PV Boasts 29 National Merit Semifinalists

More than two dozen students attending high school on the Palos Verdes Peninsula have been named 2013 National Merit Semifinalists, the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday.

The local students are among the about 16,000 semifinalists nationally in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

The students 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 and just more than half of the finalists will win a scholarship.

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

Here are the Palos Verdes semifinalists:

• Amanda J. Asato
• Cameron D. Chafetz
• Gayeon Lee

• Michael H. Konrad
• Virginia R. La Puma
• Lillian Liao
• Annaliese J. Miller

• Jason J. Choe
• Justin J. Choe
• Yoon-Sung Choi
• Jason H. Griffin
• Anna C. Gurevich
• Kylie O. Hess
• Derek S. Hirata
• Megan W. Hung
• Charissa O. Iluore
• Jamie J. Kang
• Maika L. Koehl
• Michelle M. Lin
• Adriana B. Mellor
• Carol Qu
• Sophie M. Rehrig
• Cynthia S. Shi
• Ashley J. Shim
• Daniel A. Tartakovsky
• Wendy Wei
• Ashley S. Yin
• Jasmine A. Zahedi
• Henry T. Zhang

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.