Jonathon Bergeaux, a senior at Jennings High School, has been named as semifinalists in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Bergeaux is one of five semifinalists from Southwest Louisiana in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. Other semifinalists are Zachary Broussard, of Barbe High School; Annaliese DeFelice of Sam Houston Jones High School; Ethan McGee of Oakdale High School and Eliana Kitchens of Roseanne High School.

The designation is awarded to less than one percent of U.S. high school students.

Bergeaux said at first he did not know what to think of his selection as a semifinalist.

“I was a little bit bewildered” he said. “I was excited. I didn’t expect it to happen and it made me nervous because I didn’t know what I had to do next.”

Bergeaux worked with his school counselor Cathy Smith to make sure he continued to complete all the applications and meet all the requirements, including writing an essay. He chose to write an essay on his personal development after Hurricane Laura and the pandemic.

“There was a lot of material there to cover,” he laughed, adding that most of the stuff was things he had lived through.

Smith was ecstatic when she learned that Bergeaux had made the semifinalist list.

“I am just excited because I have never had a national merit semifinalist as long as I have been a counselor,”  Smith said.

Jennings High School has had seven merit finalists and 22 semi finalists since 1996 under previous counselors.

Bergeaux said the waiting has been the hardest part. Finalists will be announced within the next two weeks.

Bergeaux also tied with former Jennings High School graduate Halle Davis for the highest ACT score in the school’s history, scoring a 35. Davis graduated in 2021 and is currently attending McNeese State University.

“I never really thought much about the ACT because I didn’t think I would do too well on it,” Bergeaux said. “I had taken a couple of the practice tests that they have on the ACT website, but for the most part the thing that prepared me most was paying attention in class over the years. Most of what was on there were things I had already learned.”

Bergeaux had taken the ACT twice, first scoring 33 and then 35.

“It’s never too late to start taking a vested interest in your future and education,” he said. “I had never really cared much about school until after Hurricane Laure, things were put into perspective for me and I started applying myself and really trying and that’s when magical things started happening for me.”

Bergeaux plans to attend Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport after graduation where he plans to major in English, psychology, philosophy or political science. His goal is to be a lawyer for immigration or family law so he can help others.

Bergeaux has overcome a lot to get where he is today, including the loss of his mother to Alzheimer’s when he was 15. The family also lost their home in Longville following Hurricane Laura and had to move to Jennings during his sophomore year of high school.

“We had lived in the same trailer park for 25 years or so…That’s where we all grew up, then Hurricane Laura came through and rendered our home uninhabitable,” he said. “So we kind of cut our loses and moved to Jennings where my father grew up.”

“I had to move away from all my friends, the people I knew and those I grew up with,” he continued. “I just kind of started up over here with a clean slate. It was terrifying, but it was also refreshing because nobody here knew who I was. It was an opportunity to be something new.”

During his junior year at Jennings High School, Bergeaux and his friends formed a new club called, T.H.E. (Think, Help and Explain) Club. The group focuses on helping others through community service and social outreach including volunteering at the local food pantry or community health fair and offering free tutoring services to students.

He is also a drum major for the marching band and a Senior Beta and Key Club member.

Bergeaux is the son of Fred Bergeaux and the late Diana Bergeaux.