Merrimack High School Top 10 For 2026: Zosia Yellin, No. 1

MERRIMACK, NH — Zosia is honored to be valedictorian of Merrimack’s class of 2026.

Throughout high school, she took a broad range of courses, with her favorites being Algebra II, AP Economics, Latin, and AP Chemistry. She was awarded Excellence in Algebra II, Excellence in Chemistry, the WPI Innovation Award, and was named an AP Scholar with Distinction by the College Board.

Outside of her academics, Zosia participated in and held leadership positions for a variety of extracurricular activities at MHS. She was the varsity captain of the Cross Country team and won the Outstanding Freshman and Co-MVP awards. Zosia was also a varsity athlete for the Track and Field team where she competed in distance events.

She was class secretary, student body vice president, president of the Interact Club, vice president of Science National Honor Society, a member of the National Honor Society and Math National Honor Society, and a founding member of the Outing Club.

Zosia has also been dancing recreationally for In Motion Dance Company since she was 4 and competitively since she was 10.

With both her dance team and the Interact Club, Zosia has loved giving back to the community through numerous volunteer events over the past four years. She particularly enjoyed dancing at nursing homes to spread holiday cheer and participating in school cleanups. In her junior year, she completed an extended learning opportunity in which she and three other MHS students ran an afterschool Spanish and French club at JMUES.

In addition, Zosia enjoys spending time outdoors. She loves skiing and hiking in the White Mountains. In 2024, she completed the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 48 4000-Footer list, which she had been working on with her mom since she was seven years old. This past summer, she participated in an Outward Bound course, sailing and sea kayaking off the coast of Maine.

In the fall, Zosia will attend Colby College, where she looks forward to studying mathematics. She is excited to continue running, skiing, and hiking in Maine.

Zosia would like to thank her parents, sister, friends, teachers, and coaches for being her support system and helping her to achieve her goals.