St. Dominic is full of bright and intelligent minds, but one student in particular has gone above and beyond with his academic achievements. Among an abundance of other accomplishments, senior Sean Walsh was recently recognized as a finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Program and the St. Dominic community could not be more proud.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is a highly honorable academic scholarship competition open to high school students. The goal of the program is to reward students that excel academically with scholarship money. To qualify, a student must score within a certain range on the PSAT and NMSQT standardized tests. To go further in the competition, students with the highest scores are selected to submit essays and applications that will help determine how they finish. 

In February, Walsh was recognized in a pool of 15,000 students as a finalist in the program. These students represent the top one percent of high school seniors across the United States. This is a tremendous achievement for all the students that earned the honor. In addition, Walsh scored a perfect 36 on his ACT and was honored at the EDC’s STEM Awards breakfast. 

Walsh’s achievements are a surprise to no one as he has displayed hard work in and out of the classroom throughout his four years at St. Dominic. He has taken every Engineering and Computer Science class offered and thrives in the highest-level math and science courses. He also is a part of the St. Dominic Math Team and actively pursues his studies outside of school hours.

“I’ve always tried to use my time as efficiently as possible. I usually studied for tests and got my homework done in about an hour or two after school. In terms of standardized tests, I would go on the internet, take old tests, and then study the things I got wrong,” Walsh said.

But more important than any award or honor Walsh has received, he is a hardworking and friendly student that any teacher would love to have in the classroom. His knowledge allows him to help his peers and his sense of humor brings joy to learning.

“Sean is one of the most intelligent and mature students I have ever taught. He is also very funny which always makes class more fun,” Physics teacher, Mr. Groaning, said.

As Walsh moves on to study Computer Science at Missouri S&T, the St. Dominic community wishes him the best of luck and is grateful for all the knowledge and inspiration he has brought to the school!