Nine Costa students chosen as National Merit Semifinalists

By Sabrina Pickett
Staff Writer

Nine Mira Costa seniors were named on Sept. 12 as semifinalists of the 58th National Merit Scholarship competition.

The finalists from Costa are Brett Buckstaff, Alec Lautanen, Diane Lee, Anne Monique Pace, Prerana Poddar, Jack Rosenberg, Brian Sydow, Jane Tian and Brian Zukotynski. Four more students are being recognized than in 2011.

“It’s an honor to be able to represent our school and be recognized for our hard work,” Rosenberg said.

National Merit Scholarship qualifications are based on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, a test which students can take in October of their junior years. The cut off for this year’s semifinalists in California was a score of 220 on the PSAT.

“I’m proud of all our semifinalists,” Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “They deserve to go on in the competition to be fully recognized as Merit Scholars.”

Though the Costa administration knew the results of the National Merit Competition, the students weren’t alerted until September when they were honored with a breakfast in the administration building.

Various scholarships are being awarded in the National Merit Scholarship competition. One of the scholarships is a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship for the first year of college.
“To receive any of the final awards is an achievement, and I would be honored if I was recognized as a finalist,” Lee said.

It may seem that Costa’s number of semifinalists is relatively low compared to surrounding schools, but Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale thinks this is because it is not necessary for all students at Costa to take the PSAT.

“I’m happy Costa has nine semifinalists this year, but I wish we had more,” Dale said. “We have less than our competitor schools because we do not require students to take the PSAT.”
Approximately 15,000 finalists will be named in February.

“I am proud of our semifinalists, and they’ve worked hard academically to achieve this honor,” Matthews said. “They all deserve to go on in the competition.”