Students on the Coast advance as National Merit Finalists

Thirty students from 14 schools on the Coast have advanced to become National Merit Scholarship Program finalists.

More than 16,000 semifinalists were named nationwide in September.

To become a finalist, students had to submit a scholarship application that included their academic record, school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment, honors and other awards. They also had to write an essay, be endorsed by a school official and earn SAT or ACT scores to confirm their performance in the qualifying test.

Finalists are eligible for National Merit Scholarships and other scholarships.

Here are the finalists from South Mississippi:

Bay High

• Weston J. Delcuze

St. Stanislaus

• Matthew L. Simpson

Biloxi High

• Ruthie K. Barnett
• Rhys K. Newman
• Vincenzo J. Vizzini

D’Iberville High 

• Brian Lin

St. Patrick

• Jade L. Agler

Gulfport High

• Elijah Bergmann
• Ransom J. Blackmarr
• Maria E. Dukeman
• Caroline E. Grice
• Owin M. Neese
• Nicolas Ramirez

West Harrison

• Landon T. Blake

Hancock High

• Justin K. Lee
• Xander S. McGarrity

Long Beach

• Luke Dulaney
• Riley McDonnell
• Vicky H. Tran

East Central

• Kameryn F. Bardwell

Ocean Springs

• Michael J. Diaz
• Griffin T. Frye
• Aaron M. Johnson
• Krish P. Patel

St. Martin

• Tracy T. Le
• Ricky T. Nguyen
• Cindy Phan

Pascagoula

• Hayden G. Grenn

Stone High

• Luke A. Douget
• Tyler B. Hickman