Westborough Student Wins National Merit Scholarship

WESTBOROUGH, MA — A Westborough student was named a winner in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's first group of scholarship recipients that included around 1,000 people nationwide.

Cynthia Zhang will receive funding from 3M, a worldwide manufacturer. She was selected based on PSAT scores, grades, an essay, a school nomination, and an application that included extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions. Zhang is undecided about her college major.

Five Westborough students were announced as semifinalists in September (finalists are not announced publicly by the corporation, only by individual high schools if they decide to do so). Roughly 16,000 students were selected as finalists, and 7,500 of them will win scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship Corp. will announce winners of the $2,500 award on May 12 and winners of the college-sponsored awards on June 2 and July 12.