Seven Westlake Students National Merit Semifinalists

Seven Westlake High School students have been named 2013 National Merit Semifinalists in the National Merit Program.

Ishaan Bakhle, Elizabeth Goldberg, Elizabeth Kobe, Wan Kwok, Nora Lee, Aakash Shah and Samuel Yun will now compete for about 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million.

Less than 1 percent of high school seniors make it to the semifinal level. The Westlake semifinalists are among 1.5 million students from 22,000 high schools across the country who took the PSAT in their junior year.

The National Merit Finalists are expected to be announced in February. About 15,000 students will be named National Merit Finalists.