Smithtown High School East is Champion of Brookhaven Lab's Essay Contest

School's Students Take Top Three Honors and an Honorable Mention

April 22, 2008

UPTON, NY — Smithtown High School East students won four of eleven prizes in the annual Science and Society Essay Contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory on April 17. Mitchell Feinberg won the grand prize of $500, Lucas Spangher won $300 as the second-place winner, Brittney Vallarella won $200 in third place, and John Whalen won a $50 honorable mention prize. A panel of three independent judges chose the winning essays based on critical thinking, scientific accuracy, creativity and organization. The winners were chosen from 84 entries from 10 Long Island schools.

Essay Contest Winners enlarge

Joining Mitchell Feinberg (center, front row), Lucas Spangher (second from left, back row) and Brittney Vallarella (second from left, front row), first-, second- and third-place winners, respectively, in Brookhaven Labs 2008 Science and Society Essay Contest, are honorable mention winners: (from left, front row) Victoria Ng, Harrini Krishnan, Allesia Faverio, Paige Hempe, (from left, back row) John Whalen, Michelle Beganskas, Daniel Fourman, and Justin Shanahan. (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Other honorable-mention prizes of $50 each were given to: Michelle Beganskas, East Meadow High School; Alessia Faverio, Smithtown High School West; Daniel Fourman, Ward Melville High School; Harrini Krishnan, Smithtown High School West; Paige Hempe and Victoria Ng, both from Newfield High School; and Justin Shanahan, W. T. Clarke High School.

The Science and Society Essay Contest challenges students to think about the purposes and social implications of scientific research. This year, the students were asked to write about how the opposing forces of land development and land preservation could coexist and what role scientific research plays in deciding how land is used.

The Laboratory's Office of Educational Programs manages the essay contest, and Brookhaven Science Associates, the company that runs the Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, sponsored the contest prizes. Friends of Brookhaven, a Laboratory employee organization, started the essay contest nine years ago.

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