Meet 10 extraordinary Long Island high school seniors

A survivor of a chimpanzee attack who went on to become a world-class wrestler. A young woman born deaf whose mother died from breast cancer, yet who still finds time to mentor others. A Guatemalan immigrant determined to learn English and pursue a career in nursing.

This year's class of Newsday's Extraordinary Seniors is nothing short of inspiring.

Selected from dozens of Long Island students nominated by their schools, the 10 graduating seniors from Suffolk and Nassau counties distinguished themselves through their resilience, compassion and commitment to make a difference.

Some have overcome challenges that would seem insurmountable to many of their peers. Others have left a lasting mark on their schools and communities through leadership and advocacy.

Among them is Faith Welch, of Greenport High School, whose research into the often overlooked history of slavery on the North Fork and along with other efforts to foster dialogue and understanding, helped earn her the Princeton Prize in Race Relations.

“Our community . . . wasn’t really open to these conversations, and now I think it’s kind of prying them open," she said.

Read on to meet these Extraordinary Seniors.

DUNIA SIBOMANA-RODRIGUEZ

Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez was 6 years old and playing outside his village in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa when he survived a chimpanzee attack that killed his brother and cousin and left him with devastating injuries.

Twelve years later, he stood atop an international podium in Egypt with two gold medals around his neck.

Now 18 and living in Long Beach, Sibomana-Rodriguez was brought to the United States in 2015 by a nonprofit surgical care program at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. There, a team of surgeons has performed 15 surgeries to repair injuries to his hands and face. He has lived with the Rodriguez family, of Long Beach, since age 7 1⁄2, and they adopted him when he was 14.

“My parents always pushed me to be respectful and never look down on anyone,” Sibomana-Rodriguez said. “Give the same respect you want.”

As a student at Long Beach High School, his impact “has been profound,” school counselor Amy Leder said in a statement. Leder praised his “remarkable strength and resilience,” as he adjusted to a new country and found confidence and belonging in the wrestling community.

Sibomana-Rodriguez entered his first wrestling tournament in 2018 with the Long Beach Gladiators wrestling club, coached by his adoptive father, Miguel Rodriguez.

“In the beginning, we were just happy that he was doing something that was making him happy and giving him the opportunity to really be like the other kids,” Rodriguez said.

His excellence soon became apparent.

Beginning in the eighth grade, Sibomana-Rodriguez qualified for the New York State Division I high school wrestling championships five times. He won three state championships, most recently in February, when he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. His high school win-loss record is 210-17.

In May Sibomana-Rodriguez became the toast of two continents as the first Congolese wrestler to win gold in the U20 freestyle African Championships in Alexandria, Egypt. He also won gold in the championship’s Senior division.

Now he’s relearning Swahili, which he spoke as a child, for a return next year to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the nation’s Olympic trials.

He has high hopes to represent his homeland at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

“I draw my strength from my community,” Sibomana-Rodriguez says. “My friends, my family — everybody — they are all very supportive, and when you have everybody pushing you, that gives you the strength to do anything.”

WHAT’S NEXT? Attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a full athletic scholarship.

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: The U20 World Championship in Bratislava, Slovakia, in August and the U23 World Championship in Las Vegas in October.

—Jim Merritt

AMELIA PALACE

Amelia Palace has endured more than her share of adversity.

The Eastport South Manor Jr. Sr. High School senior was born with profound deafness, Palace underwent three brain surgeries for a cochlear implant, including a procedure at age 13 when the device malfunctioned — a complication that occurs in fewer than 1% of recipients. She also lost her mother to breast cancer during her sophomore year of high school.

Yet despite those challenges, Palace, 17, of Manorville, has maintained a 100.7 GPA while remaining deeply involved in student life and serving as a mentor to fellow students.

“Her perseverance and her steadfastness is just impressive,” said Jennifer Minihane, Palace’s guidance counselor. “She’s such a kind and generous person. She’s involved in so many different things, from our theater productions to our Natural Helpers, where she’s a peer mentor to students. She’s just an impressive young lady.”

Palace, senior leader of the Natural Helpers program for students in grades 7 through 12, said her experiences have given her a greater sense of empathy.

“I’m able to put myself in other people’s shoes easier because I’ve been through so many extraordinary life experiences that most of my peers have not,” Palace said.

The surgery at age 13 was one of the biggest setbacks, she said.

“It meant that all the auditory therapy and all the work that I had done in previous years was all for nothing. I had to start all over again after the surgery,” she said, adding that the healing process itself was debilitating. “I was knocked out for two weeks after that with terrible headaches. It’s brain surgery: not exactly a walk in the park.”

The surgery came only a few years before the devastating loss of her mother.

“I think about her all the time,” Palace said. “All I want to do is honor her memory and be the best student, the best person I can be, because that’s what she would want.”

Palace also supported her sibling, Jay, who’s 4 years her junior, throughout her mother’s illness.

“I think that I was her rock through all of the times of uncertainty that we went through,” she said. “I think I was the only constant thing in her life that wasn’t changing.”

Her father Mark notes that since she was a toddler, they’ve been calling her, “Amazing Amelia.” He noted his daughter, who often suffers from migraine headaches, had to work harder than other kids.

“The other kids couldn’t keep up with her,” he said. “She just exceeded our expectations so much, to the point where nothing surprised us anymore.”

WHAT’S NEXT? James Madison University, possibly majoring in elementary education

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: “Having the freedom to make my own life and be my own person. And just to be able to do what I want to do and just really enjoy life.”

—Arlene Gross

ALEX BANILOWER AND LUKE SCHAUF

At 9:22 a.m., students at South Side High School in Rockville Centre receive their daily dose of positivity when best friends Alex Banilower and Luke Schauf appear on TV screens to report the morning announcements.

"Please remember to be respectful," Schauf says at the end of the broadcast. "Thanks for watching and have an amazing day."

Banilower and Schauf, who are both on the autism spectrum, met halfway through their freshman year, after Schauf moved from the Netherlands to Rockville Centre. They've been best friends ever since.

"A lot of times students that are on the autism spectrum have a hard time making connections, and this is such an organic and natural connection that they have," special education teacher Marisa Buckley told Newsday. "They are both perfection in their own right but together they are extraordinary."

Banilower and Schauf are known as the "Dynamic Duo" throughout the school, often seen together walking the hallways, in class or participating in after-school activities or performances.

This past season, the pair attended all but one girls varsity basketball games, hyping up the crowd each time. The school came to view them as a "lucky charm," as the team won every game except the one they missed, Buckley said.

Banilower and Schauf were also two of four boys selected for the school’s annual Red and Blue sporting event — an honor in an event that is majority female participants as the tradition was created before Title IX was passed in 1972.

Banilower said he and Schauf tried to take as many classes together as possible, including math, science and broadcast journalism, and work at local businesses together through the school’s Pathways Program.

"It's a great experience," Banilower said of going through high school with his best friend.

Outside of school, the two often hang out and watch movies, listen to The Beatles or visit local amusement parks. This spring break, they even traveled to the Netherlands with their mothers.

"They have different strengths and different weaknesses, but they really very much balance each other out,," Buckley said.

Catherine Schauf, Luke Schauf’s mother, said she and her husband moved from the Netherlands to Rockville Centre so their son could be better supported by the district’s special education services.

Navigating a new school and country can be difficult for anyone, let alone someone on the autism spectrum. But through Schauf’s friendship with Banilower, both boys have grown into more confident and successful versions of themselves, she said.

"They build each other up," Schauf said.

Together the duo has gone above and beyond in school participation, exceeding expectations to the point where Buckley said she has been pushed as an educator to create new activities for the special education curriculum. The boys are willing to try anything, she said, demonstrating how friendship and a positive spirit can inspire everyone around them.

"They have this love for life, they have a love for learning ... that really also has changed the community of South Side High School ... and that's why the kids embrace them," Buckley said.

WHAT'S NEXT: Nassau Community College's Inclusive Higher Education program.

Alex:

I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Anchor (Camp Anchor, a Lido Beach summer camp for students with special needs) and the good times I’m going to have at Nassau [Community College].

Luke:

I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Going to NCC and leaving high school. And of course going to Camp Anchor over the summer.

—Maureen Mullarkey

MADISON CHOI

Whether she’s building award-winning history websites, teaching elementary school students to advocate for causes they care about or highlighting overlooked figures who changed society, Madison Choi has spent her high school years finding ways to turn learning into action.

The Jericho High School senior has completed 12 Advanced Placement courses as well as Multivariable Calculus, a subject her guidance counselor, Jason Rubinstein, said is “reserved for our most advanced math students.” Choi maintains an exceptional academic record while starting civic initiatives that have been recognized on Long Island and beyond.

That includes websites highlighting disability-rights advocate Judy Heumann and the Cold War-era Jazz Ambassadors. As a junior, she incorporated historic video into a multimedia website celebrating Heumann, a major force behind the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Choi said her research demonstrated that “before she came along, people with disabilities weren’t considered a part of the broader Civil Rights Movement.”

The project, co-created with her older sister, Kaitlyn, won the Lowell Milken Center’s Unsung Heroes Discovery Award and a $2,500 prize.

She co-created a website about The Jazz Ambassadors, a group of “musical diplomats” including Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie who performed behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. The website was the top finalist at National History Day at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Choi also co-founded History in Action, an interactive civic-engagement program that has been offered to more than 200 children at libraries and schools across Long Island.

Believing that writing can also be a powerful tool for change, Choi co-founded Handwritten by Kids after drawing inspiration from her work studying change-makers. The program, held monthly at the Jericho Public Library, brings together about 10 students in grades 2 to 4 who discuss issues such as climate change, form opinions on those topics and write letters by hand to veterans, families and elected officials.

“It’s kind of cool because a lot of these kids have never written or received a letter before,” Choi said.

Teachers praised Choi’s classroom work as well.

Choi will receive an Excellence in Writing Award for AP English Literature and Composition at this year’s senior academic awards, according to English teacher Erin Zimmerman.

“Her contributions always elevate our classroom discussions, representing analysis at the highest level,” Zimmerman said.

Rubinstein described her as “one of the most extraordinary students with whom I have worked in my 20-plus years in education.”

“Madison’s ability to make an impact on her community is extraordinary, and I have no doubt that she will take great steps to better the lives of those around her,” he said.

WHAT’S NEXT? Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, possibly studying sociology.

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Meeting new people. “Williams has a small undergraduate enrollment, and I’m excited to be part of the community there.”

—Jim Merritt

MICHAEL LYAKHOV

‘I guess I’m just interested in everything,” said Michael Lyakhov, 18, of Great Neck.

That might explain why the senior at Great Neck North High School has two patents pending — one for an algorithm that predicts schizophrenia, another for a phoropter, a device that simplifies the diagnosis of basic vision problems.

Lyakhov’s algorithm uses brain scans to detect schizophrenia earlier and more accurately, he said. The project won first place in the New York State Science and Engineering Fair and took him to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May, where he earned second place in the Behavioral and Social Sciences division.

“It works pretty well,” Lyakhov said. Once his patent is approved, he hopes to connect with a hospital to clinically validate the system.

He’ll do the same with VisionDial, a device that he said “can diagnose vision defects in a very cheap and efficient way.” Current phoropters, he said, are large, expensive machines containing hundreds of lenses. VisionDial has only a few lenses and is easier to use.

“It’s fairly accurate and makes sense for a lot of developing countries,” said Lyakhov, who is working with a nonprofit to bring the device to communities in Africa.

“He is a young man of action. He doesn’t sympathize, he acts,” said guidance counselor Jordana Cohen, of Glen Cove. “He is humble, loyal, patient, joyful and deeply empathetic,” said Cohen, noting that despite his long list of achievements he never seeks recognition. “His intellectual capacity is matched only by his insatiable curiosity,” she said.

That curiosity has taken Lyakhov in many directions. He is state president of the business-focused DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), secretary-general of the school’s Model UN team and editor of his school newspaper. As a sophomore, he attended a presentation by the mayor of Port Washington about a proposed playground. Lyakhov submitted a design and it’s now under construction.

He also co-founded GeneraBridge, which fosters social interactions between teens and nursing homes residents, and helped found the Rescuisine Club, which partners with local restaurants to donate leftover food to charities. In exchange, he creates websites and social media accounts for participating businesses. It’s clearly a win-win, said Lyakhov. “It’s easy for us to build websites . . . for seasoned business owners, not necessarily,” he said.

For Michael Lyakhov, those two projects are all about the social interaction. “The one thing I really love is just dealing with people,” he said. “The connections you make, and the people you talk to, those will never really fade.”

WHAT’S NEXT? "I’m going to the University of Pennsylvania, double majoring in AI engineering and finance. Career wise, I want to go into the tech startup field because I feel like it can combine my interests in the best way possible, and I also want to help people. I think that can help me make the most impact on the world."

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: "The future connections with people that I’m going to make, because I think that’s the most valuable part of life, really."

—Barbara Schuler

FAITH WELCH

From a young age, Faith Welch immersed herself in African American history and culture, learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks “because that’s part of my identity.”

But as she got older, she thought more about how history influences the present.

“I feel like there was a moment that kind of made me realize this is real and nobody’s talking about it,” said Welch, a National Honor Society student at Greenport High School. “It kind of made me frustrated.”

To Welch, who is biracial, that silence reflected a local and national pattern she felt she could not ignore.

Welch, 18, set out to create a safe space for students at Greenport High School — which is in a community that is about 57% white, 38% Hispanic and less than 2% Black — to have uncomfortable, but important, conversations. She started an African American Studies Club at the end of her sophomore year.

The club quickly grew beyond the school organization, extending its reach into the wider community, collaborating with the nonprofit Coming to the Table, a group focused on acknowledging and healing from racism.

“I realized that there was little to no representation [in the curriculum] for the African American community here,” said Welch, who is also student council president.

Welch helped club members write articles for local newspapers in 2025 about the importance of Juneteenth and conducted a research project titled “Slavery on the North Fork,” which shared the often overlooked stories of enslaved people on the East End.

“Our community . . . wasn’t really open to these conversations, and now I think it’s kind of prying them open.”

But those conversations took on a new weight following a troubling experience last June.

Welch and a friend, who is Black, were riding in an Uber from King Kullen to the Mattituck Strawberry Festival — where she was a finalist for Strawberry Queen — when they were stopped and questioned by police, who said a caller had reported the teens were looking into cars. Welch said they were just waiting for their driver.

“They said that there had been calls that we were stealing cars,” Welch recalled.

After running their identifications, Welch said the officers changed their tone upon realizing they did not commit any crimes. Southold Police Chief Grattan told The Suffolk Times, the local newspaper, the officers immediately realized there had been a misunderstanding.

While the encounter, which she attributed to racial profiling, was distressing, it did not deter Welch from speaking out, and she later shared her experience at a Greenport Village Board meeting.

Welch, who worked with the Stirling Historical Society of Greenport on her North Fork slavery research, also wrote a paper on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome for her AP Research class.

Her research helped her to win two New York State Assembly Certificates of Merit and the Princeton Prize in Race Relations.

Brandi Hopkins, Welch’s guidance counselor, said she stands out among the students she has counseled over the years.

“You don’t come across students like Faith very often,” she said.

WHAT’S NEXT? Barnard College in Manhattan, where she will major in political science.

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: “Living in the city, in college.”

—Aidan Johnson

SHANE VILLAUME

When she sends her son Shane out each day, Kerry Villaume delivers the same guidance to him.

“Be the voice for the voiceless and be a star in any way you can shine, whether it be on the field, in the classroom, in any aspect,” Kerry said she counsels her son. “’Just do the right thing.’”

Villaume, 18, of Levittown, has taken his mother’s advice to heart.

Over the years, Villaume and his family have endured significant hardships. When he was 4, Villaume’s father died. Five years later, a fire destroyed the family’s home and possessions. Then, his puppy, a gift for his 13th birthday, died from oversedation during a simple medical procedure.

Despite these setbacks, Villaume has always tried to keep a positive outlook, especially knowing that he serves as a role model to others, particularly his younger sister, Sadie, 15, a high school freshman.

“If I ever let it get me too down, I know there’s always people there to pick me up. That’s just how our family is,” he said.

In addition to being an honors student at Division Avenue High School in Levittown, Villaume plays four varsity sports: football, soccer, wrestling and baseball (he tossed a no-hitter in April).

In recognition of his commitment to his school, which includes helping out incoming students as a Peer Leader, working with special needs students as a Peer Pal and serving in student government, Villaume was named “Homecoming Prince” by his fellow students.

“I’ve always been good with time management,” said Villaume, adding, “I always make sure that before I sign myself up for something, I know that I can do it.”

Villaume also always tries to be there for his friends in their times of need.

“I’m very good at talking, but a good talker has to be a better listener,” Villaume said.

Typically, he is one of the first people to arrive at his school, more than an hour before classes start, to make morning announcements.

Ryan Kelly, a business teacher who has taught Villaume in several classes and runs the broadcasting program supervising school announcements, said Villaume is incredibly magnetic.

“He gets along with everyone,” said Kelly, adding, “And what makes him so special is he’s able to do that, not only at a young age, but while also dealing with so much adversity outside of school, and it doesn’t impact him. A lot of kids, if they were going through what Shane’s been through, they wouldn’t be as social, personable and approachable as he is. He just embraces it, and he makes everybody around him feel so much better.”

His mom is nothing but proud. “He’s been wonderful,” she said. “He’s just a real good kid.”

WHAT’S NEXT: City College of New York, majoring in finance, and also playing baseball

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: “Being able to make new friends and to not only continue my academic future, but playing baseball and being ready for the next step.”

—Arlene Gross

MINDY NOEMI NAJERA FLORES

Even after a year in the United States, Mindy Noemi Najera Flores said she felt “embarrassed” speaking English when she began her medical assistant program at Western Suffolk BOCES Wilson Technological Center.

“My first year in BOCES I felt like I can’t do this because I don’t understand,” said Najera Flores, 20. “I think the first month I got zeros in everything.”

That was nearly two years ago.

Now, the Guatemalan native will turn two tassels, cross two graduation stages — first at the Northport BOCES facility, then at Huntington High School — and pursue two career paths: one rooted in her native country, the other discovered in America.

“My first career is in the medical field, and my second career is in the beauty salon,” she said. “I never imagined that I could be part of the medical field, but in this country, when I go to BOCES, everything changed.”

Born the eldest daughter in a family of six, Najera Flores came to America in 2023 before she could graduate high school, one year after her mother left her beauty salon and immigrated to the United States. Both now work at a local CTown Supermarket. They send money home so their family can save for healthcare for Najera Flores’ father, who has diabetes. When her grandmother’s diabetes worsened, the family could not afford needed treatment and medication.

With limited opportunities to practice English between immigrating and enrolling in school, Najera Flores nevertheless “would always try to communicate with me in English” said 10th-grade English teacher Eileen Gonzalez, noting that many ENL, or English as a New Language, students are reluctant to do so.

“There is a direct correlation with their success with the English language and the amount of effort they put into speaking,” Gonzalez said. “Mindy was such a hardworking student that she accelerated.”

By the end of her senior year, the person who once struggled to understand classroom instruction had earned a New York State Seal of Biliteracy, passed the English Regents exam and begun helping other students prepare for it. As an intern in two ENL classrooms, she translates for students, helps them with writing assignments and even leads lessons.

Najera Flores also joined the New World Club and United Amigos, two organizations that serve as academic and social havens for ENL students. As United Amigo’s co-president, she began choreographing dance performances celebrating different Hispanic cultures for fundraisers and school events.

Club adviser Rosario Lorenzana said Najera Flores supports her peers however she can, including buying a birthday cake for a student who had no relatives in America to celebrate with.

“Mindy makes it more than a friendship, more like a family,” Lorenzana said. “Her kindness is very special.”

By studying nursing, Najera Flores hopes to learn more about diabetes to help her father and eventually become a neonatal nurse caring for sick and premature newborns. She also hopes to work alongside her mother in a hair salon they one day can call their own.

“This is a country that has a lot of opportunities,” she said. “If you go through the steps correctly, you can do everything that you want.”

WHAT’S NEXT? Najera Flores will study nursing at Suffolk County Community College, then transfer to Stony Brook University.

I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Becoming “a nurse who can serve the community . . . by helping bring new lives into the world.”

—Nicholas Grasso

ALEX CERNA

When Alex Cerna’s older sister, Jordan, invited him to a cheerleading open gym at Walt Whitman High School during his sophomore year, the football wide receiver was initially hesitant.

“I was so focused on football I didn’t want to do anything in the fall,” Cerna explained.

But after attending his sister's cheerleading competitions, he became intrigued by the sport’s terminology and the “uplifting environment.”

“I remember one time they got third, and I was sitting there, and I was so happy for her. I’m celebrating with the team, so then when she asked me at the end of the season ‘okay, do you want to go to an open gym with me,’ I was like ‘you know what, sure,’” Cerna, 18, said.

He joined the cheerleading team the summer before his junior year and soon found himself balancing tumbling training, varsity football workouts and a job.

While managing the demands of all three was challenging, Cerna viewed it as preparation for his future.

“My mom is very big on time management skills, but she’s not going to make the time for me. She makes me do it myself, which is a great thing to have because again, I’m going to college,” he said.

Cerna was initially reluctant to join because cheerleading is a predominantly female sport. He soon realized that “doesn't make it any less of a sport" and was later named a member of Newsday's 2026 All Long Island cheerleading squad.

“I wanted to try it out, and once I got in there I was like ‘okay, you know what, this isn’t something that I can be ashamed of or I have to hide from anybody,” the varsity cheerleader said.

Cerna was able to do both as football season is in fall and competitive cheer in winter.

He helped change the perception of cheerleaders among his peers, said Walt Whitman High School Principal John Murphy.

While the "macho football players" might think cheer is little more than waving pom-poms, it is actually “about connecting and being a part of your school," Murphy said.

“It went from himself and one other student, [and now] I’m seeing four or five young men,” Murphy said.

Cerna is also a member of Natural Helpers, a peer support group for those struggling with their mental health.

His coaches describe him as a strong leader who cares deeply about his teammates.

“He was a great leader, first and foremost, always brought such high energy, passion, and a really tough player,” said Varsity Football Head Coach Ralph Milazzo, calling him an “impact player both junior and senior year.”

Cerna credits a lot of who he is “to my family, my upbringing.”

WHAT'S NEXT: Cerna will study psychology at Hofstra University, where he will continue to cheerlead. He wants to be a therapist and open his own practice, along with a cheer gym.

I’M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO: “Going to college, I get to do cheer, which is what I love to do, I get to study psychology, which I’m excited about, I get to go to Hofstra, I’m not too far from my family.”

—Aidan Johnson