By Aizak Miller

Sports Editor 

The Jag 

 Blue Spring South seniors Preston Lograsso, Sophia Son and Vincent Medina have been named National Merit semifinalists. To be named a national merit semifinalist a student must score in the top one percent of people who take the PSAT test. 

Preston Lograsso  

Lograsso being named a National Merit semifinalist shows his hard work wasn’t for nothing.  

“It shows all of my hard work in academics and how much pride I take in them,” Lograsso said. “I have always enjoyed learning, so I think that shows how much it means to me as well.” 

Down the road, the scholarships will help him financially with his college funds.  

“I’m getting most of my college paid for through my scholarships and academics,” Lograsso said. “Not only will it help me in my future but also my family.” 

Lograsso really did not do a lot to prepare for the PSAT, he said.  

“I mean, ACT Prep class helped a little bit with English and reading comprehension, but there really was not a whole lot that went into it for me. If my counselor would have never recommended for me to take it, I would have never even thought about it.” 

He plans to attend the University of Central Missouri and study criminal justice and criminology. He said eventually he would like to go into law enforcement somewhere.  

“I want to be a cop whether that is, FBI, secret service, or just a street cop,” Lograsso said. “I just want to help people.” 

Sophia Son 

Son being named a National Merit semifinalist makes her feel accomplished.

“Being a National Merit semifinalist makes me feel really proud of myself and makes me feel like all my hard work has paid off,” Son said.  

With the scholarships that come with being a National Merit semifinalist and all the opportunities, Son spoke about what those would do for her.  

“These scholarships will help my college funds and most of all take a lot of stress off my parents,” she said.  

She has a short list of three schools, the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  

“These are the three main schools I’m focused on,” Son said. “I have a full ride to Missouri, but I have not made any decisions yet.” 

How did Son prepare for the PSAT? She ordered some books.  

“I was confident in myself, but I just went ahead and ordered some books off Amazon a couple weeks before I took it to study for it” Son said.  

Even though she doesn’t know where she is going quite yet she knows that she wants to study Biology in College.  

Vincent Medina 

Medina being named a National Merit semifinalist has opened many doors for him and his future.

“It means a lot because of all the scholarships and opportunities that I have now that I didn’t before,” Medina said. “There are still some scholarships that I’m waiting to hear back on, but this is going to help big time for me and my family,” Medina said.  

When asked how he prepared, he said his mom helped him out.  

“My mom helped me out a lot, we went through a lot of English rules and small things that definitely helped,” Medina said. “Having some ACT test taking background also helped out a lot.” 

Medina plans to attend Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and go into liberal arts.  

“I’m really excited to get down there and to keep learning in a new place,” Medina said. “I also have a potential opportunity to do a 5-year engineering program through Georgia Tech University.”  

Down the road in the future Medina can see himself doing some sort of engineering or math and statistics.  

“Engineering has always seemed like the way I’m supposed to go but I would also like to work with math and statistics,” Medina said.