Moorestown Friends School seniors Serena Lin and Dylan Zhou have been named semifinalists in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship competition. After completing the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) in October 2017 alongside 1.6 million additional U.S. students, Lin and Zhou entered the cohort of 16,000 semifinalists this month.
The PSAT/NMSQT is a preparatory version of the SAT exam. It includes four sections: Reading, Writing and Language, Math No Calculator, and Math with Calculator. Semifinalists represent the 16,000 highest scorers from across all 50 states; in February, 15,000 finalists will be notified. Finally, in March, 7,500 winners will receive scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation or additional corporate and collegiate sponsors. Approximately $180 million dollars in merit scholarships are awarded each year.
Lin and Zhou were both inducted into the Cum Laude Society in May. Zhou has competed on the boys’ varsity cross country team, served as a MATHCOUNTS coach for Lower School students and managed the MFS fencing teams. Lin recently co-managed the varsity girls’ basketball team, attended conferences as a member of Model UN, and received a silver medal from the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her autobiographical poem “Seasons.”