Bishop Chatard High School is proud to announce that seniors Liam Murphy and Clay Williams have been named semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Clay, a member of Christ the King Parish, plans to pursue a career in computer engineering. He is applying to Massachusetts, Rose-Hulman and Georgia institutes of technology; Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Purdue and Saint Louis universities, and the universities of Cincinnati and Dayton.
Clay has also participated in a variety of teams and extracurricular activities while attending Bishop Chatard including track & field, cross county, soccer and bowling teams; the investment, trivia and Latin clubs, and he served as a member of the BCHS theatre tech crew. In different ways, each of these activities, he said, taught him the benefit of teamwork, camaraderie and lessons that translate into real life.
Liam and Clay each earned the National Merit Semifinalist honor as a result of scores achieved on the PSAT test taken during their junior year at Bishop Chatard. Both are now in the running to become finalists in the National Merit Program and be considered for National Merit Scholarships.
Both advise juniors preparing for the PSAT, which will be given at BCHS on October 14, to relax when taking the test but go in with a mindset to do the best that they can.
“A lower score will not necessarily have any negative effect, but if you do well, you can connect to lots of opportunities that are looking for bright young people who are up and coming in this country,” Clay added.