Joan Lehnert Mathematics Award Presented to Dylan Wong

Huntington Class of 2026 graduate Dylan Wong is this year’s recipient of the Joan Lehnert Mathematics Award, which was presented by department director Dr. Teresa Grossane. The scholarship recipient claimed a prize of $500.

“I completed an internship at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where I conducted research and presented my project at a symposium,” Mr. Wong said. “I also presented at the Long Island Math Fair, earning a silver medal for my work. Demonstrating initiative and community involvement, I independently organized food drives that collected and donated over 4,000 food items. In addition, I contributed to a long-term study on the population of alewife fish on Long Island and assisted with the Long Island Unified Water Study.”

Mr. Wong plans to major in biomedical engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Mrs. Lehnert lived in the community and sent her own children through the district. Her career in Huntington UFSD began in February 1993 in a math teaching assignment split between the high school and J. Taylor Finley Middle School.

“I have enjoyed working here with so many fine people, in the community in which I live, and have never regretted my decision to teach,” said Mrs. Lehnert in her final months as a teacher.

Mrs. Lehnert earned an Associate of Arts degree at Nassau Community College in December 1977. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at LIU-C.W. Post in May 1977 and a Master of Science in educational technology, also at C.W. Post, in May 1986.

Teaching was a second career for Mrs. Lehnert, who previously worked at Citibank. She completed her student teaching requirements at Huntington High School in 1987 under cooperating teacher Virginia Tutschulte. She initially worked in a Catholic school and then served as a leave replacement in Manhasset, before landing the position in Huntington.

Mrs. Lehnert passed away on August 3, 2023.