The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced that 16,000 high school seniors had been selected as 2025 National Merit Scholarship Competition Semifinalists — members of the top-performing 1% of students in the nation. A total of about 50,000 participants receive recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program each year, and a third of the high scorers are notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists — the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
This year, one of the semifinalists is no longer a high school senior and is actually a current student at Christian Brothers University (CBU).
Lana Jabase entered CBU in August as a Chemical Engineering major, having graduated a year early from Houston High School in Germantown, TN. “When I started high school, I didn’t realize it was possible to graduate in three years,” she says. “But as soon as I found out, it became my goal.”
By taking extra classes and enrolling in dual enrollment college coursework, she was not only able to graduate from Houston High in three years but also to enter her college career as a member of CBU’s Class of 2027, having enough college credit to enter as a sophomore instead of a freshman.
CBU was not originally at the top of Lana’s list of colleges to attend, but two things changed her mind. The first was a recommendation from her brother, Abdala Jabase. Abdala is currently a senior Electrical & Computer Engineering major at CBU and has been very active during his studies, serving as vice president of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, chair of the Student Chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and vice president of the Student Government Association. Following her brother’s endorsement, she agreed to give CBU a chance and pay it a visit.
“I came here to check it out and wasn’t really intending to enroll,” she admits. “But I fell in love with it. CBU is almost a secret, it’s so unknown and underestimated amongst local high school students. But it’s truly a magical community, so special and welcoming and inclusive. And the professors here are truly wonderful, so dedicated to academics but also so personally involved with their students.”
As a high-performing student who finished high school early and will now complete her BS in Chemical Engineering in three years, Lana has further academic and professional ambitions. Her goal, upon graduation from CBU, is to attend medical school and to become a physician.
This goal began when she was at Houston High School, where she was a member and founder of its Medical Club, a student organization that works with local hospitals to provide opportunities for students to visit and assist in their mission. “We worked as student volunteers at local hospitals such as Regional One Health and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. It gave us a chance to provide service to the hospitals and their patients, especially the kids at Le Bonheur, and to share our interest in the medical field with our fellow students.”
Whereas most students with medical school ambitions may major in the biology and pre-health fields, Lana finds her chosen major at CBU to be a perfect fit. “Chemical and biochemical engineering courses actually provide an excellent foundation,” she explains. “The way the human body functions is full of processes that are similar to engineering. It also provides a valuable background to fields such as pharmacology and medical research.”
Lana’s other personal passions serve to round out her scientific, medical, and engineering focus — she is also an avid tennis player and loves to write poetry. “I’ve been doing those things for as long as I can remember,” she says. “I’m also very interested in photography, and someday I might like to open a photo gallery.”
To qualify as a Finalist for the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Competition, Lana is now required to complete the National Merit Scholarship Application, which includes writing an essay. Scholarship winners will be announced in March 2025.
