2 Nassau teens nominated for Presidential Scholars Program
Sofia Gutierrez of West Hempstead High School is one of five Long Island students nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. Credit: West Hempstead School District
Five Long Island teens were among 25 statewide last month to be nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.
The recognition is considered one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students, with one boy and one girl from each state named Presidential Scholars.
Nominees from Nassau are Michael Bailey of Elmont Memorial High School and Sofia Gutierrez of West Hempstead High School. Suffolk nominees are Victoria Blydenburgh of Westhampton Beach High School; Siena Gates of Southampton High School; and Epiphany Ramirez of Walt Whitman High School in South Huntington.
“All of these nominees have demonstrated exceptional academic success, artistic excellence or career skills development,” State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said. “They represent the best of New York’s future and show a real drive to make the world a better place.”
The U.S. Department of Education invites students to apply based on SAT or ACT scores, or nominations from Chief State School Officers or other authorized organizations. Candidates then undergo a rigorous application process and are subsequently evaluated on factors ranging from academic achievement to extracurricular involvements.
About 800 semifinalists will be announced in April, with scholars announced in May. Scholars will receive an expense-paid trip this summer to Washington, and a medallion during a ceremony sponsored by the White House.
“I never would’ve thought from all the students in New York that I’d be nominated,” Gutierrez said. “It’s amazing.”
BELLMORE
Neuroscience finalist
Jennifer Rakhimov, a senior at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, is one of 15 finalists nationwide for the 2017 Neuroscience Research Prize issued by the American Academy of Neurology. The award identifies and rewards high schoolers showing potential for scientific contributions in neuroscience.
Rakhimov’s project abstract explores an alternative to organ transplants through regeneration. She was inspired after her grandmother died as she awaited a liver transplant.
Four winners will receive $1,000 and a chance to present at the academy’s 69th annual meeting or the Child Neurology Society’s annual meeting.
MASSAPEQUA
AIDS awareness
The Massapequa school district introduced students last month to the reality of living with an incurable disease through activities for AIDS Awareness Week.
Activities included skits performed by the high school’s peer AIDS educators, in which they shared AIDS-related facts, such as how the disease is transmitted and what behavior puts people at risk. In addition, two speakers from Love Heals: The Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education shared personal stories of living with HIV and panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt were displayed.
Denise Baldinger, the district’s health education chairwoman and coordinator of the event, said of AIDS, “It is 100 percent preventable.”
ISLANDWIDE
‘Hour of Code’
Many local students learned the basics of computer programming last month as part of the nonprofit Code.org’s “Hour of Code,” a national campaign meant to spur interest in the growing field.
In Seaford, the high school’s Computer Club mentored kids at Seaford Harbor and Manor elementary schools as they input code to manipulate characters from “Frozen” and “Star Wars.” Club members also worked with the Fisher-Price Think & Learn Code-a-pillar learning toy and hosted a two-hour “Girls Who Code” event in the high school’s lab.
In Glen Cove, kindergartners at Eugene J. Gribbin Elementary School learned commands that allowed them to move a character through a maze. They also discussed different machines that use code and careers for computer scientists.
In Elmont, fifth-graders at Gotham Avenue Elementary School learned commands to animate their names and make characters fly using the programming language Scratch.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
