Joseph Repp, a lifelong resident of Crest-wood and Sunset Hills, recently qualified as a semifinalist in the 2006 National Mer-it Scholarship Program.

He qualified as National Merit Schol-arship semifinalist based on his 2004 Pre-liminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test score, which served as the initial screen of program entrants. Repp is among the highest scoring entrants in Mis-souri and among the top 1 percent of high school seniors in the United States.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements and advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of semifinalists are expected to become finalists, with roughly half of the finalists earning Merit Scholarship awards.

Repp is a senior at St. Louis University High School. Besides being an outstanding student, he is one of his school’s Presi-dent’s Ambassadors and a varsity soccer player. Repp was one of six seniors chosen to work four weeks this winter in Hondur-as at the SLUH-sponsored nutrition center there. He is a member of St. Justin the Martyr Parish in Sunset Hills.