Eight Detroit Catholic Central High School seniors ranked among approximately 50,000 students recognized nationally through the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program after taking the 2025 PSAT/NMSQT.

The Novi school announced the recognition Thursday, Sept. 17, naming Jacob Cherian, Jonathon Creen, Jaden Furtado, Noah Jorgensen, Maxwell Mast, Jonah Moore, Akash Pulpa and Joshua Tamas as Commended Students in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program.

All eight are Class of 2027 seniors.

The designation is separate from the Semifinalist honor the school announced Sept. 10 for four other seniors. Will Abbott, who attended Northville Christian School, Saathvik Koneru and Brady Shih, both from Novi Middle School, and Martin Sanin, from Ivywood Classical Academy, were named Semifinalists. That higher-tier recognition places them among roughly 16,000 students nationwide, less than 1% of graduating seniors. Those four remain in the running for National Merit Scholarships.

Commended Students do not advance in the scholarship competition. They receive Letters of Commendation through their schools.

Combined, Catholic Central's Class of 2027 now has 12 students recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC): four Semifinalists and eight Commended Students.

More than 1.3 million students entered the 2027 program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, known as the PSAT/NMSQT. Of those, about 50,000 of the highest scorers qualified for recognition. Roughly 34,000 earned the Commended Student designation based on a nationally applied Selection Index qualifying score.