Six LBHS Students Hope to Excel at Intel Fair

Six students from Long Beach High School qualified to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel/ISEF), which is recognized as the premier science competition in the world, exclusively for students in grades 9-12.

The three teams of students include Hannah Berkowitz and Jackie Bokor, Arianne Papa and Jane Smyth, and Elan Heller and Eric Rubin, who all qualified for this honor by earning first place awards at the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair (LISEF).

They will head to Los Angeles on May 8 to compete against 1,500 other students from 50 countries around the world for more than $4 million in prizes and scholarships. Their original research projects will be subjected to several rounds of judging by a panel of doctoral-level scientists.

For the past four years, Long Beach High School has accounted for at least 25 percent of the Long Island teams that advanced to the international level of the ISEF competition.

A number of Long Beach High School students also won special awards at the LISEF competition. Jane Smyth, Arianne Papa, Hannah Berkowitz, Jackie Bokor Zak Klein, Andrew Hurst and Rob Cornacchia won U.S. Air Force Awards.

Ben Weiss won the American Meteorological Award, and Jane Smyth, Arianne Papa and Rob Cornacchia earned Rioch Awards.

David Velez and Brandon Levokove won a second place award for their team project. Third-place went to Ben Weiss, Griffin Shapiro and Zak Seghrouchni. Zak Klein, Andrew Hurst and Robert Cornacchia earned honorable mentions.

A total of 31 students in grades 9 to 12 participate in the High School Science Research program. They work under the guidance of science research teachers Cody Onufrock and Veronica Ade.