GSC Eighth Grader Wins Prestigious Neumann Scholarship Award

The Connelly Foundation today announced in a virtual ceremony its 2023 Neumann Scholars, awarding 50 academically talented eighth-grade students from 33 regional and parochial schools in the five counties (Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks) with four-year, full scholarships to attend any Philadelphia Archdiocesan high school of their choosing. The scholarships are named for Saint John Neumann, the fourth bishop of Philadelphia, who is credited with founding over 200 schools in the Archdiocese.

​For the first time in the school’s 13-year history, Good Shepherd Catholic has a Neumann Scholar, and he is Nicholas Carlson! Nicholas is pictured with his mom, Susan, along with GSC Principal Sister Helen Thomas, IHM, and Eighth-Grade Teacher Patricia Blackwell, following this morning’s announcement.

Launched in 1995, the Neumann Scholars Program identifies scholastically gifted eighth-grade students through an independently administered competitive examination. The criteria to sit for this year’s exam was a seventh-grade Terra Nova standardized total test score of 90 or a cognitive skills index (CSI) score of 120, plus a seventh-grade grade point average (GPA) of 92.0 or above. Students also needed to complete an application and an essay.

Nicholas took the scholarship exam at the Montgomery County testing site – Lansdale Catholic High School – on Sunday, September 25, along with classmate James Gramlich. They were two of the 473 students from 116 parochial schools in all the counties who competed to be a Neumann Scholar.

GSC’s sixth-grade students joined the eighth graders in their classroom on Tuesday morning to watch the online awards presentation.

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