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to our Roslyn students & staff on these
outstanding accomplishments . . .
Students Rack Up Awards at
Local Research Competitions
Four Roslyn High School students clinched first place titles at this year's Rohm and Haas Invitational Science Fair held Sunday, April 13. Benjamin Wasserman earned 1st Place in the Senior Division of the Behavioral and Social Science Category, Chelsea Jurman and Trisha Nussbaum won 1st Place in the Junior Division of the Behavioral and Social Science Category, and Stephanie Wang was awarded a 1st Place award in the General Biology Category. Other winners in the Senior Division of the Behavioral and Social Science Category were: Adam Ilowite (2nd Place), Lisa Cervia (3rd Place), Jenna Kahn (Honors) and Jonathan White (Merit).
The Roslyn domination of the Behavioral and Social Science Category extended to the Junior Division. Second Place awards were won by Rachel Bass and the teams of Geetika Rudra and Aaron Levine, and Kevin Xu and Sarah Cha. Third Place winners included Matthew Glickman and the teams of Jordan Richman and Zach Reisner, Austin Blau and Josh Freeberg, and Lauren Kobrick and Rayna Herskowitz. Ben Mayo and Zach Marx earned Honors, and Jeanne Park captured a Merit Award. Skyler Cohen also won a Merit Award in the Physical Sciences Category.
Roslyn Middle and High School students excelled at this year's Long Island Math Fair held on Friday, April 4, 2008, at Hofstra University. Gold medals were won by Ethan Back, Jennifer Batel, Priya Bhardwaj, Scott Gladstone, Nikola Hadzibabic, Nina Hadzibabic, Ethan Levy, Michael Lustrin, Peter Pak, Sarah Pak, Daniel Pollack, Evan Schneider, Kevin Sherwin, Nancy Shillian, Daniel Sikavi, Jesse Weisberg and Alex Wu. Silver medals went to Samantha Batel, Jared Benatar, Sharona Khaneyan, Danielle Lefland, Andrew Tack, Caroline Trezza and Prabhat Yeteru. Bronze Medals were awarded to Joshua Bader, Ki-Hoon Chung, Hillary Hofer, Rebecca Lomazow, Thomas Pfrang and Tim Silber.
The Nassau Community College Science Fair was held on Saturday, April 5, 2008. In the Junior/Senior Division, Solomon Ravich was awarded 3rd Place, and Amy Ramirez won 2nd Place. Honorable Mentions were earned by Chelsea Jurman and the team of Alyssa Cohen and Nicole Crystal. In the Sophomore Division, Samantha Halpern won 2nd Place, and Heather Steinman received an Honorable Mention.
Middle School Medal Winners at Science Olympiad
Roslyn Middle School students participated in the Middle School Science Olympiad New York State Competition held on April 12 in New Paltz. Four students won medals: Caroline Trezza and Faye Sun won Third Place medals for Oceanography while Danny Pollack and Michael Lustrin won Fourth Place medals for A is for Anatomy. Their faculty advisors are Theresa Arcarola, Denise Samide, and Kristopher Schmitt.
Roslyn Teacher Receives Excellence in Teaching Award
Roslyn High School's Dr. Allyson J. Weseley has been selected as the American Psychological Association (APA) Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) Excellence in Teaching Award recipient. This national award recognizes outstanding teachers in psychology. Dr. Weseley's name will be announced in the upcoming issue of the Psychology Teacher Network quarterly newsletter and the APA Monitor on Psychology in appreciation of her contributions and commitment to advancing the teaching of psychology.
Sportsmanship Award in Track & Field
The Boys' 2007-08 Track and Field Team won the Conference Sportsmanship Award. The team's coaches are Kevin Kearney and Vera Trenchfield.
Roslyn High School senior Elyssa Goldberg earned a $20,000 scholarship for her 3rd Place finish in this year's Young Epidemiology Scholars contest sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Elyssa was initially named one of 10 Regional Finalists based on a paper she submitted in February. On Saturday, April 5, she presented her work to a panel of 5 judges in the regional finals of the competition. Her project was one of two in the region chosen to advance to the national finals on Sunday. The 12 national finalists were announced at a dinner held at the National Academies of Science.
Seniors Samantha Lefland and Jonathan White were also named regional finalists in this year's competition. This was the fourth time in as many years that a regional finalist from Roslyn has advanced to the national finals.
The weekend competition immersed the students in the field of epidemiology. The judges and speakers were some of the best known and most respected epidemiologists in the field. "I was overwhelmed to have three of the ten regional finalists," said Dr. Allyson Weseley, Roslyn's Coordinator of Secondary Research, who mentored all three students on their in-house projects. "They're all amazing, but I never imagined so many of the finalists could come from one school."
Elyssa's project looked at the relationship between social anxiety, loneliness, self-esteem and the use of friend networking websites like MySpace and Facebook. She surveyed hundreds of eighth and ninth grade students and learned that social anxiety was related to MySpace use but that Facebook use was unrelated to anxiety, loneliness, and self-esteem; girls, however, reported much greater use of Facebook than boys. Perhaps most interesting, she learned that students who increased the amount of time they spent using friend networking sites between eighth and ninth grade also experienced an increase in loneliness.
Samantha was interested in the relationship between weight and happiness. As part of a different project she conducted as a sophomore, she came to suspect that thinner people were no more satisfied with their lives than heavier people. Sam surveyed students about their weight, body esteem, self-esteem, and subjective well being, a global measure of happiness. This study confirmed that weight was not related to happiness and suggested that body esteem, how one feels about one's weight, was a much better predictor of happiness.
Jon conducted his award-winning entry as a sophomore. He explored differences in mood, alertness, and academic performance of ninth and tenth grade students who slept a lot and students who slept a little. Perhaps most troublingly, Jon found that virtually all the participants reported sleeping far less than the National Sleep Foundation's recommendation of 8.5 hours per night. As anticipated, the students who slept the least reported worse moods and more sleep-wake behavior problems; however, their alertness and academic performance were unaffected.
Another Roslyn High School student, Lisa Cervia, was a semifinalist in this year's YES competition for her project "Clinical and Demographic Variables Related to Pain in HIV-infected Individuals Treated with Effective, Combination Antiretroviral Therapy."
Photo: Samantha Lefland, Jon White and Elyssa Goldberg celebrate their selection as Young Epidemiology Scholars Regional Finalists with mentor and research coordinator Dr. Allyson Weseley.
Read more about Roslyn's research program
Poems by two Roslyn High School students will be published in Goose River Anthology 2008: Matt Gold's Is This the Place? and Jourdan Urbach's "For You, Grandma". This is the third year Jourdan's work will be published by Goose River. Teacher Daniel Jamieson is the advisor for English Independent Study.
Catherine Dodd, a Roslyn High School physical education teacher, has been selected as a participant in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund (JFMF) Teacher Program to Japan for June, 2008. Ms. Dodd will receive a fully-funded three-week experience in Japan.
The Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, a binational commission of 10 members, administers the JFMF Teacher Program, which is fully funded by the Government of Japan. The mission of the fund is to honor the memory and ideals of the late Senator J. William Fulbright by expressing a continuing commitment to friendship and understanding as well as Japan's appreciation for the benefits which it has received from the Fulbright Program.
The JFMF Teacher Program is intended to provide a professional development opportunity to raise awareness of and interest in Japan and to directly or indirectly apply this cross-cultural experience back in the school and community.
Student Is Finalist in Essay Contest
Roslyn High School student Samuel Vitello's essay on Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, which had previously been selected as one of the top 10 winning essays in the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest, has now been chosen as one of the top five winning essays, making Sam a finalist and earning him a $500 prize. The winning essays were chosen from 1,185 that were submitted to the contest this year. His faculty advisor for independent study is Daniel Jamieson.
Jourdan Urbach, a Roslyn High School junior, has recently received several honors and awards to add his impressive list of accomplishments. Jourdan won the National Society of High School Scholars Leadership Award and will be presented with the $1,000 prize in the United States Senate at the end of May. Nominated by Mr. Jamieson, Jourdan was chosen from 700 nominees.
He was also chosen to receive the American Television International Young Heroes Award at a gala event on June 6 in Los Angeles which will benefit Feed the Children. During the event, which will be aired on Fox nationally, Jourdan will perform a musical piece and give a brief speech.
Three Qualify for International Science
And Engineering Fair
Roslyn High School students Brittany Katz, Jourdan Urbach and Benjamin Wasserman all won First Place awards at the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair (LISEF) on March 17, qualifying them to participate in this year's International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Only 24 projects of the approximately 500 that entered LISEF were selected to move on to ISEF. Roslyn has enjoyed considerable success in the fair, having sent at least one student to ISEF virtually every year since 2000 and four students in 2006. This year's ISEF will take place in Atlanta in May.
Seven other Roslyn students placed among the top quarter of projects entered in LISEF. Adam Ilowite, Jenna Kahn and Alexis Shaw won 2nd Place Awards. Evan Babazadeh and Jonathan White garnered 3rd Place Awards. Jacob Levy and Stephanie Wang were awarded Honorable Mentions. In addition, Adam Ilowite, Jenna Kahn, Samantha Lefland and Nissa Ostroff-Moskowitz received awards from the American Psychological Association.
Brittany's project was entitled "The Role of Cds7 Kinase Activity in Ime2 Protein Stabilization during Meiosis." Her work showed that the protein Ime2 is not stabilized by the protein kinase Cdc7 during meiosis in yeast cells. This area of research is aimed towards discovering new ways to improve meiosis in humans and diagnose meiosis-related infertility.
Jourdan studied the effect of external signaling molecules on oligodendrocyte morphology, proliferation, maturity, and survival. He found that combining laminin and immunomodulators increased the differentiation and proliferation of oligdendrocytes. This finding has the potential to aid in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.
Both Brittany and Jourdan did their work at Stony Brook University. Brittany worked with Dr. Nancy Hollingsworth in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Jourdan was mentored by Dr. Holly Colognato, an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology. Brittany and Jourdan's research advisor at Roslyn High School is Science Teacher Irena Tsarevsky.
Ben investigated whether reading languages with grammatical gender promotes sexist attitudes. He compared students reading in Spanish and French, languages which use gendered articles (e.g., la and el) with students reading in English. Ben found that when reading in languages with grammatical gender, students expressed greater sexism. Ben conducted his experiments at two local high schools and was mentored by Dr. Allyson Weseley, the district's Coordinator of Secondary Research.
Read more about Roslyn's research program
RHS Student Will Present
At Medical Research Meeting
Lisa Cervia, a senior in Roslyn High School's Independent Behavioral and Social Science Research Program, has been invited to present her work at this years Eastern Regional meeting of the American Federation for Medical Research. Lisas study is entitled "Clinical and Demographic Variables Related to Pain in HIV-Infected Individuals Treated with Effective Combination Antiretroviral Therapy (cART)". The abstract will be published in the upcoming issue of The Journal of Investigative Medicine.
Lisa retrospectively analyzed blinded patient data given to her by her mentor, Dr. Joseph McGowan, the Director of the Center for AIDS Research and Treatment at North Shore University Hospital. At Roslyn High School, she worked with Dr. Allyson Weseley, the Coordinator of Secondary Research, who helped her with her statistical analyses. Lisa found that with cART, significantly fewer of the patients whose data she analyzed reported pain and the pain was significantly less intense than that typically reported in the literature prior to cART. Interestingly, Lisa did not find that reported pain was related to various demographic variables such as age and gender.
Lisa became interested in this topic through her personal experience witnessing the pain of family members suffering from cancer. "My early experiences have taught me that pain is an important, yet frequently overlooked aspect of chronic illness. Not only am I excited that this is my first biomedical publication, but I feel gratified that the message regarding the importance of pain in chronic disease is receiving attention."
Read more about Roslyn's research program
Roslyn Students in L.I. String Festival
Roslyn students participated in this year's Long Island String Festivals. The Harbor Hill students were Victoria Tu, violin and Christian Wang cello. The Roslyn Middle School students were Kevin Chen, viola; Anvit Kalra-Lall, viola; Richard Ke, violin; Benjamin Kim, cello; Rachel Kim, violin; and Nancy Liu, viola. The Roslyn High School students were Evelyn Chai, violin; Susie Jeong, violin; James Kim, violin; Sarah Pak, violin; Bo-Young Yoon, cello; and Se-Young Yoon, violin.
Honorable Mention in Recitation Contest
Roslyn High School student Tom Eyerman won an honorable mention at the New York regional of the English Speaking Union's annual Shakespeare recitation contest. The English Speaking Union of the United States is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization that promotes scholarship and advancement of knowledge through the effective use of English in an expanding global community. The Shakespeare Competition helps students develop their understanding of Shakespeare.
Harbor Hill Students Win Essay Contest
Nine students from Harbor Hill School have been selected as winners in the Glen Cove Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation essay contest, "The Most Meaningful Lesson I learned from my Grandmother/ Grandfather/ Older person is…" The students are Shira Eisenberg, Jacqueline Cotumaccio, Anne Werner, Samantha Margolis, Alexa Silver, Rachel Ginsberg, Phoebe Cox, Jason Perlman and Kate Kozuch. They will be honored at a recognition and award ceremony on March 25 at the Center.
Honorable Mention in Writing Contest
Roslyn High School student Austin Bernhardt has won honorable mention in the fiction category in Rider University's annual writing contest for high school students. This puts Austin in the top ten out of a field of over 1,000 entries. His story, "Fax Me the Notes Please", will be considered for publication in Venture, Rider's literary magazine.
Students Place at Junior Science &
Humanities Symposium
Roslyn High School seniors Adam Ilowite and Jenna Kahn were named amongst the top three participants in their respective categories at the Long Island Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) held February 29 at Adelphi University. Students from across Long Island were invited to submit their research papers to the JSHS. Jenna garnered 2nd Place in the Health and Medical Sciences section, and Adam was awarded 3rd Place in the Psychology category.
Both Jenna and Adam did their work in-house at Roslyn High School with Dr. Allyson Weseley, the district Coordinator of Secondary Research, as their mentor. Jenna studied whether pediatricians collect enough and appropriate information to be able to diagnose patients at risk for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), a congenital heart disorder that is the main cause of sudden cardiac death in the young. Adam conducted an experiment to see whether the gender and sex-typed interests of a gay or lesbian teen affected the amount of homophobia other teens would express toward them.
Four other Roslyn High School students were also invited to present at this year's Symposium: Evan Babazadeh, Samantha Lefland, Solomon Ravich and Benjamin Wasserman. Every high school is permitted to submit up to six student papers, and Roslyn was one of only two schools to have all six of its students invited to participate in the symposium.
Read more about Roslyn's research program
Middle School Students Excel at Science Olympiad
A number of Roslyn Middle School students were winners at the Middle School Science Olympiad held on March 1 in Levittown. Gabe Ruttner and Caroline Trezza won a first-place medal for Biology Process Lab; Danny Pollack and Michael Lustin won a first-place medal for Ecology; Alex Wu and Faye Sun won a second-place medal for Reach for the Stars; Faye Sun and Caroline Trezza won a third-place medal for Road Scholar; and Scott Gladstone and Danny Pollack won a third-place medal for Rocks and Minerals. Their faculty advisors are Denise Samide, Theresa Arcarola and Kris Schmitt. Eighteen team mEMbers will go to the state-level competition at SUNY New Paltz on April 11.
National Merit Scholarship Finalists
Four Roslyn High School seniors were who were named as semifinalists last fall in this year's National Merit Scholarship Program have now been named as finalists. Roslyn High School Principal Kevin Scanlon is pictured with the students (left to right): Austin Bernhardt, Samantha Cheirif, Boyoung Yoon and David Herzka. These students are among 15,000 high school students from across the counry who will continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $34 million, that will be awarded in the spring of 2008.
Neuroscience Prize for RHS Student
Roslyn High School junior Stephanie Wang was selected as a finalist of the American Academy of Neurology's Neuroscience Creativity Prize. Stephanie's advisor for independent research is Science Teacher Irena Tsarevsky.
Distinguished Teacher Award for RHS Teacher
Roslyn High School Science Teacher Vincent Kreyling has been honored with the Harvard Club of Long Island's Distinguished Teacher Award. Current Harvard undergraduates are invited to nominate outstanding secondary teachers who made the greatest difference in their lives. About a dozen teachers across Long Island were honored in this way.
Photo: Science teacher Vincent Kreyling with Judy Esterquest and Aileen Jacobson of the Harvard Club of Long Island.
RHS Announces Valedictorians for the
Class of 2008
Principal Kevin Scanlon has announced that three students are the valedictorians of this year's graduating class of 2008. The students are Austin Bernhardt, Jennifer Batel and Brittany Katz. The designation of valedictorian is based on the students' grades through seven semesters of high school. Pictured with the students are Principal Kevin Scanlon (right) and Assistant Principal Jay Pilnick (left).
58 Roslyn Students Perform at
All-County Music Festival
Musicians from the Roslyn School District attended the Nassau Music Educators Association All-County Music Festival on Sunday, January 27 at the Tilles Center.
From East Hills School: Daniel Chen, orchestra, Sarah Chun, orchestra; Daveen Rim, chorus; Billie Solomon, chorus; Brandon Tepper, band; and Talia White, band.
From Harbor Hill School: Nicole Feldman, chorus; Michael Fiore, band; Amanda Godman, chorus; Camille Hazel, chorus; Robert Noya, orchestra; Victoria Tu, orchestra; and Christian Wang, orchestra.
From Roslyn Middle School: Bilal Ahmed, Band; Emilia Bunich, Chorus; Kevin Chen, Orchestra; Jonathan Goldberg, Chorus; Michael Goldman, Band; Melissa Goldstein, Chorus; David Hur, Orchestra; Maya Kalman, Chorus; Anvit Kalra-Lall, Orchestra; Richard Ke, Orchestra; Matthew Kendi, Band; Rachel Kim, Orchestra; Danielle Lefland, Chorus; Nancy Liu, Chorus; Michael Lustrin, Band; Julius Noya, Orchestra; Daniel Rich, Chorus; Emily Rubin, Chorus; Ariana Sabzevan, Chorus; Nicole Sweet, Chorus; Justin Tepper, Chorus; Lindsay Wolfson, Chorus; Margaret Wu, Band; and Amy Xu, Orchestra.
From Roslyn High School: Rachel Bass, Chorus; Robert DÕAmbra, Band; Tom Eyerman, Chorus; Alison Farber, Chorus; Matthew Gold, Orchestra; Alex Goldklang, Band; Katie Goldman, Chorus; Samantha Halpern, Band; Susie Jeong, Orchestra; Anouva Kalra-Lall, Orchestra; James Kim, Orchestra; Peter Kim, Chorus; Michelle Lee, Chorus; Lindsey Meyer, Chorus; Sarah Pak, Orchestra; Max Rubin, Chorus; James Rubinowitz, Chorus; Jenna Winston, Chorus; Bo-Young Yoon, Orchestra; and Se-Young Yoon, Orchestra.
The music teachers are Frank Cifali, Joanne Santodonato and Iris Ziporkin from East Hills School; Laura Fratti, Kathleen Miller and Theresa Nardo from Harbor Hill School; Michael Coffey, Brad Frey, and Patrick Patterson from Roslyn High School; and John Brierly, Tammy Breitman, Robert Gazzo, Steven Malinofsky and Jacqueline Martin from Roslyn Middle School.
RHS Students Inducted into
Tri-M Music Honor Society
Roslyn High School hosted an induction ceremony of the Tri-M Music Honor Society on February 7. The new inductees were Layla Beyzavi, Evelyn Chai, Rachel Durrant, Tom Eyerman, Gilad Fefer, Kamala Iodice, Audrey Joo, Lauren Kim, Michelle Kung, David Lefcort, Sarah Pak, Gavin Ryan, Scott Schlacter, Ilana Silverman, Jon Tanton, Jourdan Urbach, Se-Young Yoon, and Grace Yi.
Assistant Principal Jay Pilnick was recognized as an honorary Tri-M Honor Society member for his continued support of the music program at Roslyn High School. Faculty advisor Michael Coffey presided over the ceremony which also included performances by students and a reception following.
37 RHS Students in Science Olympiad
On Saturday February 9, 37 Roslyn High School students participated in the annual Science Olympiad regional competitiuon held at Kellenberg High School. Several students received awards for their outststanding achievement in a variety of competitions. First Place awards in Ecology were received by Anouva Kalra-Lall and Olivia Conetta, Second Place awards in Physics Lab were received by David Herzka and Eric Imperato, Third Place awards in Health Science were received by Kate Kerpin and Samantha Halpern, and Fourth Place Awards were received by Jon White and Austin Bernhardt for Experimental Design.
RHS Students Compete in Nassau Math Tournament
In the Nassau Math Tournament held on February 1 at SUNY Old Westbury, Stephanie Wang finished in 9th in the county in the 11th grade individual competition, and David Herzka finished 8th in the county in the 12th grade individual competition.
In the lower division team competition, the team of Brian Chen, Zach Goldsmith, Nihil Mehandru, Jeanne Park and Kevin Xu finished 5th in the county.
64 Inducted into National Honor Society
The Roslyn High School Chapter of the National Honor Society inducted 64 new members into its ranks this year in a special induction ceremony on January 30. The students are Marisa Adesman, Jacob Ansel, Amanda Bader, Joshua Bader, Kimberly Bartner, Rachel Bass, Samantha Batel, Aysa Cerny, Jennifer Chadroff, Julie Clark, Alyssa Cohen, Skyler Cohen, Nicole Crystal, Amanda Czik, Rachel Durrant, Sydney Egnasko, Ashley Erenfrid, Thomas Eyerman, Lauren Feinstein, Caralyn Friedman, Rachel Goldenberg, Katharine Golub, Lauren Grant, Esther Ha, Gari Hochman, Taylor Horowitz, Chelsea Jurman, Alana Karnofsky, Heather Karson, Allie Kornstein, Joanne Lee, Amy Levine, Alexandra Levitt, Mallory Levy, Katherine Lombardo, Arielle Lubman, Daniel Magier, Michael Makowsky, Corey Marx, Gena Olan, Catherine Park, Ariel Pick, Rebecca Pritzker, Jake Rosenblum, James Rubinowitz, Jason Schneider, Jacob Schulman, Samantha Schwartz, Emily Seyburn, Justin Shapiro, Meredith Shapiro, Cori Sharfstein, Ricki Shenfeld, Scott Sherman, Noah Siegel, Allison Silberman, Sarin Siriamonthep, Rachael Spinner, Janet Sung, Jourdan Urbach, Jonathan Van Dyke, Samuel Vitello, Stephanie Wang, and Ben Wasserman. The faculty advisor for Honor Society is Jean Bishop.
One of Roslyn's Four Intel Semifinalists
Is Named a Finalist
Evan Babazadeh, one of four Roslyn High School students who were named semifinalists in the 67th annual Intel Science Talent Search, has now been named a finalist. He is one of 40 finalists in the nation and will travel to Washington, DC in March to compete for more than half a million dollars in college scholarships. The top prize is $100,000.
Evan's winning project, in the category of Medicine and Health, is "Vascular Cells Support Maintenance and Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells into Functional Sca1+ Hematopoietic Cells". He worked with Dr. Shahin Rafii at the Cornell University Weill Medical College and his school advisor was Roslyn High School Science Teacher Irena Tsarevsky.
The semifinalists and their projects, in the category of Behavioral and Social Science, are:
Jenna Kahn: "When the Third Degree Is Necessary: Do Pediatricians Obtain Enough Information to Detect Patients At Risk for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy?"
Benjamin Wasserman: "Que? Quoi? Do Romance Languages Promote Sexist Attitudes?"
Jonathan White: "An Analysis of the Relationship between Pressure and Performance in Major League Baseball Players"
Jenna, Jon and Ben worked with Roslyn's Coordinator of Secondary Research, Dr. Allyson Weseley.
Roslyn students have had an extraordinary record of success over the years in the Intel Science Talent Search (once known as the Westinghouse competition). At least one Roslyn student has been a semifinalist in 27 of the last 28 years, and five Roslyn students have been national winners.
The semifinalists of the 67th Intel Science Talent Search were chosen from among 1602 entrants representing 504 high schools in the United States. Each of the 300 semifinalists, as well as their schools, received awards of $1,000. From this group, the 40 finalists were chosen to attend the Science Talent Institute in Washington, D.C. from March 6-11, 2008. During their trip to Washington, the finalists will participate in a final judging process and share in $530,000 in scholarships. The prizes will be announced on March 11, 2008.
For more information about Roslyn's research program, click here.
Photo: Intel Semifinalists Jenna Kahn, Jonathan White, Ben Wasserman and Evan Babazadeh.
Read more about Roslyn's research program
High School Sophomore Published in Newsday
Roslyn High School sophomore Jaron Paul Mandel was a guest columnist in Newsday on January 11. His article, "Smiling with an autistic child," relates his positive experience performing community service. It is part of the newspaper's "New Voices", a weekly feature with original essays by students.
Roslyn Seniors Gain Early College Admission
More than 55 Roslyn High School seniors have been notified that they have been selected for early admission or early action to college.
Members of the Class of 2008 so far have been accepted by Boston University, Colgate University, Cornell University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, Lehigh University, University of Miami, University of Michigan, Muhlenberg College, New York University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, Union College, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, Wesleyan University and Yale University, among others.
The large majority of seniors are notified about college admissions in the spring of each year. Typically, over 90 percent of Roslyn's graduates are accepted into college through both early and regular admissions.
Roslyn High School Students Compete in
Long Island Challenge
Brittany Katz, Ben Wasserman, Austin Bernhardt and David Herzka represented Roslyn High School in the first round of the Long Island Challenge against Carey High School. Andrew Catalano, not pictured, is also a member of the team, and their faculty advisor is Jean Bishop. The program will be broadcast on News 12 on Saturday, December 22 at 6:30pm and 9:30pm, and repeated at the same times on Sunday, December 23.
Sophomore Excels in
National Chess Championship
Sophomore Max Rubin was one of 1,318 players from 39 states who participated at the National Scholastic K-12/Collegiate Chess Championships in Houston on December 7-9. In the 10th Grade Championship, Max finished in 29th place in the country and was awarded first place in his division.
Roslyn High School Student and Teacher
Published in Medical Journal
Jenna Kahn, a Roslyn High School senior, is the lead author of "When the Third Degree Is Necessary: Do Pediatricians Obtain Enough Information to Detect Patients At Risk for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)," published in the most recent issue of Pediatric Cardiology, a peer-reviewed medical journal. The second author on the study is Dr. Allyson Weseley, the Coordinator of Secondary Research at Roslyn High School, and Jenna's mentor on the project.
"Jenna is an incredibly accomplished young woman," said Dr. Weseley. "It is difficult to get an article accepted for publication, and Jenna's success is indicative of her great talent and promise as a researcher."
HCM is a congenital heart condition that affects one of every 500 Americans and is the number one cause of sudden cardiac death in the young. Nearly 100 pediatricians practicing in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk were surveyed for the study. The findings show that while most pediatricians take a medical family history at some point, only about half ever update them. In addition, less than one-third of the doctors included information in these histories about all five of the major risk factors for HCM.
The study also looked at the demographic characteristics associated with doctors who take more thorough family medical histories. The results indicate that female pediatricians and those who were educated outside of the United States tended to ask about more disorders and more family members than pediatricians who were male and/or educated within the United States.
Jenna first conceived of the project in her sophomore year in high school. Dr. Weseley helped her design the study and analyze the data over the year that followed. To defray the cost of mailing the surveys, Jenna applied for and received a grant from the Jason Gruen Foundation. Jenna is currently working on a follow-up study to investigate the perceptions people have of foreign as opposed to domestic physicians; Dr. Weseley is working on helping more students submit their work for publication.
PHOTO: Senior Jenna Kahn with her research mentor, Dr. Allyson Weseley.Read more about Roslyn's research program
Best in New York State, 6th in the Nation
Roslyn High School Sophomore Emily Lipari finished sixth in a field of the nation's best high school runners in the national cross country championships in San Diego on December 8. This latest triumph capped an extraordinary season in which she won the county, state and Federation Meet championships.
Emily had qualified for the national cross country championships with a sixth-place finish in the northeast regionals in the Bronx on November 24. Her time in that race was just 11 seconds behind the first-place finisher in an elite field of 116 seeded runners from a dozen northeastern states in the 5,000-meter race. In the nationals, she improved on her qualifying time by two seconds and was the fastest tenth-grader in the race. She had previously won the Nassau County, New York State and Federation Meet championships this fall.
Emily posted the 4th best time in the 5K in the history of the Federation Meet in Wappingers Falls on November 17, two weeks after running away with the 5K race at the Nassau County Cross Country Championships and one week after winning convincingly again at the New York State Championships, where she posted the fastest time of any girl in the state this year.
Senior Thomas Lipari, Emily's brother, also qualified for the New York State Championships and ran his best time ever in the 5K while finishing 17th in the state.
In the Nassau County championships, Emily won by a margin of more than 100 meters over her nearest competitor. Coach Vera Trenchfield said, "She is an exceptional athlete. She's gifted."
PHOTO: State cross country qualifiers Emily and Thomas Lipari with coaches Vera Trenchfield and Kevin Kearney.
13 RHS Students Earn NOW Awards
Thirteen Roslyn High School students were honored for their outstanding achievements in the areas of academics, sports extracurricular activities, art, music, leadership and community service at the 2007 National Organization for Women (NOW) Awards which were presented on October 14 at the Stuart Thomas Manor in Farmingdale.
Pictured (back row left to right): Alex Foukalas, Rachel Abeles, Lisa Cervia, Jessica Singer, Amanda Ryman and Jessica Ruben; (front row left to right) Jennifer Batel, Katrina Beamon, Chelsea Taitelman and Lizzie Greenwald. Missing from photo: Rebecca Lomazow, Brittany Katz and Elyssa Goldberg.
Marching Bulldogs Complete Their
Best Season Yet
Congratulations to the Roslyn High School Marching Band which received 7th place in the New York State Field Band Championships on October 28 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Overall, the band beat 13 out of 50 other bands in the state finals. Moving up a class this year, the Roslyn Marching Band had a bigger challenge, competing in Class Small School 2 against very advanced bands. The "Marching Bulldogs" clearly executed their top performance ever at the Dome, observed Band Director Pat Patterson.
In addition, we would like to congratulate the band on its First Place Championship at the USSBA circuit on October 21. With 138 members, the Marching Bulldogs were in a class by themselves, Class
6A, with a "largest competitive band" in New York State status. Overall at the USSBA Championship, the band won five awards. The drumline won fourth place in the state overall and the colorguard was sixth out of 15 groups.
Congratulations to the Roslyn Marching Bulldogs and Mr. Patterson on their incredible season! Their banner and trophy will be on display in the high school main lobby.
PHOTOS: The Marching Bulldogs perform at Homecoming on October 13 and in the state championships at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on October 28.
Student Wins Major Humanitarian Awards
Jourdan Urbach, a junior at Roslyn High School, earned two major humanitarian awards this fall. On October 17, Jourdan was one of the guests of honor at the New York City Liberty Medals reception in Manhattan, where he received a "Young Heart Medal of Honor" for NYC. And in November, he was one of five young adults in the country to be given the 2007 National Caring Award in Washington, DC.
These are just two of the many philanthropic honors that Jourdan has garnered as a result of his efforts on behalf of Children Helping Children (CHC), a charitable organization that he founded to raise funds for hospitals and medical research facilities across the country. Through CHC, Jourdan has successfully merged two of his intellectual and artistic gifts—an abiding interest in neurological research and an exceptional talent as a violinist—into a means of helping seriously ill children.
Medical organizations and hospitals across the country stage gala benefit concerts in which Jourdan performs as the headliner, and all proceeds go to the sponsoring organization or research facility. Jourdan and CHC have raised more than $1.3 million to date for groups that include the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Children's Hearing Institute, Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, Cold Spring Harbor Labs, the Institute for Music and Neurological Function, Mott Childrens' Hospital's Ronald McDonald House and the Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Beth Israel Medical Center. Jourdan is in the process of turning CHC international, inspiring other young people to produce "concerts for a cure" in their own countries. His term for the effort to get other kids involved is "youthquake."
In the summer of 2007, Jourdan was chosen as the youngest researcher at Harvard Medical School's Multiple Sclerosis Immunology Lab and will return next summer. During the school year, he continues his neuroscience research at SUNY Stony Brook. Somehow, Jourdan also finds the time to attend Roslyn High School for several periods each day, including playing with the chamber orchestra this year and working with his English/Humanities mentor, teacher Dan Jamieson; attend classes and rehearsals in the afternoons and weekends at the Juilliard School's pre-college division as well as take private violin lessons; and write novels (two have been published; a third is on the way). After high school, he plans to pursue an MD-PhD in clinical neurology and research neuroscience.
Among the many other honors Jourdan has received are the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award, the highest civil award given by New York State, and and NY State and National Prudential Spirit of Community Scholarship Award. When asked which of these awards means the most to him, he says they are all gratifying but are most important because of the attention they engender for his charitable work. "The most important thing is to raise awareness about the cause," he says. "It has been my pleasure and honor to work in philanthropy for over half my life, creating a synergistic relationship between medicine and music. It has added new dimensions of meaning to everything I do."
To read the article about Jourdan in the December 2007 issue of Caring Magazine, please click here.
To learn more about Children Helping Children, please visit www.childrenhelpingchildren.net.
PHOTOS: Jourdan Urbach with Senator Bob Dole at the National Caring Awards ceremony in Washington, DC on November 16; Jourdan with host Regis Philbin at the Liberty Medal awards reception in New York on October 17.
12 Commended in Merit Scholarship Program
Twelve students have been named Commended Students in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are Jennifer Batel, Andrew Catalano, 
Robert D'Ambra, Adam Ilowite, Jenna Kahn, Brittany Katz, Ilana Kersch, Sanam Mechkat, Nissa Ostroff-Moskowitz, Amanda Ryman, Benjamin Wasserman and Jonathan White. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation placed among the top five percent of more than 1.4 million students who entered the 2008 competition by taking the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Principal Kevin Scanlon is pictured with the students.
Roslyn's 157 AP Scholars
One hundred and fifty-seven current students and recent graduates at Roslyn High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program (AP) Examinations. The College Board's Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school, and to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP exams. The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on student's performance on AP exams.
At Roslyn High School:
• 10 students qualified for the National AP Scholar Award by earning an average grade of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale on all AP Exams taken, and grades 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams. These students are Erica Berck, Alexander Czik, Samantha Fishbein, Max Golden, Bobak Moallemi, Jacob Novick, Fangfei Shen, Michael Shores, Jonathan Steinman and Adam Wagner.
• 50 students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. These students are Jordana Abraham, Jennifer Ackerman, Danielle Arouty, Erica Berck, Lee Blum, Cole Charnas, Austin Cohen, Alison Cohn, Alexander Czik, Christopher Dembia, Allan Feldman, Samantha Fishbein, Lauren Fisher, Steven Fletcher, Abbe Goldberg, Max Golden, Jacqueline Goldman, Julie Goldman, Negin Hadaghian, Lindsay Hagan, Jamie Hanfling, Adam Ilowite, Elizabeth Jacobs, Brianne Karten, Raymond Kim, Nicole Kogut, Erika Kolb, Cory Kutcher, Allison Magier, Devon McLaughlin, Jordan Meltzer, Dianne Milner, Bobak Moallemi, Genevieve Morton, Rebecca Newman, Jacob Novick, Jessica Nussbaum, Nissa Ostroff-Moskowitz, Amy Ramirez, Thomas Roccotagliata, Adam Rubin, Samuel Sakhaee, Jessica Schissel, Michael Schneider, Fangfei Shen, Michael Shores, Matthew Spitz, Jonathan Steinman, Adam Wagner and Benjamin Wasserman.
• 32 students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. These students are Rachel Abeles, Austin Bernhardt, Pooja Bhardwaj, Rebecca Blatt, Danny Buslik, Lindsay Der Aris, Elyssa Goldberg, Lindsay Goldman, Rachel Golian, Elizabeth Greenwald, David Herzka, Jake Hirsch, Elliott Hyman, Jenna Kahn, Alexandra Kassimir, Matthew Levy, Samantha Litvack, Carly Meyrowitz, Ethan Nardone, Jennifer Nauheim, Alex Pascale, Scott Schere, Allie Schwartz, Conor Seidman, Alexis Shaw, Matthew Silberman, David Sloane, Lauren Slutsky, Dhruve Vasishtha, Jonathan White, Zach Zagoory and Emily Zahn.
• 75 students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Examinations, with grades of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars are Alexander Abedine, Dana Albert, Alexa Anderson, Samantha Azoulay, Evan Babazadeh, Peter Baik, Jennifer Batel, Alexa Baum, Melanie Beatus, Gabriella Berrezueta, Jason Boim, Lauren Borowick, Andrew Catalano, David Chase, Samantha Cheirif, James Chen, Alec Cohen, Jonathan Cohn, Danielle Coren, Robert D'Ambra, Joshua Erenfrid, Scott Floam, Alexandra Foukalas, Madeline Friedman, Arielle Garti, Samantha Goldstein, David Hollander, Najia Hussain, Brittany Katz, Remi Kent, Ilana Kersch, Tracey Kitaeff, Daniel Kolitz, Aleen Kuperman, Margot Leeds, Samantha Lefland, Amanda Levine, Jacob Levy, Spencer Levy, Matthew Liebhaber, Rebecca Lomazow, Corey Maller, Shella Marder, Brittany Marshak, Sanam Mechkat, Justin Miller, Jee-Hong Min, Mark Mohabir, Pegah Moosazadeh, Rajaa Mourabet, Ashley Musiker, Tracy Naviasky, Adam Podlisky, Sam Radutzky, Solomon Ravich, Marvi Rizwan, Jeanenne Rodrigues, Joshua Roth, Jessica Ruben, Amanda Ryman, Leah Seyburn, Samuel Shenfeld, Brian Sherwin, Aaron Shipper, Sarah Sincoff, Cara Siskind, Jacqueline Slatky, Nicole Steffen, Daniel Swerdloff, Chelsea Taitelman, Denise Tansiongco, David Taub, Bradley Wasser, Lotus Yam and Boyoung Yoon.
Of this year's award recipients at Roslyn High School, 61 were still juniors and have at least one more year in which to complete college-level work, and possibly earn another AP Scholar Award.
Writing Talents
High school seniors Austin Bernhardt and Samantha Cheirif were winners of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Achievement Award for Writing. There were 1,937 high school juniors nominated for the award last year, and 595 students were selected as the best student writers in the country on the basis of their winning essays. Roslyn High School English Teacher Scott Segal coordinates the NCTE program for Roslyn students.
4 Are National Merit Semifinalists
Four Roslyn High School seniors were named as semifinalists in this year's National Merit Scholarship Program. They are Austin Bernhardt, Samantha Cheirif, David Herzka and Boyoung Yoon. More than 1.4 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2008 National Merit Program by taking the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). These students are among 16,000 in the nation to be named semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. These students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $34 million, that will be offered in the spring of 2008.
PHOTO: Roslyn's four National Merit Scholarship semifinalists are pictured with Roslyn High School Principal Kevin Scanlon (left) and Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Richman (right).
A First for the Marching Band
Roslyn High School's Marching Bulldogs won First Place in their class at the first competition of the season on September 16 at Division Avenue High School in Levittown. Under the direction of Band Director, Pat Patterson, the band, in its sixth season, earned its highest finish ever and bested Mineola, one of the top bands on Long Island. This year the band moved up to the prestigious Small School 2 class and was ranked number 1 in New York State with their score of 70.45.
PHOTO: The Marching Bulldogs perform their show entitled "The Workout" during halftime of the varsity football team's victory over Great Neck North at Mitchell Field on September 23. Photo: Daniel Levitt.
Click here to read about great student accomplishments of the 2006-07 school year.
