Three Kennedy seniors named Intel semifinalists

Three seniors at Kennedy High School in Bellmore were named semifinalists in the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search. They are Beatrice Brown, 18, Samuel Epstein, 18, and Justin Shapiro, 17

Kennedy takes in students from south Bellmore and south Merrick.

A fourth student, Jayson Chojar, was a student at Kennedy until this academic year, when he moved to Greenwich, Conn. Chojar was a multi-year participant in Kennedy’s Authentic Science Research Program and also was named a semifinalist.

In all, 300 high school seniors were named semifinalists in the prestigious Intel program this year. Each semifinalist receives a $1,000 award from the Intel Foundation, with an additional $1,000 going to his or her school, resulting in $600,000 in total semifinalist awards.

Semifinalists were selected from more than 1,800 entrants hailing from 460 high schools in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and five American and international high schools overseas. On Jan. 21, 40 of the 300 semifinalists will be named Intel finalists. Finalists will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. from March 5-11. In Washington, they will compete for more than $1 million in awards.

The Herald will be interviewing Kennedy’s Intel semifinalists this week. Updates to follow, with a full story in next week’s edition of the newspaper.