Senior Shi Qin "Jerry" Su places among the nation's highest-scoring participants in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Competition.
"It's a pretty big thing to me," said Jerry. "It's a national honor and not too many people are getting it. I really want to thank a couple of teachers like Mr. Suzuki and my advisor including Mr. Donald who helped me a lot. Thank you to the school for such a good opportunity."
Born in Shanghai, China, Jerry enrolled at Maryknoll School in the ninth grade. From the start, his teachers realized his academic potential and fast-tracked him into upper level math and science courses.
Jerry's accomplishments include placing second in the State Math Bowl tournament and Economics Challenge, and recognition as a National AP Scholar. "Academically, I center on intellectual interests on social sciences in general, especially on political science and economics. I took related courses at school and self-studied a couple of AP's that intrigued me in this field."
During the summer, Jerry participated in a summer school program at Columbia University in New York. "Academically, my passion is really political science. I went to a summer school program where there were lots of European students, and I had an intense debate regarding if the modern dilemma of government and society could be resolved by high taxation."