The College Board recently recognized 126 Sachem High School students as Advanced Placement Scholars for their extraordinary performance on Advanced Placement Program exams. 

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program offers academically excelling students an opportunity to enroll in college-level courses while still in high school to earn college credit. The College Board recognizes varying levels of achievement based on students’ performance on the course exams. 

At Sachem High School East, 25 students were recognized as AP Scholars, receiving a score of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. These students were Emily Allingham, Sophia Antonelle, Diana Atoian, Samantha Autar, Samaa Baig, Kristen Bashen, Nicholas Corvi, Lauren Faust, Jocelyn Fisher, Rebecca Grunski, Victoria Hyl, Jared Jackson, Ryan Kinsella, Kayla Krempasky, Caitlin MacDermott, Nicholas Mulieri, Michael Mullen, Rachel Sauer, Abigail SeMonte, Danielle Spak, Maira Suleman, Nicholas Traina, Isha Trivedi, Aaron Ullger and Julianna Viola.

Attaining an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams, 14 students from High School East were named AP Scholars with Honor. These students include Jessica Cormier, Amira Farag, William Gavin, Gwendlyne Guido, Lana Ho, Winnie Lam, Thomas Marks, Vincent Marzitello, William Monderine, Dylan Lenin Santos, Miranda Seely, Alexa Storzinger, Celia Toral and Alfredo Viera. 

Twenty-three students from High School East were recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction for achieving an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. Students who received this honor are Eram Alam, Nicholas Alonzo, Valentina Arrieta, Ulfeen Ayevan, Rohan Bapat, Emma Berk, Mibitha Biju, Luke Burk, Alyssa Cortes, Tanay Karnik, Ryan Kennedy, Ian Limjoco, Alyssa Mei, Julianna Mercado, Yash Pande, Nicholas Sanacore, Jennifer Seibert, Jeffery Shaffar, Nicholas Smith, Joseph Tan, Sean Tierney, Joseph Traina and Vincent Zhang. 

Earning the highest honor presented to an AP Scholar was Vincent Zhang. He was named a National AP Scholar for receiving an average score of at least 4 on all AP exams taken and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.  

In addition, Sachem High School North boasts 26 AP Scholars. These students are Nicholas Ambrosino, Zaria Brathwaite, Nishkreencha Chowdhury, Megan Cooke, Madison Eaton, Dylan Flaxman, Daniel Gernert, Emily Ingraffia, Hannah Kimura, Isabella Lorenzo, Carmine Lucidi, Matthew Lucyk, Allison Marvelli, Patrick Melfi, Christopher Moriarty, Erin Netuschil, Alper Ozdemir, Connor Perron, Sahana Ramrakhiani, Andrea Rodas, Marissa Sheldon, Christian Stilwagen, Christopher Ventre, Samantha Weckesser, Angela Zheng and Tyler Ziems. 

Twenty-one students receiving recognition as an AP Scholar with Honor from High School North are Raymond Calascibetta, Christopher Duong, Amber Farruggio, Emily Gelardi, Paeton Hartmann, Catherine Houston, Hui Fang Huang, Christopher Korth, Deirdre McBreen, Daniel Mckay, Emily Papazian, Mariana Perron, Isabella-Ros Quaranta, Emily Rowan, Sofia Sangiorgio, Rachael Severino, William Sexton, Ustav Shah, Sofia Vallecillo, Nicholas Wodzenski and Emma Zanfardino.  

Being recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction are 16 High School North students, including Corinne Amato, Erin Avanzato, Adam Barker, Albert-Alexi Bregonia, Amy DeLury, Christopher Dibenedetto, Casey Fox, Chris George, Masi Kinare, Miguel Maramara, Carmine Passarella, Drew Racz, Taylor Rijos, Maximiliano Rinaldi, Nicholas Sexton and Natalie Sill.

Last year, 193 graduating seniors from Sachem High Schools were recognized at various levels as AP Scholars. 
  

At the start of the 2018-2019 school year, the Spectrum of Dreams Foundation generously donated 35 backpacks for students in need at Sachem High School North. 

Throughout the year, Spectrum of Dreams, a locally founded nonprofit organization, provides a number of enriching educational opportunities for students across the district. These past initiatives have included sponsoring several college scholarships for Sachem students. 

Sachem High School North has enhanced the existing homeroom period with an advisory element that introduces members of the Peer Mentor Club to freshman and sophomore students in an effort to develop new relationships and provide academic advice and support. 

Led by advisors Grace Cervini and Mary Kuerner, the 200-member Peer Mentor Club at High School North is the largest peer mentor group in New York State. Each year, the club members are professionally trained through the New York State Mentoring Program to provide one-on-one assistance to fellow students.  

“As a ninth-grader, my mentor really helped me through the start of high school,” said student mentor and current junior, Mason Stassi. “I want to be able to help students in the same way.” 

Each peer mentor works with a specific homeroom group where they lead numerous teambuilding activities to strengthen connections among students, provide academic support and generate group discussions to help new students become socially acclimated to their new environment. 

“Our job as mentors is to help new students make connections in the building as they begin high school,” said Mike Pellomo, a senior. “Providing guidance as a mentor has been one of my greatest experiences in high school.”  

As the year continues, the student mentors will act as an informational resource to students during the homeroom period, providing valuable insight into building activities, special events and educational opportunities. 

In dramatic fashion, Sachem North threw an unforgettable homecoming weekend this year. The Flaming Arrows beat Pat-Med, 17-14, off the leg of sophomore Will Szewczuk, who drilled a 35-yard field goal in overtime.

“It’s unreal,” said Szewczuk, who missed two field goals during regulation and overcame in-game adversity to be the hero. “To hit something like that is great and I’m glad to have helped the team.”

Students had been celebrating all week leading up to the game with spirit festivities. From a pep rally on the field to a homecoming dance, a first-ever carnival on Saturday afternoon and a club parade around the track, every event was well received and attended by large numbers of students, staff and alumni.

Homecoming royalty were honored during the dance on Friday night. Among those honored were seniors Nick Gambino (King), Meaghan Lombardo (Queen) and Austin Ziegler (Jester); juniors Matt McCord (Prince), Ally LaSala (Princess) and Kelly Curran (Jester); sophomores Vinnie Giordano (Dutch) and Meagan O’Halleran (Duchess); and freshmen Trey Morstaht (Count), Sarah Contrast (Countess) and Zachariah Miller (Jester).

On the gridiron, Gambino, a senior quarterback, was 17-for-34, throwing for 218 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He connected with Josh Walker on a 52-yard touchdown pass. Sam Walker also rushed for 11 carries, 17 yards and one touchdown. Ryan Kinsley had six catches for 71 yards. Justin Wank had 17 carries for 52 yards. 

With his passing performance, Gambino reached the 1,000-yard passing mark for his career.

The win is also the first career victory for Sachem head coach and alum Dave Caputo.

Sachem High School North senior Amy DeLury has been selected as a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. 

Amy excels in multiple Advanced Placement courses, including calculus, economics, English and physics. In addition to her continued academic success, she is also an integral participant in multiple extra- and co-curricular activities, such the Eurochallenge Club, in which she serves as a mentor, and the Model United Nations Club, in which she is a delegate. 

Adding to her impressive résumé of academic accomplishments, Amy has seen great success as a science research student, having placed second at the Long Island Brain Bee last year and having been selected for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Professor for a Day program. During the latter, she worked to examine protein homeostasis in health and disease. 

“I am very excited,” Amy said, when asked about her accomplishment. “It is a great honor to be selected as a semifinalist for this scholarship.”

Approximately 1.6 million juniors from high schools across the country entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of 16,000 semifinalists represents 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, who now have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million. 

In February, more than 90 percent of the semifinalists will be selected to advance to finalist standing and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.