Schools

La Jolla Boasts 29 National Merit Semifinalists

Twenty-nine students enrolled in high school in La Jolla will compete to become National Merit Finalists.

By Nicole Mooradian

More than two dozen high school seniors from three La Jolla high schools have been named 2013 National Merit Semifinalists, the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday in a news release.

The students—whose attendance is distributed among The Bishop's School, La Jolla Country Day School and La Jolla High School—are among about 16,000 semifinalists nationally in the 59th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Here are the La Jolla semifinalists
The Bishop's School
  • Brian R. Anglin
  • Michael W. Burnett
  • Adison S. Chang
  • Jenny Chen
  • Colin J. Garon
  • Matthew C. Healey
  • Benjamin A. Higgs
  • Connor M. Holland
  • Tina Q. Huang
  • Alexander R. Kilman
  • Matthew H. Lizanich
  • Kendall C. Mahavier
  • Mark Matten
  • Joseph H. Oh
  • Erik T. Schrunk
  • Winkfield F. Twyman
  • Kelly A. Vogel
  • Kevin G. Yin
  • Maxim E. Zaslavsky
La Jolla Country Day School
  • David S. Castillejos
La Jolla High School
  • Allen M. Cao
  • Ulysse Carion
  • Winn Cui
  • Irene A. Dea
  • Tessa C. Lowe
  • Taylor L. Osman
  • Zachary Ye
  • Belton Y. Zhong
  • Lynn Zhou

They will compete for about 8,300 scholarships worth more than a total $32 million. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to make it to the finals; just more than half of the finalists will win a scholarship.

The students will be judged by their scores on standardized tests, their grades, an essay and extracurricular activities.

Find out what's happening in La Jollawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Semifinalists were determined by their scores on the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which they took as 11th graders. Only those who scored in the top 1 percent of their state were named semifinalists.

About 1.5 million high school juniors took the PSAT/NMSQT last year.

Find out what's happening in La Jollawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program, according to a news release from the nonprofit organization. The scholarships are provided by the organization and about 440 businesses and educational institutions.

—City News Service contributed to this report.


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