Manhasset student wins best in show for Heckscher Museum competition

A Manhasset High School student’s artwork has taken the top spot in a local competition, besting hundreds of high school entrants across Long Island.

Hang Mi, a junior, was awarded best in show at “Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at the Heckscher Museum,” an annual juried art exhibition for local high schoolers. The contest, which received 455 submissions from 69 local schools, challenged participants to select an inspiration piece and then “create original artwork and write an artist’s statement explaining their creative process,” according to the museum.

Mi’s winning artwork was an oil on gesso-coated paper piece titled “Reunion,” which depicts the “love and dedication that goes into preparing vegetables and sharing them in a hearty meal,” she said. Her inspiration piece was a watercolor on paper piece, titled “Lettuce,” created by Long Island artist Madeline Daversa.

“Inspired by Daversa’s depiction of a Long Island family-owned farm and the freshness of locally grown food, I created an oil painting diptych showing the progression of preparing a meal of love — from farm to table,” Mi said. “I worked to capture the same passion and community of the farmers, but through my family and our shared household meals.”

The second-place winner was Hicksville High School junior Xaria Talavera.

The third-place winner was Sadie Koo, a senior at Long Island High School for the Arts in Syosset.

Seventy-eight selected entries will be on display at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington through May 25.

GREAT NECK
Vocabulary VICTORS

Great Neck North Middle School won first place in the fall and second place this spring among middle schools in national vocabulary bowls coordinated by Vocabulary.com. It competed in Division II, which includes schools with enrollments of 500 to 999 students. The bowls are a biannual academic competition in which learners “compete online to master the most words,” according to Great Neck North officials.

Great Neck North students mastered 44,347 words in the fall and 55,903 words this spring over the course of two months through the online contest. Mastery is earned by “answering multiple questions correctly on a given word,” according to Vocabulary.com.

“The achievement is not just about winning a competition — it’s about cultivating a love for language and learning that will serve these students throughout their lives,” Principal Brendan Nelson said in a statement.

PORT JEFFERSON STATION
Food pantry

The Comsewogue School District has created a food pantry at the district’s Boyle Road Elementary School. It was launched by the school’s Comsewogue CARES (Character, Attitude, Respect, Empathy and Support) Committee, which includes one student representative from each classroom, according to the district.

The new pantry offers nonperishable food items and has been stocked through efforts such as a “soup-er bowl drive,” in which children donated dozens of cans of soup in celebration of Super Bowl LIX.

“The students have been enthusiastic about contributing to this cause, and it’s inspiring to see them work together to support their neighbors,” Boyle Road Principal Nicole Sooknanan said in a statement.

SYOSSET

Music champs

Syosset High School’s chamber orchestra was recently named national grand champion during the American String Teachers Association’s 2025 National Orchestra Festival in Atlanta.

To win, Syosset beat out 20 other high school orchestras nationwide in March by delivering “compelling performances” of compositions by Caroline Shaw, Aldemaro Romero, Dmitri Shostakovich and George Walker, school officials said.

Northport High School and W. Tresper Clarke High School in Westbury were also among this year’s competitors.

“This honor is a testament to the dedication and passion of our students,” Syosset orchestra director Stephanie Merten said in a statement. “It also highlights our district’s amazing music program and our community’s ongoing commitment to the arts.”

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

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.