Students in the Badin High School Class of 2022 received offers of more than $32 million in academic scholarship dollars for college. They were recognized during the school’s 15th annual Academic Signing Day on Wednesday, May 18.

“These students have done well and that success is underlined by this substantial dollar amount to help with their college careers,” Badin Principal Brian Pendergest said. “The students have worked hard and the academic scholarship dollars are the result of that hard work.”

A total of 59 students in the graduating class of 156 members eclipsed the $250,000 mark, and 44 more earned academic scholarship dollars that did not rise to that level.

“We understand that students are not using all of these academic dollars,” Pendergest said. “At the same time, their ability to receive this money speaks to the opportunity that a Badin education has afforded them. We’re confident that they will take advantage of those opportunities.”

Badin’s Class of 2022, the school’s 56th graduating class, will walk on Friday, May 27, during graduation exercises at St. John the Evangelist Church in West Chester. That will be preceded by Baccalaureate Mass on Wednesday, May 25, at St. Julie Billiart Church in Hamilton.

Four students are tied for No. 1 in the class. They will share valedictorian honors at graduation – Brandon Burke, who will attend the University of Notre Dame and major in Mechanical Engineering; Leo Hoppa, who will attend Ohio State University and major in Biomedical Engineering; Ryan Joesting, who will attend the University of Alabama and major in Aerospace Engineering; and Kaiden Thomas, who will attend the University of Cincinnati and major in Mechanical Engineering.

Other members of the Top 10, and their college of choice, include Molly Anthony (Concord University), Maryellen Black (Ohio State University), Katelyn Hiernaux (University of Cincinnati), Kylie Spade (University of Toledo), Case Trokhan (University of Cincinnati) and Ashley Waggoner (University of Alabama).

Trokhan is a National Merit Scholarship Finalist who, based on her academic performance, has been pre-approved for admission to medical school at UC. Burke and Hoppa are National Merit Commended Students.

The 59 students who are members of the $250,000 Club will be attending 29 schools in eight different states:

Ohio (14) – John Carroll University, Kent State University, Marietta College, Miami University, Mount St. Joseph University, Ohio State University, Ohio University, University of Cincinnati, University of Dayton, University of Northwestern Ohio, University of Toledo, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University, Xavier University

Kentucky (6) – Bellarmine University, Georgetown College, Morehead State University, Northern Kentucky University, Thomas More University, University of Kentucky

Indiana (4) – Earlham College, Marian University, Purdue University, University of Notre Dame

Alabama (1) – University of Alabama
Florida (1) – Jacksonville University
Missouri (1) – Saint Louis University
Tennessee (1) – University of Tennessee
West Virginia (1) – Concord University

Two members of the class have joined the Armed Services. Katie Fischer will be joining the United States Air Force and report to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Will Poehner will be joining the United States Army and report to Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C.