By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — A trio of Hewitt-Trussville High School students has done it again.
Somtochukwu Ozuligbo, Nathaniel Robinson and Emma Slay have been named National Merit semifinalists. All are seniors who took the Preliminary SAT as juniors last October.
Last year, Sean Williamson, Connor Staggs and Gavin Slay (Emma’s brother) were all named semifinalists and then the first-ever National Merit finalists to come from Hewitt-Trussville High School.
“We’re holding strong at three,” Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill said.
Hewitt-Trussville High School Principal Tim Salem said Vestavia Hills had 20 National Merit semifinalists, Hoover had 11 and Mountain Brook had nine. Homewood and Oak Mountain each had five.
Trussville City Board of Education President Bill Roberts said he has a feeling Hewitt-Trussville’s number will increase to five or six “pretty quick.”
The trio will likely be recognized by the Trussville City Board of Education at its Oct. 20 meeting at 6 p.m. at the Central Office.
At Monday’s board work session, Secondary Curriculum Coordinator Jennifer Cardwell said the high school administration is “super proud” of students for averaging a 22.7 on the ACT this year, its highest average in five years. In 2010, 2011, and 2012, Trussville City Schools had a composite ACT score of 22.2. In 2013, that number was 22.3. For this year, the average increased to 22.7. The state’s composite score for 2014 is 20.6.
Cardwell said the school is always looking to get better and wants to shoot for a 23 average for next year.
“We know we’ve got some work to do,” Cardwell said. “We are being proactive.”
Neill said she was “very pleased” with the ACT scores.
“Our trajectory is moving forward,” she said.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.