MHS Senior Named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist

A Malibu High School senior has been named a semifinalist in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program.

NMSP officials announced last week that Zena Kesselman is one of about 16,000 semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Kesselman has the chance to continue in the competition for one of nearly 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.

Only 90 percent of the semifinalists will move on to the finals, and more than half of the finalists will earn the title of Merit Scholar, according to a media release from the NMS Corporation, a nonprofit organization that operates without government assistance.