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2014 Extraordinary Seniors

Classmates Erin Von Elm, Anneliese Riesterer and Sarah Lyne are three of a kind in an improbable and inspiring way. 
They were each diagnosed with brain ailments, months apart during their junior year, that required surgery to save their lives or maintain basic functions. 
Von Elm was the first to learn she had a tumor, followed by Riesterer's diagnosis of an arteriovenous malformation and then Lyne's diagnosis of two brain tumors. Von Elm and Riesterer were neighbors and friends whose shared experience only brought them closer. They knew of Lyne, but never really interacted because they were in different social groups. That all changed when doctors found a tumor in Lyne's brain. 
"Having Sarah and Anneliese is a blessing because they help me feel like I'm not so alone," Von Elm said. "Sure, this bad thing happened to me, but it also happened to somebody else, and now we all have each other to lean on." 
The three missed months of classes at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale but never fell behind in their studies. They all graduated with their class on June 1. 
"They never let it take any of the fun out of their life," said Robert York, a teacher and guidance counselor. "They never let it bother them, they always kept a positive outlook . . . they looked at it as another challenge they would have to overcome." 
All three said having classmates and friends who went through similar surgeries made the whole experience easier and gave them hope, strength, ambition and appreciation for their now healthy lives. 
"I think that if they both didn't get sick last year, it would have been a lot more self pity for myself," Lyne said of Von Elm and Riesterer. 
The unique sisterhood inspired Riesterer to follow her classmates' example. "It gave me confidence to go back to school," she said. "They did it, so I can do it." 
ERIN VON ELM 
Erin Von Elm, now 17, started having headaches in September 2012, soon after the start of junior year. She went to see her doctor and was told the cause was likely stress -- unless she awoke the next day in similar pain. 
"Of course the next morning I open my eyes with the headache and I ran downstairs," she said. Von Elm went to the hospital, had a CT scan and waited hours for her results. 
"The doctor called over my mom and I knew something was up," she said. 
Von Elm, who lives in Hempstead, went to Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park and was told she had an atypical neurocytoma -- a rare tumor at the center of her brain -- and would need surgery. 
"The only thing I've ever had was a tooth pulled," she said. "I've never even broken a bone, so finding out that somebody would have to go into my head was probably the scariest thought that has ever crossed my mind." 
She had her first surgery in the middle of September, and recalls feeling "great" afterward. But then came a second more invasive surgery, followed by a third one. Her tumor was in a spot that blocked the flow of cerebral fluid. Doctors wanted to put a shunt in the back of her brain to regulate the flow of fluid and release blocked-up fluid. 
Von Elm had 31 radiation treatments after her surgeries. A piece of the tumor remains and could eventually grow. 
"Someday I wish that my doctors will just tell me that it miraculously disappeared, but I'm not even sure if that day will ever arrive," she said. "So for right now, I thank God that the small piece isn't growing and that I'm not affected by it. It's a part of me that I've learned to accept." 
Von Elm said she is excited about going to college so she can "turn something that was so terrible into something great." She will attend Hofstra University, where she plans to study education. She wants to work as a specialist assisting patients and their families at Cohen, where her surgeries were performed. 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
My saying through this whole thing was, 'I'm too blessed to be stressed' . . . I liked having the support group that I had and just coming through this and being able to tell everybody about it." 
SARAH LYNE 
Sarah Lyne, 18, had endured headaches for two years before an MRI in January 2013 revealed a tumor. Leaving it in place meant side effects that included a droopy face and impaired speech and mobility. 
The next month, Lyne, who lives in Lido Beach, went to the hospital for her scheduled surgery and was met with more devastating news -- a second tumor had been found. 
"That was terrible," she said. 
Lyne underwent surgery that day and both tumors were removed. She was released from the hospital after five days but couldn't walk after the procedure and had to use a walker for a short period. The surgery also caused damage to her neck, and she is still trying to regain her full range of motion. 
Lyne, who had played on Kellenberg's soccer team for three years, had to sit out her senior season. But she stayed involved by becoming team manager. 
"It was the worst thing, but I guess being part of the team helps because you still have that atmosphere and experience," she said. 
Lyne is going to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She said she is looking forward to studying kinesiology. She wants to be a physical therapist because of her post-surgical experiences. 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
When people are constantly saying you are so strong and you don't feel it at all, you begin to believe it after a while." 
ANNELIESE RIESTERER 
About four months after Von Elm started having headaches, Anneliese Riesterer woke up early on a Saturday at home in Hempstead with a bad pain in the back of her head. She told her mother and they eventually called 911. 
At first, they were told it could be the flu and that she didn't need to go to the hospital. But the pain got worse so they called 911 again and an ambulance arrived. Riesterer's father, Karl, a former EMT, came home to check on her. 
"I remember sitting at the top of the stairs, seeing the EMTs bring in the stretcher, and then I blacked out," she recalled. 
Riesterer woke up in the back of the ambulance, with her father at her side, telling her to try to stay awake, but she couldn't. She woke up almost a week later from a medically induced coma. She could hear, but she couldn't see or talk and had limited movement. She had had a stroke. 
A week later, as she slowly recovered, she was told she had arteriovenous malformation in her brain -- an abnormal connection between arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system -- and it had ruptured. 
"The scary part was that they said, 'You could have died,' " Riesterer said. "I was that close to dying." 
She began a course of therapy to help her learn to walk and speak again. 
Riesterer, now 18, returned to Kellenberg in May 2013, but was still unable to walk, so she used a wheelchair. She then progressed to a walker, then a cane, both of which she said her friends decorated. 
Sitting with Von Elm and Lyne, Riesterer laughed, saying it was fun to make her way around the school with the walker and cane. 
In July 2013, the malformation was removed using a gamma knife, a much less invasive surgery than originally scheduled. Her stroke affected the left side of her body, so she can't run and has yet to regain fine motor skills in her left hand. 
Riesterer had played tennis for nine years. She can no longer do so, but last season she was named team manager. At the fall athletics banquet, she was given the "Most Committed Player" award. 
Riesterer will attend Hofstra and plans to study business. She said she is looking forward to "learning a lot. I eventually want to work for Disney . . . seeing how happy people are, I want to be part of it." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
Just people telling me: 'Wow, you went through this.' . . . You feel like you have done something even though something bad has happened to you."

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Kellenberg H.S. classmates with brain ailments helped each other

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From the time she was in elementary school, Ryley Conway knew she didn't fit the mold of star students who were all about academics, inclined to the arts or very athletic. She saw a different path in her thirst to know the world beyond her Long Island community. 
Conway reveled in stories from an older brother who traveled to remote lands and sought to know more. By middle school she had learned about the struggles of the Lost Boys of Sudan, children orphaned and displaced by war, and she told herself that she would fight injustice in the world. 
Conway, 17, a student at Hauppauge High School and the youngest of four children born to a retired NYPD inspector and a school nurse who live in Commack, decided that she "wanted to go as far from the U.S. as possible" to learn about other cultures. 
She got a yearlong scholarship to study abroad from the U.S. Department of State, despite her parents' dismay at letting their teen daughter venture across the world. 
She left in the summer of 2012, bound for Chennai, a city in southern India. Living there with a host family, attending a local school and working on humanitarian projects helped Conway affirm her commitment to human rights. 
She said she was shocked at the extreme poverty and exploitation of children used as beggars. The neglect of disabled children dismayed her. She was also filled with wonder and reverence toward an ancient culture shaped by faith and tradition, and delighted in the friendliness of Indians who embraced her. 
Conway put her heart and mind into the experience, learning enough Tamil to get by when she went on errands by herself, and doing puja, a religious ritual for worship in the Hindu tradition, alongside her host family. 
"Before I left for India I was a vegan who only ate pasta and potatoes," she said. "I was so afraid to be left home alone, and here I was kind of out of my little bubble, and this assaulted my senses and taught me to be independent." 
Conway will attend John Carroll University in Ohio to study in the Peace, Justice and Human Rights Program. She has made up her mind about devoting herself to aiding victims of human trafficking in indigent corners of the globe. 
"I don't want to get used to poverty," she said. "I want to do something about it, and maybe I can't solve these problems, but helping one life is better than none." 
By the accounts of those who know her, Conway has been doing her share. 
In India she volunteered at an orphanage, where she played basketball with the children and taught English to a boy with a speech impediment. On Long Island, she donates her time as a coach with Rolling Thunder, a nonprofit that trains athletes with special needs, and recently volunteered to attend prom as part of a BOCES program for students with special needs. 
Conway is part of her school's Natural Helpers, a peer-support club. She said she is looking forward to meeting new people at college and "focusing on what I'm passionate about." 
That sounds like something she'd say, said Shannon Griffin, a social worker at the high school. 
"She is passionate and compassionate," Griffin said. "She looks for injustice and ways to advocate for people who she feels maybe can't speak up for themselves." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
I don't think I am extraordinary. I think anyone who has passion will be able to do something amazing."

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Ryley Conway devoted to peace, humanitarianism

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When Eswar Dommaraju isn't earning straight A's or participating in community activities with the youth group he helped create, he is most likely: 
Volunteering at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow; 
Practicing the Indian tabla percussion instrument; 
Participating in clubs and sports. 
Dommaraju, 17, moved to Hicksville from Queens when he was in sixth grade. In 10th grade he and a group of friends decided to pitch the idea of a youth group to the Telugu Literary and Cultural Association, an organization his family had joined. 
"We all had naturally helping natures," said Dommaraju, who wanted to encourage teens to be more active in their communities outside scheduled Cultural Association events. He was nervous but confident when they successfully requested permission from the executive committee to start the group, which quickly grew to include about 40 people, mostly children of association members. 
Their first contribution was helping the association host a health clinic that provided free checkups for the public. The group took patients' vital signs, organized paperwork, escorted them to various stations and offered juice and cookies. 
After superstorm Sandy hit Long Island in October 2012, the youth group raised $1,500 in donations for the Red Cross, which the Cultural Association's executive committee then matched. 
Dommaraju is heavily involved in extracurricular activities, and his favorite is playing on the varsity tennis team. He ranks 31 in his class of 377, according to his guidance counselor, Jessica Molof. 
"Eswar has demonstrated a unique ability to inspire and lead groups of students in meaningful community service activities," she said. "He's at the heart of what makes Hicksville High School a great school." 
HIGHER ED 
Dommaraju will attend Baruch College and hopes to major in economics. 
FRESHMAN FAST-FORWARD 
"I'm looking forward to being more independent." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
My mindset of always wanting to help others. Most of the time I put helping my friends in front of what I do [for me] because it brings me joy and a sense of happiness that doesn't come from doing things for myself."

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Eswar Dommaraju pledges service to his community

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If Julia Eberhard decides to go to medical school, she'll be way ahead of the game. After all, she's already comfortable teaching surgery. 
When Eberhard, 18, was having trouble getting Mount Sinai High School guidance counselor Audra Falco to visualize the latest operation she underwent related to her Marfan's syndrome, the student Falco describes as a "science fanatic" just punched up a video of the procedure on the computer so they could watch it together. 
"I really think it was a necessity that I look at it in a positive way," Eberhard said of the condition. "I feel like it wasn't that hard because it's the only life I have known." 
Marfan's is a genetic disorder that affects the body's connective tissue and growth and development. Many of those with the condition have flat feet, really flexible joints, long arms, legs and fingers and are quite tall. Eberhard is 6 feet. According to the Marfan Foundation, the syndrome affects about 1 in 5,000 people, and about 3 out of 4 people who have it inherited it. 
The surgery last summer on her left ankle was one of three Eberhard, who lives in Mount Sinai, has undergone after being diagnosed when she was 8. She spent a good portion of her senior year using crutches or a wheelchair. 
But Marfan's doesn't affect intelligence or drive, and Eberhard will demonstrate as much when she walks across the stage June 28 as class salutatorian. Afterward, she may celebrate by navigating around on a more enjoyable set of wheels -- her dirt bike, which she got two years ago. 
"I've wanted a dirt bike since I was 3 or 4 years old," said Eberhard, who as a little girl enjoyed rides with her dad on his street bike. "It was always on my Christmas list." 
Due to Marfan's, she avoids big jumps and limits her bike time to more relaxing trail riding. She remembers her frustration at stalling the bike multiple times in her front yard on Christmas morning and not getting very far. 
That didn't last. 
"I think knowing that I have overcome calculus and riding a dirt bike, I can stick out anything if I try long enough." 
HIGHER ED 
Eberhard is heading to Stanford Univerity and plans to study molecular biology. 
FRESHMAN FAST-FORWARD 
"I'm looking forward to being able to study what I want and go more in-depth." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
That I am nervous to go away to college, but I don't let my fear cripple me."

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Julia Eberhard faces Marfan's syndrome with pluck

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When Kwasi Enin takes his viola out of its blue-felt-lined case, there's a healthy dusting of rosin under the strings. It's well used. The scholar -- who made international news when he got accepted to all eight Ivy League schools -- is a virtuoso, too. 
Enin, of Shirley, said he plays music for about 18 hours a week. He sings, plays the viola, piano and electric bass; and throughout his time at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, he has participated in chamber orchestra, annual musicals and the men's a cappella group. Last year, he received a perfect score in his all-state choir audition. 
On Sundays, Enin, 18, performs at the very place he first took an interest in music -- his church's youth and bell choirs. He started singing in the choir for fun when he was 6 years old. Eventually his commitment to music -- and his love for it -- grew. 
"It has a hold over me," he said. "No one bothers me. It's a peaceful time when I feel all alone even if everyone is watching. And it has a hold over them, too." 
Enin believes the rest of his success has hinged upon his success in music, an idea that shaped the college application essay that helped get him into the country's most selective universities. He will attend Yale in the fall. 
Offstage, Enin is laid-back, quiet and humble. When performing, a robust presence takes over. It has given him the ability to connect with his school community in a way he said he otherwise never would. Barbara D'Orio, Enin's concert choir and a cappella director, said he is "truly amazing" to watch. 
"He really brings the music off the page and into real life," she said. 
Equally as impressive as his ability to transform himself is Enin's ability to transform those around him, D'Orio added, explaining that Enin takes students under his wing and inspires them to reach higher. 
Enin holds that accomplishment -- inspiring his peers -- in higher regard than all his others. As he prepares to leave for college, he said it's that community he will miss the most. 
"The friends I made; little families, really," he said. 
HIGHER ED 
Enin will study molecular biology at Yale University. He also hopes to join an a capella group and campus orchestra. 
FRESHMAN FAST-FORWARD 
Enin said he's looking forward to "all the different kinds of people I'll meet." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
I think people talk to me, and when they talk to me, it's like, they want to do better, too. They think, 'I can do this, and I can do that.' I pull that out of people."

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For Kwasi Enin, helping others is biggest reward

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Nothing has come easily for Reed Ginsberg. He just makes it look that way. 
Ginsberg, 18, is lauded by teachers and coaches at Jericho High School for his ability to combine his talent for math and technology with his interest in sports and music. 
His honors include the prestigious Alice Griswold Award at the 2013 Long Island Math Fair and most-valuable player last year in the state high school soccer championships. 
His accomplishments obscure the wounds he has endured since birth from a series of illnesses and accidents. 
As a toddler, Ginsberg, of Jericho, sustained severe head wounds when he fell off a couch. He's had at least four concussions and surgery to repair lacerated gums. 
When he was 5, Ginsberg was mauled by a neighbor's dog. Surgery left him with a 3½-inch scar on his scalp and another scar on his face. 
"Every day when I look in the mirror, I'm reminded of it," Ginsberg said. "It makes me very, very resilient." 
He said his college essay was about connecting with others through his passion and resiliency. Surviving so much misfortune makes other challenges seem easy -- whether it's speaking to a room full of math teachers, or playing goalkeeper and making saves to preserve a 0-0 tie in the state soccer title game. 
"You gotta have a short memory," he said. "When I was at a young age, I learned not to be scared of things." 
Jericho soccer coach Dani Braga said Ginsberg is an "all-around incredible kid" who recovered from an early-season slump to star for the Jayhawks. 
"It's very rare that you come along a kid like Reed in a lifetime," Braga said. "Everything he does just seems to go to gold." 
Outside of Jericho's halls, Ginsberg taught drumming to children who couldn't afford music lessons and to at-risk youth; then he started helping them with their homework. Through the Long Island Blues hockey club, he has taught the sport to children and adults with Down syndrome. 
Ginsberg will attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he will enroll in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. He said he's looking forward to "a lot of new stuff, but I also think I'll do a lot of things I did in high school," such as music, sports and tutoring. 
Ginsberg's award-winning math paper combined sports and scholastics: Watching hockey highlights on his computer, he studied the best angles for goaltenders trying to prevent opponents from scoring shootout goals. 
Ginsberg, a New York Rangers fan, concluded that goalies are most successful when they stay close to the goal, rather than skating out to face the shooter. He called it "the application of the first derivative." 
"I used a lot of calculus," Ginsberg said. "As a goalie, you want to cover as much of the goal as possible." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
Mastering my time management while maintaining my&nbsp;academics, and then tying everything together outside the classroom." 
CORRECTION: In an earlier version, Newsday incorrectly reported that Reed Ginsberg was born with Harlequin syndrome. In an award-winning math paper, Ginsberg used calculus and the application of the first derivative, not trigonometry and geometry.

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Reed Ginsberg flourishes by helping others

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When Matthew Giovanniello's grandmother had a paralyzing stroke in 2008, he knew he had to find a way to communicate with her. They had always been close -- Theresa Giovanniello cooked a big lasagna dinner for his family and they saw her almost every weekend. 
But after her stroke, Matthew, who at the time was in the seventh grade, noticed that in therapy she failed to respond to flashcards of stick figures and random clip art of houses and cars. He designed a PowerPoint computer program that included photos of family members and his grandmother's home and dog. 
"After making it very personal, she was starting to progress," said Giovanniello, now 17 and a senior at South Side High School in Rockville Centre. 
That was the start of a yearslong effort that led Giovanniello, of Rockville Centre, to develop a computer software program called "Grey Matter Technology." His work associated with the program led him to be named an Intel Science Talent Search semifinalist earlier this year, and he now is awaiting final patent approval for the software. He plans to continue perfecting the program when he attends Boston College in the fall. 
"It is, in a word, extraordinary," South Side Principal Carol Burris said of the computer program. 
His father, Anthony, is a psychiatrist, and his mother, Denise, is a pediatric nurse. Giovanniello thought he, too, would work in health care. But in elementary school, he discovered an interest in computers and technology. 
He designed his own computer games and a gaming website in the sixth grade. He further developed the PowerPoint program for his grandmother's recovery to run on a desktop or tablet and enabled it to include personal information to help those with brain injuries. Loved ones can upload personal photos, music and even customize the background to patients' favorite colors to create a more individualized approach to their rehabilitation. 
The program would be initiated at the hospital and then could be continued as therapy at home. Giovanniello said his grandmother, who is in her mid-80s now, can respond to questions and speak sentences. 
"The goal of my program was to help stroke patients, or people with dementia or little kids suffering from a traumatic brain injury to recover as much information they lost as possible and regain the independent life that they once had," he said. 
And that's not all. Giovanniello -- who plays in his school's wind ensemble and will receive an International Baccalaureate diploma -- and three classmates have developed an online interactive tutoring website for South Side students, and he tutors English Language Learner students. 
"There is no limit to what Matt will do to increase his academic intelligence and expand his mind," Burris said. 
HIGHER ED 
Giovanniello will attend Boston College, where he plans to major in information systems. 
FRESHMAN FAST FORWARD 
"I have been working on a program since the seventh grade -- for the past 5½ years. I am looking forward to bringing that to life while I am at Boston College." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
"One of my biggest accomplishments involves a computer program used to assist neurologically impaired patients."

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Matthew Giovanniello creates software to aid grandmother's recovery

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It was only five years ago that Tae Hoon Kim's family moved from South Korea to Philadelphia, with hopes of providing him and his younger sister with better educational opportunities. 
Kim, then 13, said his English-speaking experience consisted solely of a couple years of basic English classes at school in his native country. He knew the alphabet and could get by conversationally, but he realized that he needed to learn the language quickly to succeed in America. 
To help expand his vocabulary and comprehension, the determined Kim said he began with the basics: Dr. Seuss. 
"I had to start somewhere, and they were the only children's books I knew," said Kim, 18. "I knew I was going to spend a majority of my life in this country, so I was motivated to learn." 
By the end of eighth grade, Kim had progressed to more difficult books. Among them were "Aesop's Fables," with pages written in both Korean and English, and the works of Judy Blume, who writes novels for children and young adults. To help with his speaking skills, Kim added audio of famous speeches -- ranging from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address -- to his iPod. 
Just before he entered 10th grade, Kim's family moved to Jericho, where he really hit his stride. There, he became a National AP Scholar, a designation granted to students who receive an average score of at least 4 out of a possible 5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of the exams. 
He also began volunteer work that included helping nurses at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, assisting at a day care for disabled adolescents at Arumdaun Presbyterian Church in Bethpage, and participating in church- and university-based mission trips to locations such as China and Haiti. 
"I guess the reason behind why I volunteer is because I realize that I was blessed with so many opportunities," Kim said. "Thus, I want to give back and serve others who are not as fortunate or did not have as many opportunities as I had." 
At Jericho High School, where officials say he has earned the respect and admiration of faculty and students, Kim plays violin and is on the Student Council. 
"It is very hard to stand out amongst the many superior students who attend Jericho High School, but Tae Hoon truly does," said his guidance counselor, Candy Bodner. "Humble, passionate, ambitious and compassionate; his potential is truly unlimited." 
Kim plans to pursue a career in medicine at Northwestern University, with hopes of becoming a medical missionary. 
"I'm looking forward to taking challenging classes and exploring new opportunities," he said. 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
I am not afraid to try new things, and I try my best in trying to achieve my personal goals."

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Tae Hoon Kim knows learning English is key to success

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Sodasia Thompson has learned to work around the obstacles that could have kept her from her goals. 
When she couldn't attend a music program at her school, Bay Shore High, the summer before her sophomore year because she had to work, she met with the instructor every day an hour before her job started to soak up all she could. 
Thompson, 18, was raised by her aunt Claudia Bizzle of Bay Shore after her mother could no longer care for her. 
"She is the greatest person on earth," Thompson said. "She literally saved my life. If I ask her for something, she will try her absolute hardest to get it for me." 
Thompson, propelled by her own ambition and the help of those who want her to succeed, has a 93.6 grade-point average and is ranked 41 in a class of 421. She is enrolled in college-level International Baccalaureate courses and is first chair trumpet in both wind ensemble and symphonic orchestra. 
Thompson also sings, and her vocals were key in helping her school win $5,000 in a VH1-sponsored competition meant to bolster music education. She made it through two early rounds of the X-Factor talent show when it came to Long Island last spring. 
Thompson will attend Hofstra University in the fall -- she landed a full scholarship -- and is determined to become a music therapist, helping others with a talent she has honed for more than a decade. 
Her strongest ally, she said, is her aunt, who took her in along with a number of her six siblings at various points in their lives. 
When Thompson was caught off guard by Hofstra's request for a $300 housing deposit, she turned to Bizzle for help. 
"She was running around like crazy to get me that $300," she said. 
Thompson calls Bizzle "mom" and refers to her birth mother, who died four years ago, as "aunt." 
"She was a good person," Thompson said. "I always had a soft spot for her. We saw her from time to time; she used to do my hair a lot." 
Thompson is close with her siblings, although one has since been adopted by another family. 
"We could not survive without each other," she said. "We are so happy with the way we are living." 
Thompson said her past doesn't define her or her future. 
"I am going to be creative and bouncy; I'm going to be myself," she said. "I can't help who I am." 
She said she is looking forward to her coursework at Hofstra and deciding when to focus on music and when to marry it with psychology. 
Matt Pasca, her IB English teacher, said Thompson is one of the most effusive and authentic people he's known. 
"She will bear-hug people off the ground," he said. "She's done that to me many times -- and I'm 250 pounds. She is just her, which is refreshing and not easy in high school." 
And she elicits a desire in others to help her, he said, "not by manipulation or using people -- but by rallying people. She's solid; she's the real deal." 
She doesn't much like to receive gifts but she adores giving them. "I love making people happy -- to make sure someone else's day is great." 
WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY 
"I'm happy all the time."

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Sodasia Thompson overcomes obstacles with upbeat attitude

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NYU researchers are surveying the Eastern box turtle population to better understand how they are faring against habitat destruction, roadways and global warming.`

Turtle-sniffing dogs searching LI for science

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. spoke with NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa about what life is like for the Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann in jail.

Rex Heuermann's life behind bars

Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is back for a second stint with the Giants. Head coach John Harbaugh on Wednesday said Beckham seems healthier and Beckham said he is looking forward to making the most of the opportunity.

Odell Beckham Jr. back with the Giants

Recently passed state auto insurance reforms could help lower car insurance rates as much as 10% for New York drivers, according to some estimates. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

NYS takes crack at lowering auto insurance premiums. Here's what that means for LI.

NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits the Long Island Game Farm for an inside look at the incredible hands-on wildlife encounters there.

Out East: What's new at the Long Island Game Farm

If approved, it would be the first new hospital on Long Island since 1980. Newsday business reporter James T. Madore has more.

NYU Langone plans new hospital in Melville 

NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano visited Main Event, an entertainment center that recently opened in Deer Park.

Arcade, bowling and giant claw machine at Main Event 

Newsday food writer Erica Marcus helps make a strawberry crunch ice cream at Coyle's Ice Cream in Islip.

Making ice cream at Coyle's in Islip

Rockville Centre's Lavert Henderson-Hobbs has been a Knicks' season-ticket holder since 1969.

Rockville Centre's Lavert Henderson-Hobbs a Knicks' season-ticket holder since 1969

NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa visits Chubs Meats in Medford to try The Brunson, a sandwich inspired by the New York Knicks' star player.

Trendy Bites: Trying a Jalen Brunson-inspired sandwich

Long Island Trending Bar

Suffolk

Nassau

Newsday is highlighting the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island with its Teacher Spotlight feature.

Teacher Spotlight

High School Sports

Residents in LI's more than 120 school districts weighed in on board candidates, budgets and propositions. See how your district voted. For additional information, read our article here.

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