Samantha Garvey's story a brilliant one

How do you not like this story?

Samantha Garvey, a senior at Brentwood High School, is named a semifinalist in the national Intel Science Talent Search. No dis on the 299 other semifinalists across the country, 60 of them on Long Island, who now have a crack at a $100,000 scholarship. But it's hard to imagine too many of them were living with their families in homeless shelters.

The more you think about what that must mean, the more amazing Samantha's achievement becomes. Without a hint of bitterness or self-pity, she shared some details of Bay Shore shelter life.

"I ordered a senior picture and I said, 'I don't know where to send it. I don't know what's going to happen. What if we move, what if we get evicted,' which we did," she said Friday. "You're out in limbo. You're like, 'What's going to happen to my mail, what's going to happen to my college applications. Where are they all going to go?' It's scary."

Yes, it has to be.

But this girl's busting stereotypes everywhere. She's a teenager, suddenly famous for being intelligent. She comes from difficult circumstances and is brilliantly overcoming them. Her nurse's-aide mom and taxi-driver dad are obviously proud of her. Her teachers deserve some credit, too. But there's something in this kid that simply sparkles. It can be measured -- one of many ways -- in the outpouring of public generosity she has already provoked.

In her prize-worthy research, Samantha shows how striped mussels exposed to predator crabs develop thicker shells. Though her experiments were conducted in Long Island Sound, doesn't that have to apply on land as well?

"I do believe that is an amazing metaphor," said Rebecca Grella, Samantha's science teacher at Brentwood High. "And I do see Sam as a strong mussel."

LISTEN TO SAM

1. "This motivates me to do better."

2. "I'm not going to complain. It's a roof over our heads. It's not bad."

3. "You can sit around and mope, but what's that going to get you?"

4. "I never expected this much attention."

5. "I have nothing to fear now, you know?"

ASKED AND UNANSWERED: With all that wind out there -- another wind alert on Friday from the National Weather Service -- why does the cause of windmills on Long Island seem to have stalled? . . . Budget whiz Jeff Nogid: Out of the Nassau frying pan, into the Long Beach fire? . . . Is JetBlue CEO Dave Barger touring MacArthur Airport with new routes in mind -- or just to get Islip airport-booster Chuck Schumer off his back? . . . Bed, Bath & Glowing? Not yet. But metal tissue box covers containing low levels of radioactive material were yanked from the shelves in Westbury and Huntington Station . . . Has Dan Bruckner ever heard of local tithing? The Californian with LI in-laws did buy his $208-million Mega Millions ticket at the King Kullen on Middle Country Road.

THE NEWS IN SONG:

Freezepop, "Science Genius Girl," tinyurl.com/sososmart.

LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK: RICHARD THRELKELD

Richard Threlkeld, the retired CBS and ABC newsman and East Hampton resident, was never one to play it safe. He'd taken some scary turns in his 75 years. One of the great foreign correspondents of his generation, on TV or in print, he chronicled America's involvement in Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia and countless other danger zones. But this was not supposed to be one of them: Peaceful Amagansett on a quiet Friday morning in a head-on collision with a propane tanker truck. RIP, RT.

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