Nassau: 30 students from LI win at Intel science fair in L.A.

Thirty Long Island students were among more than 500 winners of awards at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair in Los Angeles.

The fair, administered by the Society for Science & the Public, drew 1,700-plus high school students from more than 70 countries last month. To become eligible, students first competed at 435 affiliate fairs at the state or regional level, such as the Long Island Science & Engineering Fair held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

"Intel believes that young people are the key to innovation, and we hope that these winners inspire more students to get involved in science, technology, engineering and math -- the foundation for creativity," Intel Foundation executive director Wendy Hawkins said.

Local winners were: Justin Cheung and Joshua Zweig of Commack High School; Luhong Li of Great Neck North High School; Lelina Chang of Great Neck South High School; Bailey Liao and Daniel Rudin of Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills; Ken Aizawa, Matthew Chun, Kanav Gupta, Kevin Huang, Varsha Venkatesh and Amy Xu of Jericho High School; Jacob Plaut of Rambam Mesivta High School for Boys in Lawrence; Emma Jing Dong, Jessica Kim, Grace Lee, Caitlin McCormick, Andrew Moshova, Austen Te, Kim Te, Jinyu Wu and Stephanie Ying of Manhasset High School; Hannah Stewart of Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School; Harry Paul of Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington; Allison Murphy of Sayville High School; Yongpeng Tang of Smithtown High School East; and Abrar Ali Nadroo, Ritayan Chakraborty, Justin Lafazan and Priyanka Narayan of Syosset High School.

GLEN HEAD/ROSLYN
LI Math Fair

Students in both the North Shore and Roslyn school districts won 25 gold medals -- the most of any Long Island school district -- in the 2014 Long Island Math Fair at Hofstra University.

The fair, sponsored by the Nassau and Suffolk math teachers associations, required pupils in grades 7-12 to submit an essay on any math topic and give a 15-minute presentation.

Other top districts in Nassau County, and their gold medal totals, were Syosset with 15, Herricks with 10, Jericho and Port Washington with seven, and East Williston with six.

LEVITTOWN
New superintendent

Tonie McDonald is the new superintendent of the Levittown School District effective July 1. She will replace James J. Grossane, who is departing to become superintendent of the Smithtown Central School District.

McDonald, the current assistant superintendent for business and administration in the Plainedge school district, previously held several positions in Levittown -- including assistant superintendent for business and finance, pupil service director and social studies chair.

She also has been an adjunct professor at Hofstra University and at Dowling College.

COUNTYWIDE
Outstanding students

Seventeen Nassau County students recently received the George Farber Outstanding Student Award from Nassau BOCES in recognition of their "passion, perseverance, enthusiasm, outstanding character and academic achievement," BOCES said.

The award is named after former BOCES board president George Farber, who served on the board from 1971 to 2009.

The winners and their home school districts were: Kalvin Alvarado of Oyster Bay-East Norwich; Cesar Andujar Jr. of Sewanhaka; Emani Dees-Foote and Adam Stieglitz of Lawrence; Amanda DeMel of Plainview-Old Bethpage; Christian Estrada and David Parker of Hempstead; Urzula Freelong of Copiague; Justin Gaskins of Uniondale; Danielle Graffeo, Mary Tippin and Emma Volpe of Plainedge; Tyriq Maynor of Freeport; Alyson McDonough of Massapequa; Joe Minicozzi of Long Beach; Rene Perdomo of Port Washington; and Meprisena St. Fleur of Nassau BOCES' Adult Learning Center.

ISLANDWIDE
Scholarship winners

Seven Long Island students were among about 2,500 winners nationwide of college-sponsored National Merit Scholarship Corp. scholarships.

The awards, which provide as much as $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship, were given based on factors including academic achievement and extracurricular involvement.

The winners were: Joshua Burton of Lynbrook High School, Sean Coffey of Bishop McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead, Laura Eule of Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, Sarah Mackin of Hauppauge High School, Christopher Mahler of Chaminade High School in Mineola, Kyra Martin of Mattituck Junior/Senior High School and Ryan McEvoy of Oyster Bay High School.