Pacific Palisades Students Win National Merit Scholarships

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Three Pacific Palisades students are among 2,500 National Merit Scholarship winners who were chosen out of a pool of over 15,000 finalists, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced this week.

The winners, who will get $2,500 college scholarships, were judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

They were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who looked at the applicants' academic records, PSAT scores, contributions and leadership in community activities, essays written by the students and letters of recommendation.

Here are the Pacific Palisades recipients:

• Edward H. Kim, Palisades Charter High School, probable career field: undecided
• Sophie Y. Zhu, Palisades Charter High School, probable career field: engineering
• Zoe K. Shin, Harvard-Westlake School, probable career field: anthropology