Long Island

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Long Island's extraordinary seniors 2013

Samantha Ambrico is like most teens in many respects, with some variations. Her hair and makeup are immaculate. She texts on her iPhone and gazes directly at whomever she's speaking to. A dancer since age 3, Ambrico is constantly in motion. 
 She doesn't have a driver's license and plays no high school sports, though she does play on a baseball team. 
 Except for the guide dog, a black lab named Laurel, at her side, people meeting Ambrico for the first time usually don't know she's blind. 
 Ambrico, 17, has Leber's congenital amaurosis, a rare condition that has resulted in severely impaired vision since birth. The condition leaves her unable to see in detail -- she gets help with her makeup from her mother, and the font on her iPhone is enlarged. 
 "I'm colorblind, I'm light-sensitive, I don't have any peripheral vision," Ambrico said. "I can see you. I don't know what color your eyes are, but I can see you." 
 But Ambrico leads a normal life, something her parents said has always been paramount to them. She has a summer job as a counselor at a camp for visually impaired children, plays a special kind of baseball -- called "beep ball" -- and lives and breathes dance. 
 This fall, Ambrico will leave Islip for Eastern University in Wayne, Pa., where she will study dance and psychology. Her goal: to teach dance to disabled children to offer them the same outlet for expression she had growing up. 
 When she's dancing, she said, "I feel like I can be myself. There's no right or wrong in dance, so I don't have to worry about whether I'm doing it perfectly." 
 There have been limitations and struggles growing up visually impaired in the sighted world, said Ambrico, who is the only blind person at her school. But as she's grown, so has her independence. By her own choice, Ambrico was weaned off her personal aide at school in 11th grade, a few months after Laurel came into her life. 
 "We've always said she has to adapt to the sighted world," her mom, Jacqueline Ambrico, said. "The sighted world is not going to adapt to her." 
 While Ambrico said she doesn't feel defined by her condition, it's a central part of her life, and a few years ago she began pushing for a cure, raising funds to support research on Leber's related to her specific gene mutation. She started Project CEP290, which has raised $500, and Ambrico has raised about $3,000 for the Long Island chapter of the Foundation for Fighting Blindness. The effort is named for the mutation on the gene -- CEP290 -- that causes her condition, she said. 
 Ambrico said going to school out of state is a crucial step in helping her gain independence. 
 "I'll never be able to be totally independent," she said. Still, Leber's has made her grateful for the little things. 
 "This summer at the Woodside train station I saw a bird fly for the first time," Ambrico said. "My friends were all with me and thought it was so funny, but that was something really big for me." 
 What makes you extraordinary"Being able to work through my blindness . . . to accomplish all that I've accomplished."

Things to Do

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Samantha Ambrico, Islip High School

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The most vivid image that guidance counselor Brandi Hopkins has of Greenport High School senior Megan Demarest comes from monitoring the lunchroom, that potential minefield for young adults. 
 Demarest, Hopkins said, always went up to students eating alone, to join them or invite them to eat with her friends. 
 "No one should eat lunch by themselves," Demarest said. "I want people to know they're special." 
 Greenport, at the eastern tip of the North Fork, has a diverse and small student body. All 621 students -- from kindergarten to 12th grade -- go to class in one building. 
 Demarest, 18, is salutatorian of her class and also cares about the environment. Twice a year she cleans up a local beach. 
 "It's a really good way to give back to the community," she said. "Where I live is so beautiful, I want to preserve it." 
 Demarest helped lead the volleyball team to the county playoffs, is active in clubs and spent her spring break last year with Habitat for Humanity, helping rebuild a house in New Orleans damaged in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 
 Demarest said it was a life-changing experience, but she helps out closer to home, too. 
 After learning that several students in her class couldn't afford the $13 ticket for a fundraiser usually attended by seniors, Demarest and a friend created two scholarships for Southold and Greenport seniors, called the "We Can Make a Difference Scholarship." 
 Demarest said the goal is to raise $1,000 for each senior, neither of whom has been chosen. She said she hopes future classes will continue the effort. 
 "I want to start our own tradition," she said. 
 HIGHER ED: Demarest will attend Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., where she will study criminology. 
 AT COLLEGE I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO: "I'm excited to meet all the new people, and study about human behavior and criminology. There are so many experiences I haven't had yet." 
 What makes you extraordinary 
 "The people I have met and the experiences I have had make me care about others."

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Megan Demarest, Greenport High School

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Wearing a Livestrong cap to cover incision scars following brain surgery in the 10th grade, Andrew Fierstein joked to his guidance counselor that doctors "took out the smart parts." 
 Two years later, it's safe to say his intellect is intact. Fierstein has been named salutatorian of his class despite a 13-year battle with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. 
 Since the age of 5, Fierstein has endured multiple brain surgeries, rib and lung removals and a limb-sparing surgery to his right arm. Today, he has a catheter in his skull and is undergoing treatment using an experimental drug. 
 "We'd try to arrange my chemotherapy so I wouldn't miss many classes," said Fierstein, 18, who estimated he has missed up to a month of school at some points due to medical procedures. "I didn't want people to feel sorry for me. A negative attitude is never an option." 
 Over the past eight years, Fierstein, of Old Brookville, has helped raise roughly a quarter-million dollars -- including $60,000 in a recent event at his high school -- through Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. Last year, his team's total of $42,000 was tops in Nassau County and the second highest in the state, he said. 
 In addition, Fierstein, who is school treasurer and president of the National Honor Society, was one of 50 teens nationwide this year to receive a $20,000 college scholarship from the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. 
 "He is just so likable; possibly the nicest, most gracious kid in the solar system," said his guidance counselor, Timothy Shea. "If angels walk among us, Andrew is one." 
 HIGHER ED: Fierstein will attend Hofstra University and will study health science in an eight-year BS-BA/MD program. 
 AT COLLEGE, I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO: "Challenging myself with classes I've never taken, or have taken at a lower level, and having new people to interact with." 
 What makes you extraordinary 
 "With everything I've faced, I've tried to keep a positive attitude and never be like 'Why me?' I hope I've inspired other people to be strong. No obstacle is insurmountable."

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Andrew Fierstein, North Shore High School

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Nicholas Franzi completed the last few months of his junior year and has spent his entire senior year fighting for his life at a hospital in Memphis, Tenn. 
 He is on the winning side of that battle right now. If he can keep his chronic myelogenous leukemia in check, he may make it back home to Lake Grove in time for graduation on June 22. 
 Franzi, 17, was diagnosed with the disease in January 2010 and endured a series of medical setbacks that resulted in his leaving Long Island in March 2012 for treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. 
 He's been cancer-free for a year, and doctors are discussing whether he can attend his graduation. 
 In his mind, Franzi is already there. 
 "After graduation I can't wait to just hang out with my friends and family," he wrote in an email. "I want to get more involved with my charity [The Nicholas Orlando Franzi Foundation for Children with Cancer] and just enjoy being home." 
 But many times in the past year, his life has been a series of what-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong moments. 
 Franzi was diagnosed when he was a freshman. From the start, guidance counselor Christine Launer said, he was optimistic and headstrong. 
 First, Franzi went on a trial drug in 2010, but after about a year he developed a rare mutation to it and learned he needed a bone-marrow transplant. The school and community came together to find a match. Yet, Franzi, an avid baseball player, didn't want to be different or stand out as the sick kid. 
 "At one point Nick was cleared to play baseball, and he didn't even tell the coach that he had leukemia because he didn't want to be treated differently," Launer said. 
 No perfect match was found, so doctors chose to use his mother's bone marrow. But adversity struck again -- Carol Franzi had a serious heart condition and needed open-heart surgery. They had to use his older sister, Alexandra, who was considered a subpar match. 
 Launer recalled what Franzi said to her as he was leaving for St. Jude. "This is just something I have to go through. I'll get through it, and I'll come back even stronger." 
 But fate would again delay his return to health and Long Island. To prepare for the transplant of his sister's healthy cells, Franzi had to undergo intense chemotherapy and treatments. The transplant was done, but soon after, the family learned it wasn't a success. The next option was to use his father Sal's bone marrow. 
 This time the cells grafted, and on June 28, 2012, Franzi was declared cancer-free. 
 Meanwhile, his mother's heart troubles continued, and she had to return to New York to have surgery. Then, in yet another setback, Franzi became seriously ill with the Epstein-Barr virus, a common human virus that caused high fevers and required Franzi to be sedated and placed on a ventilator. 
 Despite his multiple medical obstacles, it is looking optimistic that Franzi may be able to come back to Long Island. He'll be returning to his home in a wheelchair, having lost the use of his feet due to the chemotherapy. 
 "Giving up baseball and trying out for college teams this year, and his dream of being a police officer since he was very young, have all been put on hold and may never happen," his mother said. "Yet, he is still positive and not giving up." 
 Back home, the Sachem school and community have rallied for him, hosting a Franzi day to raise money and creating the catchphrase "Stay Strong Franzi." 
 The family updates the community on Franzi's status at the blog nickscmljourney.blogspot.com. 
 While in the hospital, Franzi has had a tutor, and Sachem educators have sent schoolwork that he has completed between treatments. 
 Franzi's plans for the future are on hold until he gets his strength back, but he said he would like to go to college. 
 "The recovery of my immune system could take nine to 12 months," he said. "While I'm home I plan on applying to colleges and taking classes online until I am able to be around large groups of people and actually go to school. I was always interested in criminal justice and wanted to be a police officer, but for now I think I will concentrate on getting some core college courses under my belt." 
 Whatever he chooses to become, in his mother's eyes he is an inspiration and a role model. 
 "From the time he was diagnosed, life has been incredibly difficult for Nick, yet you would never know it because he has stayed positive and strong through it all," said Carol Franzi. "He never complained, never felt sorry for himself and never looked for sympathy. He just did whatever he had to do to beat this cancer and move on with his life." 
 What makes you extraordinary"I don't feel like I'm extraordinary. I just did what I had to do to get through it."

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Nicholas Franzi, Sachem High School North

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A few summers ago, Tiana Hudson-Jerman willingly stood outside in 90-degree temperatures, dressed in full-body football gear and a helmet. 
 It was the first day of tryouts for junior varsity football at Uniondale High School, and she was the only girl vying for a spot on the team. 
 Sweat was pouring down her face, and all the equipment was weighing her down. But Hudson-Jerman was determined to start her sophomore year with a spot on the team, so she endured two weeks of tryouts, which included practices twice a day and gentle teasing from the boys, who Hudson-Jerman said were never mean but did joke that they didn't think she would make it through tryouts. 
 She proved them wrong and made the team, becoming the squad's kicker; made history as the first girl on the school's junior varsity team; and made herself an unintended role model. 
 Jonathan Jefferson, Uniondale High's athletic director, said her coaches remarked that Hudson-Jerman never missed a practice and was an "example for the other athletes on the team of what they expected as far as hard work and dedication." 
 "She was by far the most dedicated player on the team," Jefferson added. 
 Hudson-Jerman, 18, of Uniondale, said she had wanted to play football since middle school. That year she tried out was when she finally had the time and asked her father -- not mom -- for permission to play. She chose seven as her jersey number because she said she liked that number. Her mother said no to trying out for the varsity squad, but Hudson-Jerman's athletic pursuits didn't end with JV football; she is also on the track team. 
 And she has excelled beyond the sports arena. Hudson-Jerman is ranked in the top 10 percent of her class and has taken several Advanced Placement courses, including physics, biology, language and history, according to her guidance counselor, Lexoune Marcellin. 
 "One thing that stood out to me about her is the fact that she is very ambitious, but if you put aside all the extracurricular activities that she has participated in and all the classes that she's advanced in, she's a very nice person . . . and always willing to help," Marcellin said. 
 Hudson-Jerman will attend the University of Miami this fall, where she said she's most looking forward to "just being able to have that freedom." 
 She plans to major in biology and minor in business and then go to medical school to study anesthesiology. 
 "I just like to help people, and particularly, I really don't like seeing people in pain and I don't like seeing people suffering," Hudson-Jerman said. 
 This summer she will again participate in Hofstra's Medical Scholars Pipeline Program, which has allowed her to get hands-on experience in various medical concentrations. Last year, Hudson-Jerman said, she examined cadavers, learned how to do sutures and shadowed doctors. 
 But her interests don't stop there. She also loves to bake -- red velvet cake is her favorite -- and likes comic books and animé. And she is in the marching band. 
 "It's often the case where a student takes a lot of courses or is involved in a lot of extracurricular activities because it looks good for college and everything," said Adam Bowman, Hudson-Jerman's English teacher. "That's not the case with Tiana." 
 What makes you extraordinary 
 "I am involved in a lot of different things. I think it is good to occupy your time . . . it lets you experience new things, as well."

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Tiana Hudson-Jerman, Uniondale High School

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Stefanie Kaufman likes to get people talking, especially when the subject is suicide prevention. It was a lack of conversation about mental illness that spurred her to create Project LETS, which stands for Let's Erase The Stigma. 
 Kaufman, of Westbury, started the group her junior year of high school after losing a friend to suicide when she was a freshman. 
 "Nobody really knew how to deal with it, and there was just such a stigma surrounding it," she said. 
 So Kaufman, 18, who said she was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder at 12, began speaking to youth groups, teachers, parents and friends as she set out to educate others about mental illness. She is applying for nonprofit status for the program and working with two state lawmakers on a bill that would require suicide prevention training in schools. 
 "She's a remarkable person," said Kaufman's guidance counselor, Joan DeNigris. "She's one of those people who not only has ideas, but who acts on them." 
 And the LETS program will follow Kaufman -- who volunteers with autistic children, is a tutor and is vice president of the student government -- to Brown University. 
 "I don't think it's something that I can give up on now," she said. "My goal is just to help one person. If I can have a positive effect on one person and they can take what I show them and have a positive effect on another person, then it's just a big chain reaction." 
 HIGHER ED: Kaufman plans to major in neuroscience at Brown University. 
 AT COLLEGE I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO: The open curriculum. "I love science, but I also write and do poetry, so I'm so excited to dip around into different fields." 
 What makes you extraordinary 
 "I think a lot of people may have the same kind of heart that I have, but I don't think a lot of people actually have the drive and devotion to put something into motion, so I think that might make me stand out a little bit."

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Stefanie Kaufman, Clarke High School

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Travis Leard started smoking marijuana in seventh grade. 
 Within two years, he was abusing prescription drugs, buying Percocet and Vicodin from the kids he skated with in Port Jefferson. He said he tried cocaine, ecstasy, acid, downed animal tranquilizers and smoked a pack a day. 
 His parents were divorcing, and he didn't get along with his mother. Leard, 18, said she locked him out of the house one night when he was 15 because he was high. 
 But no matter how far he veered off course, the adults in Leard's life knew he was gifted. 
 His high school guidance counselor, Ann Clyde, talked to him often about his potential. She isn't sure how she knew it -- she chalked it up to her 20 years of experience -- but it was clear Leard was special. 
 "Travis was one of those kids who was extremely, extremely smart but wasn't engaged in school," she said. 
 It was more than that, actually. Leard was so drug-addled, he doubted he even had a future. Why study for algebra if you aren't going to live past 20? 
 But even at his worst, Leard said, he knew he was squandering his life and many of the kids he was skating with -- who gave him drugs -- weren't really his friends. And if he continued using, he could lose the few substantive relationships he had. 
 "I had a few dreams, epiphanies that I was a hobo wiping up car windshields with newspaper and my own spit," he said. "That definitely helped." 
 There was nothing special about Jan. 29, 2011, but that day Leard stopped everything -- the drugs, the cigarettes -- cold turkey. He's been sober since. 
 Leard, who lives in Port Jefferson Station, shared his story with faculty to encourage teachers not to give up on even their worst students. He wanted them to know "people can change if given the right opportunities." 
 He credits the educators who encouraged him along the way -- particularly those who treated him with dignity when it would have been easier to punish him for his infractions. 
 Leard has even spoken with other students living on the brink, hoping to provide them with some insight. 
 Sometimes it's worked, sometimes not. 
 "I believe anyone can change," said Leard, if the person wants it badly enough. 
 "As soon as I started going to school I started to gain respect, and I liked that feeling," he said. "It's incredible how much things can change when you start doing the right thing. Me and my mom get along better than we ever have. She is more than just a parent. She is my best friend." 
 Fueled by the positive feedback from his family and teachers, he's had few temptations. 
 "I don't go to parties," he said. "I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't even think about it anymore. I have other things to entertain me." 
 And he had a special plan to repair his smoke-damaged lungs. "I joined wrestling," he said. "In my first month . . . I was coughing up tar and blood all the time. 
 But that stopped, too. 
 He was barely passing his freshman and sophomore year, but his grades have since rebounded. He has scored in the high 90s in several Advanced Placement and other college-level courses and plans to become a chemical engineer. He'll attend Suffolk County Community College in the fall and will do whatever it takes, he said, to transfer to Stony Brook. 
 "He has the ability to do whatever he wants to do," said Renee Weber, Leard's Algebra 2 and trigonometry teacher. "He doesn't really let anything stop him." 
 What makes you extraordinary 
 "I'm just excited to have a future now. Now I have to think as far ahead as graduate school. I plan on having a family and settling down . . . all of this stuff I didn't think about a couple of years ago."

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Travis Leard, Comsewogue High School

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BRENDAN LIUJericho High School
China's Sichuan province is miles away from Long Island, but it's close to Brendan Liu's heart.
In May 2008, the province, the second most populous in China, was devastated by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. At least 69,000 people were killed, and more than 18,000 were left missing. On a visit the next year, Liu saw two things that inspired in him a need to help that has had far-reaching 
implications.
Liu took a 13-hour flight to visit his grandparents, who live in a small industrialized village in the Fujian province near the southeastern coast. When he walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet, brown water filled the sink.
"I looked in disgust and confusion," said Liu, 17. "It was one of the most life-changing events in my life. I realized we, as Americans, are fortunate to have clean water available to us, whereas my grandparents had to struggle."
His grandparents explained that finding fresh water was difficult, and it was used sparingly for cooking and cleaning.
When he returned to Long Island, Liu, who is president of his school's environmental club, spent the next two years researching water purification at Stony Brook University, creating a novel membrane system that simultaneously filters and removes bacteria and heavy-metal particles from water. His work garnered national acclaim in the Siemens and International Sustainable World (Engineering, Energy &amp; Environment) Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP) competitions and won the $40,000 grand prize in the Lexus Eco Challenge for his high school.
Liu, who said he is looking forward to attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he will major in environmental engineering, recently started an initiative to recycle ink and printer cartridges in the school district.
In addition to his environmental efforts, Liu also wanted to help Sichuan's students, who saw many of their schools ruined in the earthquake. Inspired by helping his aunt collect and donate books for South African students diagnosed with HIV, Liu founded the nonprofit Pages4Life to donate books to Sichuan Elementary School.
To "help the literacy rate of disenfranchised youths," Liu, who struggled to read as a child, asked local libraries and schools on Long Island for new or used books to donate. But the shipping expense was an obstacle.
That is until he entered into a partnership with a local shipping company to offset the international shipping fees. Liu's first shipment in 2011 totaled 548 books. In all, he said, he has sent about 2,000 books to the school.
Liu's charitable streak extends beyond Asia.
He's been swimming "all my life," he said, and has been on the school swim team throughout high school. "I like the competitive spirit and camaraderie."
On Saturdays, as part of a school-sponsored program, he teaches youths how to swim. It's a paid position, but Liu forfeits the money -- about $200 a month -- so that needy children can get the lessons for free.
What makes you 
extraordinary 
"Throughout my whole life I've been challenged in many endeavors, but I work around them. It was definitely instilled by my parents."

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Brendan Liu, Jericho High School

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Christopher McAvoy has a passion for research that's certainly caught his community's attention. 
 He has extensively investigated West Hempstead's history -- ranging from old buildings to influential people -- after noticing a lack of in-depth information at the West Hempstead Historical Society. 
 His findings have been shared with local residents in occasional displays and presentations at the West Hempstead Public Library. His research also led McAvoy to create a photo archive for the historical society on Facebook and won a New York State Archives Certificate of Merit from the Department of Education in 2011. 
 "My mom and I went to some historical societies around Long Island and noticed there wasn't a very sophisticated one for my hometown -- so I took it upon myself to do some research," said McAvoy, 18. Of the research's importance, he said: "How can we know what to do in the future if we don't know about the past?" 
 McAvoy's other research included developing designs for wind turbine blades in an effort to create a more affordable form of sustainable clean energy. That project won McAvoy -- who was captain of the volleyball team and a member of the Tri-M Music and National Art honor societies -- a gold medal in the engineering category at the International Sustainable World (Engineering, Energy &amp; Environment) Project Olympiad, also known as I-SWEEEP, and awards at the Long Island Science Congress, New York State Science Congress and Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. 
 "His strong work ethic, true integrity and motivation, coupled with his respect for human dignity, will light his path to success," said his guidance counselor, Donna Seeberger. 
 HIGHER ED: McAvoy will study engineering physics at Fordham University. 
 AT COLLEGE, I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO: "Gaining real-life experience in scientific research. I'm really excited to start doing work that can contribute more to society." 
 What makes you extraordinary 
 "Trying to excel at all those different things [science research, historical research, a sport, my commitment to performing music, schoolwork] at once is what I thrive on."

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Christopher McAvoy, West Hempstead High School

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Mehul Patel said he can't talk too much about kwiq.me, the social networking site he and a friend are developing, because they haven't yet received patents to protect their work. 
 Suffice it to say that inspiration came from frustration with current products. On a site like Facebook, for instance, "what you see is not necessarily what you want to see," Patel, 17, said. "Our goal is to make that happen, to achieve relevance for the user." 
 Patent lawyers and server space cost money that the Hicksville teen doesn't have. Venture capitalists might have money, but so far they've been reluctant to sink it into a project being rolled out by someone barely old enough to drive. 
 "They think, 'You're teenagers; how are we supposed to trust you?' " Patel said. 
 Whatever challenges stand in the way of Internet stardom, Patel has already overcome some stiff ones, arriving in Queens from his hometown of Dhamaj, India, in 2009 speaking Hindi but barely any English. 
 "I could say 'hello, how are you?' but I couldn't understand anything," he said. 
 By the time he hit Hicksville High School in 2011, Patel knew much more, having set himself a goal of learning 150 new words a day. 
 "I was reading as many novels as I could," he said. "What words I didn't understand, I underlined and looked up at the end of the day." 
 Patel was a good fit for the district, where the student body speaks 36 languages. He made friends in after-school activities like the Key Club and won a fan in guidance counselor Allie Hannon. 
 "There's something extra about this kid," she said. "He's entrepreneurial, he smells success. He's willing to take the time and put the effort in. He's a risk taker." 
 HIGHER ED: Patel will attend the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and double-major in physics and computer science. 
 AT COLLEGE I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO: Cybersecurity research, for which the school is well regarded. 
 What makes you extraordinary"Perseverance and a desire to strive to be the best."

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Mehul Patel, Hicksville High School

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DORIS QUIGLEYEast Hampton High School
Things usually came easily to Doris Quigley, 17, who excelled in her classes, on her school teams and as an ocean lifeguard for the town. She worked, she studied, she practiced -- and the rewards fell neatly into place.
Then, last year, she decided to take a swim after her lifeguard shift at Atlantic Avenue Beach in Amagansett. She dived in and hit her head on a sandbar. The impact broke her neck and left her paralyzed from the neck down.
Now, everything was difficult.
Quigley spent long, painful months in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. She didn't see just how many people were rallying to support her.
She wasn't in East Hampton when her small victories -- moving her hand or sitting up -- and the big ones were celebrated by those who heard of them by word-of-mouth.
She wasn't overseas in a combat zone when an Army unit prayed for her after someone associated with one of the troops heard about her story from someone in a local church.
And she wasn't in Town Hall the night her mother, Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, came in and proudly announced that her daughter had taken her first step without help. The entire town board audience, often bitterly divided over local issues such as airport use and town taxes, stood up and applauded.
Mostly, Quigley has been measuring her progress in small steps -- literally and figuratively -- and coming to grips with the reality of the Aug. 22 accident. Like many other things -- from becoming a lifeguard to volunteering at the Hamptons Film Festival to spending a semester in Europe -- her recovery was something to be done, and she did it.
Almost since her injury, Quigley has been working hard repeating small things, getting her arms and legs to do what they once did with ease. And as soon as she was able, Quigley resumed her schoolwork with home tutors. Doing so proved just as rigorous an effort as her physical therapy sessions.
"In the hospital I was being tutored three times a week for two hours," she said. "But I was always exhausted . . . they worked me six hours a day [in rehab] at first."
Quigley feels that she's recovered to about 80 percent of where she was before the accident. "Maybe I'll never be 100 percent," she cautions. But there is no defeat in her voice.
Her parents smile when they watch her walk on her own across their living room, using a crutch and a leg brace.
Quigley, the youngest of five children, has decided to take next year off so she can finish her rehabilitation before she enters college.
"I'm going to Tulane University in New Orleans on a Founder's Scholarship," she said. The award is made to incoming freshmen who are in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes and meet other requirements.
Though she has not yet decided on a major, Quigley said that what she's most looking forward to once she arrives at Tulane is meeting new people and seeing different things.
Doing things on her own is something she has been good at. When she wanted to spend a semester in France, her mother insisted that she find out herself how to go about getting into an exchange program. It led to her hosting a French exchange student when she got back.
Then she had to work with a tutor to prepare to take her Algebra II/trigonometry and physics Regents tests, because the French math classes she had taken had not dealt with the same subjects covered in those tests.
And she has already reached one big landmark in her efforts to get her life back to what it was before the accident. "I still go swimming with John Ryan [East Hampton's chief lifeguard]," she said.
What makes you 
extraordinary 
"I've seen a lot, compared to most 17-year-olds."

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Doris Quigley, East Hampton High School

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Joseph Skrzypek knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up. 
 After spending countless hours in physical therapy to treat his spina bifidamyelomeningocele, a congenital defect that affects the spinal cord, he figures it's time to give back. 
 "I've had 10 medical surgeries. I've been on the other side of this physical therapy aspect," said Skrzypek, 18, of East Setauket. "I felt it was my calling that I could help others as I was helped." 
 He isn't wasting any time pursuing his dream. Skrzypek is heading to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut for a rigorous seven-year dual program in athletic training and physical therapy, culminating in a doctorate of physical therapy. 
 That kind of ambition doesn't surprise his teachers at Ward Melville, where Skrzypek maintains a 98 GPA and is a member of the varsity golf team, National Honor Society and student government. 
 Guidance counselor Linda Bergson said Skrzypek's attitude remains positive, despite his health concerns and his intense workload and schedule of activities. 
 "He's a really appreciative, nice kid," she said. "He will be a physical therapist who cares about his patients." 
 Spina bifida is a neural tube defect that happens when a fetus' brain, spinal cord or their coverings develop incompletely. In severe cases, people with spina bifida cannot walk. 
 Skrzypek said his form of the disorder is mild, and he's been able to play sports and study karate. "It affected my back and legs," he said. "There were operations to fix complications and prevent complications. Sometimes, I had some restrictions when it came to activities and sports. I had to give up baseball after foot surgery; I was a catcher." 
 Skrzypek decided to focus on golf, becoming the only freshman on the varsity team and this year helping the Patriots win the county championships. Despite his accomplishments, Skrzypek insists he's no more special than anyone else. "I walk 18 holes four to five days a week. I'm very active; I have no body limitations." 
 He also has volunteered at the office of his former physical therapist, Dr. Jeff Schwarz of Smithtown. While volunteer hours are a requirement for Quinnipiac's program, Skrzypek "just kept going with it" and has far exceeded the hours necessary. 
 "All my patients ask, 'How is Joe doing?' " Schwarz said. "He finished his requirements, and he still comes. It's his passion." 
 For now, while he has daily medical treatment for his spina bifida, Skrzypek's health is good. "Hopefully as I get older I won't need any more back surgeries," he said. "I'm doing just fine for my age, and my goal is to be as normal as I can. A lot of people don't even know what I'm dealing with." 
 He is looking forward to college's challenges and stimulations. "I'm looking forward to meeting new people obviously, and just really pursuing my dreams in sports medicine and physical therapy." 
 As a self-professed Yankees "nut," Skrzypek said he hopes to someday work for an athletic organization -- even the rivals up in Boston. 
 "I wouldn't turn down the Red Sox," he said with a laugh. 
 What makes you 
 extraordinary"One of my priorities is that I'm not special or need special treatment, even when I had operations or stuff."

LFSKRZYPEK09

Joseph Skrzypek, Ward Melville H.S.

lfSKRZYPEK--cropped/jb

MCKINGSLEY RYAN WILLIAMS
South Side High School
BY SCOTT EIDLER
scott.eidler@newsday.com
 For a month last fall, McKingsley Ryan Williams dealt with the rigors of senior year all from a hospital bed -- the limits of mathematical integration, conjugating French verbs.
The Rockville Centre student was recuperating from heart surgery, six years after he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that has left him in a wheelchair.
Still, it was his final year of high school, and Williams insisted on not falling behind. The school set him up with an iPad, and through the FaceTime video chat program his International Baccalaureate classes were streamed live.
"So I wouldn't be totally lost when I got back," he said.
Williams, 18, kept at it -- though he had to swap calculus BC for an easier AB class so he could end his day earlier and rest.
Williams is loved at South Side, where he is part of the principal's advisory committee, works in the main office, and presses lecturers on issues as diverse as Middle Eastern politics and educational reform.
When Andrew Young visited, Williams didn't ask him the customary civil rights-related question. According to Principal Carol Burris, who said she thought Williams might ask Young about meeting famous people, Williams asked about the Middle East conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis. She remembers Young being "quite impressed" with the question.
Burris describes Williams as "an inspiration to his classmates" who is "humble, but still understands the unique opportunity" he has to affect his peers.
His classmates cheered as he was beamed into IB class the first morning, promptly at 8:02.
By October, Williams was fully recovered from his surgery. He won science competitions and kept managing his tutor network. When he was ready to return to South Side, his schoolmates greeted him with a surprise, choosing him to be Homecoming King. Weeks later, he made sure he was ready for the coronation.
"I didn't want to let anybody down," Williams said.
HIGHER ED: Williams will attend Stony Brook University, where he will major in engineering science.
AT COLLEGE I'M MOST 
LOOKING FORWARD TO: 
"All the clubs, making new friends. And advancing science research: I want to do something that will help change the world."
What makes you 
extraordinary 
"My personality -- usually when anything happens, I always have a positive and optimistic outlook."

LFWILLIAMS09

McKingsley Ryan Williams, South Side High School

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