriffiley plans to attend the University of Mississippi and major in business or accounting. “The process of selecting National Merit students is a very rigorous one and only the top students nationwide are chosen,” Dr. Buckley continued. “This designation speaks well of Jameson, his family, and the entire Fighting Irish family.” Thriffiley now has the opportunity to continue in the competition to be awarded one of 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be awarded next spring. Thriffiley S t . P atrick C atholic H igh S chool , B iloxi Pictured are Susan Ladner's fifth grade students. They mastered the challenge of reading quietly to keep their Emoji noise monitor from going off. They are working hard to meet and exceed their AR goals! S t . J ames P arish S chool , G ulfport Stacey Cox and Ashley Mixon’s PreK-4 class enjoyed making milkshakes and sharing them with their teddy bears to celebrate learning all about Mr. M and Ms. T! Yummy! Learning is so much fun on our farm! S t . J ames P arish S chool , G ulfport Deedi Lafferty and Ashleigh Smith’s PreK-2 class is learning about colors while reading a favorite story, Pete the Cat’s I Love My White Shoes ! S t . S tanislaus C ollege , B ay S t . L ouis Saint Stanislaus senior John DiMento has been named a semi- finalist for the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program. DiMento joins an elite group of students from across the country. About 16,000 of 1.5 million students receive this honor. DiMento’s next step will be to apply for the National Merit Scholarship, which will be awarded in February 2022. A Newbury, MA, native, DiMento attended North Bay Elementary and Bay Middle School before entering Saint Stanislaus. He is the son of John DiMento of Newbury, MA, and Chenaey Beaguez of Bay St. Louis. DiMento entered Saint Stanislaus in the seventh grade and academic accomplishments have distinguished him throughout his high school career. DiMento holds a weighted GPA of 4.4 and a score of 34 on the ACT. He scored a five (5), the highest possible score, on his AP English Composition, European History, and United States History exams. He is currently enrolled in AP Calculus, AP English, AP Government, and Honors Physics. In addition to being a member of the Student Council, the National Honor Society, and the French Honors Society, DiMento also participated in the robotics club. Currently, he is a member of the Hancock Youth Leadership Academy. Upon graduation from high school, DiMento plans to study prelaw and attend law school. As of now, he has been accepted to the University of Mississippi and plans to apply to Stanford, UCLA, the University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt.Congratulations John DiMento for this outstanding accomplishment. DiMento