Long Island students win at New York State Science Congress
Ethan Basaleli, a freshman at North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, won highest honors in the junior division of the physical sciences category at the New York State Science Congress. Credit: North Shore Hebrew Academy High School
Eight Long Island students were among those winning highest honors, high honors or honors last month at the New York State Science Congress.
This year’s competition consisted of 48 projects from students in grades seven through 12 who were selected based on their performance at regional science fairs. It was held at the University at Buffalo and sponsored by the Science Teachers Association of New York State.
Senior Aashini Shah of W. Tresper Clarke High School in Westbury won highest honors in the physical sciences category in the senior division. Freshman Ethan Basaleli of North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in Great Neck won highest honors in the physical sciences category in the junior division. Both received $500.
The following students, listed with their high schools, earned high honors: Rohan Surana, Jordan Walsh and Chapin Zerner, Commack; Emma Gan, Jericho; and Ava Balacek, Manhasset. Michael Jang of Commack Middle School received honors.
Other local students who qualified for the competition based on their performance at the Long Island Science Congress, and their school districts, were: Tyler Bissoondial, Timothy Langone and Whitney Sussman, Bellmore-Merrick; Savannah Boncic, Bethpage; David Yang, Commack; Ryan Lessing and Alan Lin, Great Neck; Eish Maheshwari, Herricks; Bharvi Chavre, Sophia Lamsifer and Brandon Weiss, Hewlett-Woodmere; Sebica Katel and Angie Li, Jericho; Josh De Leeuw, John Kane, Richard Lee, Emily Ma and Annie Miller, Manhasset; Safia Mirza, Plainview-Old Bethpage; Cara Cordova, Christina Jacob and Saumya Sharma, Sewanhaka; Kathleen Esfahany, Three Village; and Olivia Zukowski, Wantagh.
BALDWIN/NEW HYDE PARK
Entrepreneurial Challenge
Teams from Baldwin and New Hyde Park Memorial high schools placed first in the Office of the Nassau County Comptroller’s Sixth Annual High School Entrepreneurial Challenge, which attracted 26 teams from more than a dozen schools.
The competition challenged students to create a fictional organization’s comprehensive business plan and elevator pitch, with a theme of civic innovation in two categories: technology and social entrepreneurship. Baldwin’s team won the social entrepreneurship category, while New Hyde Park’s team won the technology category.
Teams from East Meadow High School and John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore placed second, while teams from Carle Place High School and Gen. Douglas MacArthur High School in Levittown placed third.
OLD BROOKVILLE
Rocketry challenge
A Green Vale School team placed ninth nationwide — and was New York’s highest-placing team — in the 2018 Team America Rocketry Challenge, which asked students to build rockets to safely carry a raw egg payload to a specific altitude and back within a certain time frame. The national finals were held in Washington, D.C.
Green Vale’s team — Freddy Bancroft, Frank O’Keefe, Dylan Rorech and Jack Sweeney — exceeded one target altitude of 800 feet by 11 feet and another target of 825 feet by just 8 feet. The team received $5,000, plus $1,000 for their school.
The competition was sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Finalists were chosen based on local flight qualifications.
COUNTYWIDE
George Farber Awards
Twelve Nassau County students won Nassau BOCES’ 11th Annual George Farber Outstanding Student Award for demonstrating “remarkable traits including talent, commitment, honesty, diligence, compassion and high moral standards,” the agency said.
The honorees and their school districts were: Ana Zoraida Moreno, East Meadow; Nicole Garzon and Iveliss Gonzalez, Freeport; Elmer Baires and Michael Shaw, Hempstead; Hannah Silva, Long Beach; Alyssa Mener, Massapequa; Ashley Atkinson, Roosevelt; Jonathan Ferro, Seaford; Kenny Gonzalez, Uniondale; and Obed Nozius and Michael Simmons, Westbury.
— Michael R. Ebert
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
