Way to Go! Long Island students named state Heisman winners
Victoria Guerrier, a senior at West Hempstead Secondary School, has been named as a state winner of a 2022 Heisman High School Scholarship. Credit: West Hempstead School District
Levittown and West Hempstead students have been named state winners of this year's Heisman High School Scholarship.
Faid Faisal, a Division Avenue High School senior, and Victoria Guerrier, a West Hempstead Secondary School senior, are among 100 students nationwide to receive the $1,000 scholarship for their athletic achievements and excellence in the classroom and community. The scholarship was created through a partnership between Wendy's and the Heisman Trophy Trust.
"I'm the first one going to college in the United States out of my family, so receiving scholarship money is really relieving stress in helping me pursue my education," said Faisal, 17.
Faid Fasal, a senior at Division Avenue High School in Levittown, has been named as a state winner of a 2022 Heisman High School Scholarship. Credit: Levittown School District
Faisal, whose family emigrated from Pakistan when he was a baby, recently transferred to Division Avenue after attending school in Queens, where he was president of Student Council and the Chess, Robotics and Muslim Student Association clubs. He has also performed more than 150 hours of community service for his mosque and plays varsity basketball at Division Avenue.
Guerrier, 17, is on her school's cross country, volleyball, track and field teams — receiving All-State honors for the last — and four honor societies and the Key, Mathletes and Athletes Helping Athletes clubs. She is also a worship teen leader at her church and teen council leader at her local library.
Faisal and Guerrier scholarship applications included four essays on topics such as the origin of their hunger to succeed.
"I discussed how my financial hardships have motivated me to work toward a brighter future," Guerrier said.
— 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.
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