MRHS senior Yu Ying Zou awarded 2024 Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Award for Academic Excellence

Each year, Superintendent Dr. Scott Carpenter awards one Monomoy Regional High School senior the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Award for Academic Excellence. This award is given to the high school senior who has distinguished themselves in the pursuit of excellence during their high school career. In selecting the award winner each year, Dr. Carpenter looks for not only academic success within the classroom, but for demonstrations of leadership and initiative within the school and the greater community. Monomoy counselors and administrators help with this selection, and for 2024, the team has selected Yu Ying Zou to receive the Award for Academic Excellence.

Yu Ying was presented with the award at the School Committee meeting on March 27, 2024. Dr. Carpenter shared the following remarks when bestowing this honor, which include comments from her counselors and teachers:

Yu Ying Zou is one of the hardest working and most intelligent students whom I have encountered over a 22-year career as a school counselor. She has consistently impressed me with her intelligence, work ethic, and dedication to her studies and extracurricular activities.

Yu Ying is the valedictorian of her class, and a member of the National Honor Society and the Chinese National Honor Society. Yu Ying has excelled in our AP Program and has been designated as an AP Scholar with honor. 

Yu Ying has been a key member of our school’s golf program throughout high school. She has spearheaded the creation of Coding the Future Club, which seeks to help young women become interested in the field of computer science, providing a platform for learning, mentorship and support. Through Yu Ying’s efforts, our computer science classes have grown the number of women by 400% in just two years.  

I recently had the opportunity to observe Yu Ying in her role as a peer tutor. She was patient and understanding, and she took the time to explain the concept in a way that the student could understand. She also encouraged the student to ask questions and to demonstrate persistence. Overall, Yu Ying is a highly impressive student with a strong academic record, a commitment to community service, and a well-rounded personality. 

Yu Ying is one of the most talented mathematicians and one of the hardest working students that I have had the pleasure of teaching. She is intelligent, inquisitive, persistent, hard-working, extremely self-motivated, honest, cooperative, mature, respectful, has a wonderfully dry sense of humor, and is very comfortable in a rigorous learning environment. 

She is always a major contributor to our class discussions, and her well-thought-out questions separate her deep level of understanding from the rest of the class. Yu Ying loves helping others, and she understands the material so well that she is able to teach those who struggle with the concepts. 

Yu Ying is a unique young woman, and I am confident that her mathematical talents and her desire to learn coupled with her disciplined work habits and her self-driven nature will continue to serve her well, especially at the college level. It is this distinctive combination of exceptional mathematical ability and outstanding habits of mind that truly sets her apart from others.

Yu Ying will continue her education at Harvard University this fall.