Monthly Archives: September 2019

Another Mount St. Mary senior receives national recognition

The National Hispanic Recognition Program selected Amelia Ochoa ’20 as a 2019-2020 National Hispanic Scholar. Amelia scored in the top 2.5% on the PSAT qualifying test among all Hispanic and Latino test takers in the region last fall.

 

Established in 1983, the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) is a College Board program that provides national recognition of the exceptional academic achievements of Hispanic and Latino high school seniors. While there is no scholarship awarded with this honor, the recognition enables students to highlight their outstanding educational achievements to top colleges and universities. In order to be eligible, students must identify as Hispanic or Latino, meet the minimum PSAT cutoff score by state and earn a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher by the middle of their junior year.

 

We congratulate Amelia for the academic commitment she has demonstrated. She joins the two Semifinalists and one Commended Student from Mount St. Mary Academy’s Class of 2020 who were recognized earlier this month by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

 

Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.

Mercy Day 2019: A day full of service, celebration

More than 500 Mount St. Mary Academy students, faculty and staff spent the morning of September 24 volunteering at nearly 20 locations across central Arkansas. The schoolwide day of community service took place in honor of Mercy Day. Around the world, Mercy Day is celebrated to commemorate the day Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy, opened the first House of Mercy in 1827 to serve the sick and poor in Ireland.

 

In the spirit of the Sisters of Mercy founder, Mount St. Mary honors this important anniversary each year by completing acts of service on its campus, in its surrounding neighborhood and throughout the Little Rock area. This year’s Mercy Day activities included cleaning and picking up trash, preparing meals, sorting clothing, and helping with various additional tasks at churches, schools and organizations that serve those in need. Work was completed at the following sites: ACCESS, The Allen School, Arkansas House of Prayer, Baseline Academy, Calvary Cemetery, Camp Aldersgate, Carmel of St. Teresa of Jesus, CHI St. Vincent, Easterseals Arkansas, Friendly Chapel Church of the Nazarene, Habitat for Humanity, The Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock, Little Rock Compassion Center, Live Thankfully Little Rock, Mount St. Mary Academy, Recycle Bikes for Kids, St. Joseph Center of Arkansas, St. Theresa Catholic School, and The Van.

 

The MSM community gathered together in the McAuley Center gymnasium later in the day for a special all-school Mercy Day Mass. Prior to Mass, 16 Mount students were recognized during the Mercy Day Scholarship Awards Presentation. The day of celebration ended with the Mercy Education System of the Americas (MESA) installation of Dr. Pattie Davis and Sara Jones as Mount St. Mary Academy’s new president and principal, respectively. Mount was honored to have Kimberly Baxter, MESA associate director for programs and services, and Sr. Deborah Troillett ’73, MESA board member and former president of Mount St. Mary from 1997-2011, in attendance to lead the special ceremony.

 

View photos from Mercy Day 2019 at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHhtWNm.

Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.

MSM senior recognized as Commended Student

Another Mount St. Mary Academy student has been honored this month for exceptional academic promise. Senior Adeline Harton was named a Commended Student in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. Adeline joined approximately 34,000 students throughout the nation who received the distinction. Although they will not continue in the 2020 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2020 competition by taking the PSAT qualifying test in 2018.

 

“Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

 

Congratulations, Adeline, on your well-deserved recognition.

 

Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.

Two Mount St. Mary seniors named National Merit Semifinalists

Two students from Mount St. Mary Academy have been named Semifinalists in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Isabella Boyd ’20 and Anna Palmer ’20 are among the 16,000 Semifinalists who represent the top one percent of the Class of 2020 nationwide. Over 1.5 million juniors across the country entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program competition by taking the PSAT qualifying test last fall.

 

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring, according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

 

Steps in the 2020 Competition

About 15,000 seniors will be announced as Finalists in February. To advance to the finals of the scholarship program, students must show a record of consistently high academic performance and extracurricular involvement throughout high school while also earning SAT or ACT scores that confirm their earlier performances on the qualifying test. They must also be endorsed and recommended by a high school official.

 

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2020. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 220 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria. In addition, about 180 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

 

Congratulations to Isabella and Anna!

 

Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.