Lyons Township Students Earn Top ACT scores

Congratulations to Lyons Township High School seniors Madeline Bernstein, of LaGrange, and Stephanie Lin, of Burr Ridge, for earning the highest composite score possible on the ACT college admission and placement exam taken last school year. On average, less than one-tenth of one percent of all test takers earns the top score. Nationwide only 1,162 of more than 1.8 million students earned a composite score of 36.

The ACT, or the American College Test, is comprised of tests in English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student’s score is the average of the four tests. Last year, nearly 60 percent of America’s college-bound students as well as all junior students in Illinois took the ACT as part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Scores are evidence of their readiness for the academic rigor they will find in college.

Bernstein is captain of Science Olympiad, Math Team and National Honor Society. She was a contributor of LT’s literary magazine, Menagerie, with a drypoint print entitled, Colette. She runs year-round on LT’s cross-country and track teams. She also founded LT’s, Girls in Engineering, Math and Science (GEMS) Club, to encourage girls at LT and in the associate middle schools to pursue interests in STEM fields. Over the summer, she interned at Fermilab and tutored junior high math students at Park Junior High. Outside of school, she spends most of her free time with friends and family. While she’s not sure what school she’ll attend next fall, she hopes to major in physics or math.

Lin is a two-time badminton singles state champion who trains year-round. She also participates in U.S. Junior Ranking tournaments, including the New England Junior Open, which she won last year in the U17 Singles category. At LT, she’s been a member of Math Team since freshman year and is also a member of the National Honor Society. Outside of LT, plays piano and rides horses, having trained in hunter/jumper/dressage disciplines since she was six-years-old. Lin hopes to continue her studies in the sciences and is considering a path in biomedical engineering or premedicine. A few of the colleges she’s looking at include Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale.