By Tiffany Razzano
His fifth grade teacher, Kristine Bartolo, selected him to attend the People to People World Leadership forum in Washington D.C. in April. The forum is open to students in grades six through eight from around the world. They are selected on the basis of their roles as student leaders and their academic achievement.
"[My teacher] observed how well I was doing in school," Wolfson said, "and she selected me out of the class."
After finding out he was selected for the program, Wolfson, his father, Josh, and his eight-year-old brother, Walter, researched the forum on the internet in order to "see what it was like and what [he] would be doing."
The week-long trip to Washington D.C. features trips to a number of monuments, such as the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. Students will also have access to some of the country's leaders, with the opportunity to watch them in action, will give them the opportunity to interact with other students, and will also hold lectures and discussions on various topics of American history. Wolfson is excited about this since his class "studied a lot of history this [past] year," but he's especially looking forward to the trip to the Library of Congress. "I saw some pictures on the internet," he said. "I saw what it looked like and how big it is. I thought, how cool, because we have a library here and there's a library in D.C. and it's so different." The trip will give him 55 hours towards high school credit.
Wolfson, who has been living in Rockville Centre since he was two, was very active in his elementary school. A member of the Rockville Centre basketball league, he was involved with Math Olympiads and Student Government. He was also awarded the Alex Benjamin Norris award at the end of this past school year, which is awarded to a student from each class based on their leadership skills. Though he's nervous, he is looking forward to attending South Side Middle School this year. He hopes to stay involved at school and looks forward to joining Math Olympiads again as well as the Scrabble Club.
"We're very proud of him," said his father, Josh. "I think [the People to People award] is a very special tribute to Cooper. I'm very proud of him."
