Seven Huntington Students Selected for Prestigious LI Math Program
Seven Huntington students have qualified to participate in a prestigious Long Island math program that accepts an elite group of scholars from Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Huntington’s Alex Castillo, Christian Jamison, Marc Feldman, Leigh Anderson, Justin Loturco, Grady Koepele and Caitlin Knowles made the cut and will participate in the highly regarded program offered by the Institute for Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students.
The Institute has been established to improve the problem solving skills of a small group of 75 high ability Long Island students in grades five through ten. The Institute selects a combined total of 25 students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties to participate in each of the three sections.
By virtue of their selection, the Huntington students have been designated as Long Island Young Scholars of Mathematics. “It’s a huge accomplishment and a huge honor, said Maryann Daly, Huntington SEARCH chairperson and a teacher in the program.
Mrs. Daly and fellow teacher Heather Barfuss together nominated 21 Huntington fifth and sixth graders to take a program qualifying exam given at SUNY College at Old Westbury last March. The test annually attracts many of Long Island’s brightest young scholars.
The Huntington students were chosen to take the exam based upon their performance in the Math Olympiad competition, their math assessment scores and their positive attitude toward learning, Mrs. Daly said.
Huntington students selected to participate in the Institute’s past Saturday programs have included Adam Cerini, Sarah Cerezo, Michael O’Connor, Daniel Gallagher and Alexis Weitzner. Mr. Castillo qualified last year, too, “but couldn’t attend the classes because he had committed to sports practices during the same time,” explained Mrs. Daly.
Students chosen to participate in the program typically meet for 20 Saturday training sessions that last 2 ½ hours each. “The participants will broaden their backgrounds in mathematics, sharpen their thinking skills and develop their problem solving ability,” according to brochure published by the Institute. “Educating these special children will make a major contribution to their pursuit of excellence in science and mathematics.”
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