By:Andrew Coen and Jeff Lipton
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation selected five students from Lawrence High School - seniors Tim Kolchinskiy, Gregory Levine, Sarah Mallik, John Schneider and Shara Yurkiewicz. Adam S. Dix and Samuel J. Tilin of Hewlett High were named semifinalists, and three students from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School made the list: twin sisters Irene and Liann Moskowitz and Naomi Schoenfeld. Kyle Hansen, a student at Lawrence Woodmere Academy, was also named.
The students are among 16,000 scholastic talents who were selected on Sept. 15, and will compete for some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships worth $33.9 million, which will be awarded next spring. They will be chosen on the basis of their SAT scores, academic performance and recommendations by their principals.
The students entered the program as juniors by taking the 2003 Preliminary Scholastic Achievement/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Around 1 percent of the nation's more than 1.3 million high school juniors who took the test advanced to the semifinals. Some 50,000 academically eligible students were honored, but only 16,000 were named semifinalists.
Lawrence High School Principal Geoffrey Touretz described his students as "fine examples of all that we have to be proud of."
"The achievement of these five students in gaining National Merit Scholarship semifinalist recognition is not only an outstanding honor for Lawrence High School, but also serves as an indication of the K-through-12 excellence of our district," Touretz added.
Hansen, an LWA senior who plans to study computer engineering or electrical engineering, is a member of the school's math team, which placed in the top 15 percent in this year's New York Math League competition. He was one of three team members who went on to score in the top 5 percent in the national American Math Competition. Hansen is also a member of the computer task force that maintains the school's computers and a winner of the Dartmouth Book Award for outstanding academic achievement, and he plays on the men's volleyball team. He has completed four college-level AP courses, and is taking four more. He is a member of the school's prestigious Science Research Symposium program.
Dix, who has a 99.44 average, is editor of Hewlett's newspaper, Spectrum, and is a member of the jazz band and varsity tennis team as well as the school's marching band. Dix also has participated in the Community Services Summer Program at Woodmere Middle School, and has interned for state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Nassau County Legislator Jeffrey Toback (D-Oceanside).
Tilin has taken part in Model Congress, wind ensemble, jazz choir and various musicals. He is also certified to be a Hewlett High School peer mediator.
Hewlett High School recognized 10 other students for their academic success. The school's 2005 National Merit Commended students, in addition to Tilin and Dix, are Jeremy A. Bernstein, Jennifer Cohen, Sean P. Hymowitz, David Jang, Arjit Mehta, Anastasia Milgramm, Richard E. Rothman, Talia R. Rozensher, Sarah Shieh and Nir Zicherman.
Three types of Merit Scholarship awards will be offered in 2005. Every finalist will be considered for one of 2,500 scholarships awarded on a state representational basis. Some 300 corporations and business organizations and about 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,600 scholarships for finalists attending sponsoring institutions.
