Only 15,000 students across the nation are selected as National Merit Scholarship finalists – and Destrehan High School has two.
Seniors CeCe Cody and Will Reinagel earned the prestigious honor.
(See next week’s edition for a story on Hahnville High Merit Scholarship finalists Cooper Matherne and Avery Oertling.)
Candidacy begins with the PSAT/NMSQT taken during the students’ junior year. Roughly 7,600 student winners receive scholarships worth over $33 million annually. Top scorers (less than 1% of seniors) are named semifinalists. To become a finalist, each student must submit a detailed application, including a high school transcript, principal recommendation, essay, and qualifying SAT/ACT scores.
Cody and Reinagel share another distinction – each achieved the elusive perfect score in standardized testing, Cody scoring the maximum score of 1520 on the PSAT, while Reinagel landed the highest possible on the ACT, 36. Less than a quarter of a percent of students who take the test annually land a perfect score.
Cody – who was named Destrehan High’s Student of the Year in December – keeps a busy schedule at Destrehan, where she’s involved in numerous activities. She’s a member of the Desty Darlings dance team, the Student Council, the Student Advisory Council, Superintendent’s Council, Wildcat Ambassadors, Mathletes, the National Honor Society, National English Honor Society and she’s the secretary for the Spanish Honor Society.
Cody was actually at Disney World in Orlando with her Desty Darlings dance teammates. The Destys had just secured a fourth consecutive national championship win – she’ll leave DHS as part of a senior group that’s 4-for-4 in achieving that feat.
“I actually got the e-mail while I was in line for the Slinky Dog Dash,” Cody said. “So, it was very, very exciting to be able to celebrate in the happiest place on Earth … it was one of my goals for a long time to be a National Merit finalist and I put in a lot of work for it, and combined with the championship it was just a really great weekend.”
Like Cody, Reinagel stays on the move. He’s been a member of the Destrehan, honor choir, mathletes and the National Honor Society, as well as an Eagle Scout.
Reinagel said the perfect ACT score was a goal he took aim at.
“I was specifically aiming for a 36. I was actually on edge for two or three weeks while I was waiting to hear the score, not knowing if I’d get it or just miss it,” said Reinagel, who said he felt good about his effort upon completing the test. “I kind of felt relieved when I saw the score – and very happy the hard work paid off.”
