Greenidge Wins Superintendent's Scholarship
Samantha Greenidge is a remarkable young lady. The Huntington High School senior is set to graduate as one of the top members of the Class of 2013.
The teenager is headed to Iona College in New Rochelle where she plans to study mathematics and secondary education. Ms. Greenidge intends to pursue a career as a math teacher.
The Suffolk County School Superintendents Association selected Ms. Greenidge as the recipient of one of just ten scholarships the organization is presenting this year.
The Huntington senior was honored during a luncheon at the Hamlet Wind Watch Golf & Country Club in Hauppauge along with the other distinguished scholarship winners and valedictorians from across Suffolk. Ms. Greenidge was recognized a second time earlier this month during Huntington High School's senior academic awards night in the school auditorium.
"Samantha has made our school community proud throughout her years in Huntington," Mr. Polansky said. "She is accomplished academically in virtually all disciplines. Her interests are wide ranging, as evidenced by the variety of extracurricular activities and organizations within which she has assumed an active role. She is a person of unwavering strength of character and serves as a leader and role model in both the formal and informal sense."
The SCSSA scholarship carries a stipend of $500. Ms. Greenidge was joined at the award luncheon by her mother, Karen, Mr. Polansky, Huntington High School Principal Dr. Carmela Leonardi and Huntington School Board President Emily Rogan.
Ms. Greenidge credits her success to "hard work and dedication to each of my classes to ensure the outcomes from each were optimal and rewarding." She has volunteered with the ALS Association for the past eight years, lending her efforts to the fight against Lou Gehrig's disease.
"Samantha had to prepare a statement on her reasons for choosing to pursue a career in education," Mr. Polansky said. "She apparently recognized at a very young age that she wanted to teach and cites the impact that her teachers in Huntington have had on her through the years. She is also quick to admit that she finds joy in being around children and in helping them to understand something for the first time. The specific 'something' is math. She plans to build a career around a combination of her passion for working with children and her aptitude in and enjoyment of mathematics."
Ms. Greenidge played on the Blue Devil volleyball team since ninth grade and has tutored classmates since her sophomore year. She points to the strong support of her family, friends and teachers as among the keys to exceptional academic and co-curricular performance.
"This young lady is the complete package," Mr. Polansky said. "I had the pleasure of attending a scholarship luncheon with her and her mother. Based upon what she has done within the school community, who she has become as a person and what she will surely achieve in the future, this award is beyond well deserved."