Students Qualify For National Merit Competition

The largest number of juniors at Redondo Union High School in years qualified to compete in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Competition, the Redondo Beach Unified School District announced Tuesday in a news release.

Seventeen Redondo Union students were among the 50,000 highest-scoring participants of about 1.5 million entrants who took the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

"RBUSD is extremely proud to honor these 17 students and their accomplishments," Dr. Steven Keller, the superintendent of schools, said in a news release. " We wish them well as they continue the process for scholarship awards in 2014."

The following students will either be named National Merit Semifinalists or Commended Students:

• Sara A. Antilla
• Eriq Deng
• Sierra Foshe
• Vera Gold
• Petra Grutzik
• Siena Hsu
• Cedric J. Hyon
• Angela Kim
• Garrett J. Lash
• Sharon Lee
• Malcolm Lomenzo-Torres
• Sanjay Mahboobani
• Fuad I. Malki
• Matthew N. Mardesich
• Paul M. Menker
• William A. Moses
• Luke M. Murphy

"I am overjoyed with this announcement and feel deep personal pride working with such amazing students and staff each and every day," said Principal Dr. Nicole Wesley in a news release. "It's a great day to be a Sea Hawk!"

Of the approximately 50,000 qualifiers, 16,000 will be named semifinalists. Semifinalists will compete for about 8,300 National Merit Scholarships.

This was the first time all 11th-grade students attending Redondo Union took the PSAT, according to Dr. Annette Alpern, RBUSD assistant superintendent.