Malibu High School student Zena I. Kesselman has been named a semifinalist in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. She is one of 16,000 semifinalists competing for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be awarded next spring. In order to be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level.
The nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.