Summer experiences really can set the stage for a great school year and even assist in sorting out some questions regarding future college studies.
Huntington High School seniors Jessica Pulizzotto, Adian McCooey and Tim Low spent a week living and studying on Long Island University Post’s Brookville campus this past summer while participating in LIU’s Summer Honors Institute “World of Robotics” program.
The scholarship program focused on the creative development of robotic technologies and included a series of team based hands-on activities culminating with a robotics competition.
“The students were also exposed to real-time experiential learning through microcontrollers, an assortment of electronic sensors and detectors, as well as the creation of an autonomous car,” according to the program website. Professor Vincent Scovetta led the instructional team that worked with the students.
“I saw the application on the robotics group chat and decided to fill it out,” Mr. McCooey said. “Tim, Jessica and I all went and we had a great time. LIU put a ton of money and effort into it. We built our own robots and learned the basics of coding it. I met a bunch of great people from across the country and talked with industry leading professionals and college professors about various topics within the field of robotics.”
All three Huntington seniors are valuable members of the high school’s robotics team. They are all sifting through information about colleges and potential academic majors and careers. So the summer experience was exceedingly valuable as they sought to better define their interests.
“I heard about the LIU honors program from my robotics team,” Ms. Pulizzotto said. “It seemed like a fun summer activity and a way for me to determine my college major. I was part of the robotics program there and I learned so much, including how automation effected factories and how an AI robot ‘thinks’ and I gained a much deeper appreciation for programming. In the robotics program, we made small robots in groups of three. My group banded together to create our robot, which we called Mime. I became friends with my partners, and we hung out often after the lesson. I thought the LIU honors program was an amazing opportunity and I hope I can do it again. I made great friends and learned so much. I’m glad I took the opportunity to go.”
The Huntington trio lived on the LIU Post campus in dorms there and ate in the college’s dining halls. They got a real taste of college life as they went about their business alongside current college students taking summer classes.
“The program was a program focused on replicating a college engineering class, which included designing, prototyping and creating a functioning robot,” Mr. Low said. “I thought the experience was great and the fact that there was no cost at all made it all the more better. The professor offered some great insight as to what college will be like and I enjoyed my week at the program.”
The three teenagers are in the midst of their senior year at Huntington and each of them is anxiously looking forward to the kickoff of the robotics team’s competitive season in January.
