Great Neck teen recognized for leadership, volunteer work

Zak Malamed is a student at Great Neck high school, but you’d never guess it from glancing at his list of accomplishments.

Malamed spent a summer helping construct a school for underprivileged children in Africa and has worked on a campaign against Darfur genocide. He’s also interning at the Great Neck office of Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel.

Malamed’s accomplishments helped propel him to be a ‘Real Teen’ scholarship winner by retailer Aéropostale. He’s among eight other youths from around the country to receive $5,000, out of about 6,000 'Real Teen' contestants.

At the rate he’s going, Malamed may be right on track to scoring his dream job one day.

"I want to be president of the United States," he told Aéropostale. “I want to make a difference in this world. That's most important to me – that I make a difference.”