23 LI students to compete in Intel International Science & Engineering Fair

Twenty-three students with top projects at the Long Island Science & Engineering Fair are advancing to competition at the international level in May.

The Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, being held May 10-15 in Pittsburgh, brings together more than 1,700 students from 70 countries. Some $5 million in prizes will be awarded.

The local fair was a two-day contest for advanced science projects by students in grades 9-12. First-place finalists in each category were invited to compete at the international fair.

Those selected to advance are: Justin Weissberg, Long Beach High School; Aansh Shah, Roslyn High School; Danny Huang, Jessica Huang, Aaron Wang and Steve Zheng, all of Jericho High School; Daniel Hanover, Great Neck North High School; Jay Zussman, Great Neck South High School; David Li and Scott Massa, Commack High School; Pavithran Ravindran, W. Tresper Clarke High School, Westbury; Justin Barish, Kings Park High School; Benjamin Senzer, Syosset High School; Aidan Dwyer, Northport High School; Jason Fiacco, Kevin Sadhu and Jinyu Wu, all of Manhasset High School; Abhinav Talwar, Herricks High School; Brian Righter, Smithtown High School East; Niyati Desai, Ward Melville High School, East Setauket; and Meghan Bialt-DeCelie, Benjamin Golbin and Levy Sominsky, all of Hewlett High School.

OLD BROOKVILLE: Rocketry Challenge

A team from The Green Vale School is among 100 teams from 27 states and the Virgin Islands selected for the national finals of the 2015 Team America Rocketry Challenge in Virginia.

Finalists will compete May 9 for more than $60,000 in scholarships and prizes and a chance to attend the International Paris Air Show in June.

The contest challenges teams to build a model rocket that travels to a height of 800 feet and back in 46-48 seconds. The rocket must divide during flight, returning the motor and a raw, undamaged egg to the ground in separate sections.

The winning team will represent the United States in the International Rocketry Challenge in June.

COMMACK: History Bowl

Commack High School teammates Sean Briody, Daniel Hosseinian, Samuel Petruzzi and Muzaffer Tasoglu are eligible to compete in the National History Bowl this weekend in Washington, D.C.

The team placed first in the varsity division of the 2015 New York History Bowl, held at Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls in Hollis.

Commack was the only undefeated team in the local bowl, a buzzer-based history quiz competition with questions about topics ranging from geography to religion to entertainment.

This year's contest featured 12 teams from seven high schools in the tri-state area.

MOUNT SINAI: Bay Scallop Bowl

Alec Donowitz, Nick Eberhard, Devon Gaynes, Alexander Mule and Danny O'Mara continued Mount Sinai High School's winning ways by placing first in the 2015 Bay Scallop Bowl.

They will be among 23 teams competing this weekend in the 2015 National Ocean Sciences Bowl at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

The Mount Sinai team beat 15 tri-state area teams in the "Jeopardy!"-style tournament that tests student knowledge of oceanography and related sciences. Mount Sinai has won the Bay Scallop Bowl in nine of the past 14 years.

Mount Sinai's team members each received $500.

The Bay Scallop Bowl was coordinated by the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

NASSAU COUNTY: MagLev Contest

Teams from four Nassau County middle schools -- Herricks, Mineola, Westbury and Jonas E. Salk in Levittown -- each won three awards in various categories of the 2015 MagLev Contest at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City.

Three awards were the most won by any school in the contest, which challenged students to use math, science and technology principles to create magnetic levitation vehicles that "float" over a fixed track, museum officials said.

Teams that won one award were from St. Thomas the Apostle School in West Hempstead, Lawrence Woodmere Academy, Great Neck South Middle School and the Massapequa school district.

ISLANDWIDE: Achievement scholarships

Fourteen Long Island students are among about 800 high school seniors nationwide to win $2,500 scholarships through the National Achievement Scholarship Program.

The awards, given to high-achieving black students, are financed by 30 corporate organizations and professional associations and the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

The winners are: Will Wolfe-McGuire of Amityville, who is home-schooled; Shenyece Ferguson, Baldwin High School; Brianna Taffe and Taylor Wilson, St. Mary's High School, Manhasset; Daniel Hugh Bonitto, Long Island Lutheran High School, Brookville; Christine Franco and Yohannah Franco of Copiague, who are home-schooled; Blake Lee Woods, Glen Cove High School; Vanessa Tate, Long Beach High School; Brandon Kinsler, Kellenberg Memorial High School, Uniondale; Charles Blackmon-Luca and Kayla Marie Diedrick, Valley Stream Central High School; Reginald Verrier, Chaminade High School, Mineola; and Iriowen Ojo, Half Hollow Hills High School West, Dix Hills.