3 local seniors vie for National Merit Scholarship

Editor's note: This story has been changed to reflect the correct first name of a principal.

Three area high schools have produced National Merit Scholarship semifinalists this year.

Alex Gentle of Cape Girardeau Central, Tyler Pech of Notre Dame Regional High School and Joshua Vogel of Saxony Lutheran all qualified to be semifinalists for the prestigious award after taking the PSAT and scoring in the top 1 percentile for Missouri students.

Tyler Pech, above, a senior at Notre Dame Regional High School and a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, poses for a photo Tuesday in downtown Cape Girardeau. (GLENN LANDBERG)

"We're very pleased," Central principal Mike Cowan said. "It's one of those things that we want to celebrate. It's a tribute to the students themselves and their aptitude, but also to their families and their schools."

One of the semifinalists, Joshua Vogel, hasn't lost sight of that either.

"I'm very thankful to have parents who are very involved in my education," he said. "Also for an older brother I can look up to and at school I have teachers and friends who want me to succeed and to do my best."

Saxony principal Mark Ruark said that he has a great respect for the young man, as well as his peers.

"In my 33 years in education, [Vogel] is one of the most outstanding students I've come across ... both in terms of leadership and academic prowess."

All three students said they are heavily involved in all aspects of their education, which includes academics, clubs and sports. Gentle is a member of the swim team and Pech and Vogel are members of their respective schools' cross-country teams.

Cowan explained that the award opens up a variety of opportunities in terms of scholarships and career networking.

Alex Gentle, a senior at Cape Girardeau Central High School and a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, poses for a photo Tuesday in downtown Cape Girardeau. (GLENN LANDBERG)

Gentle, who said he enjoys math and science and building computers in his spare time, said a career in engineering might be in the cards.

"I guess you could say working for NASA would be one of my dream jobs," he said.

Pech also enjoys math and science, but is more interested in the medical field.

"It's the problem solving that's involved in it," he said of math and science. "I don't necessarily want to do the regular track with chemistry and biology [for undergraduate studies]. I'm hoping that biomedical engineering will give me a more unique perspective going into medical school."

Vogel said he's more interested in finance and economics, an interest he kindled after stumbling across an older brother's college textbook last thanksgiving break.

"It's a little bit of math, a little bit of the social sciences," he said. "That's what I find pretty interesting."

But in order to advance past the semifinals, each student has to submit an application that Pech describes as "basically another college application," a 600-word essay and take the SAT in order to prove their previous scores were justified.

They will also need letters of recommendation from teachers or administrators, but none should have trouble obtaining those.

tgraef@semissourian.com