Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School Science Research students demonstrated their continuing love for science by pursuing prestigious research summer programs. For the first time in Copiague history, senior Shannon Higgins was accepted into both Cornell’s CATALYST Academy and the elite Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook, with a competitive 5% acceptance rate. She worked with a physicist on cutting-edge research, creating a diatomic molecular database of dissociation and spectroscopic energies.

Senior Soled Liborius showed incredible initiative in seeking out a summer opportunity in the pharmacology department at SUNY Stony Brook. For four weeks, she worked full time in a biomedical lab, studying how cells in the gut may affect anxiety and depression.

Senior Theresa Soraire displayed her notable resourcefulness when she reached out to Dr. Allison Coffin at Washington State University Vancouver regarding her research on zebrafish two years ago. After maintaining contact with Dr. Coffin throughout sophomore and junior years, Soraire spent two weeks this past summer working in her lab at Washington State University. She is preparing her findings for publication in a peer- reviewed scientific journal.

Rebecca Alara participated in two distinguished programs this summer: the week-long Cornell CATALYST Academy and the six-week High School Research Program at Brookhaven National Laboratory. At Brookhaven, Alara worked under the supervision of a mentor scientist, exploring new radioisotopes for cancer detection.

Several juniors were also accepted into esteemed science-based summer programs. Kaydee Bonilla participated in both the engineering and mathematics summer programs at SUNY Stony Brook. Adam Adonai Guglielmelli took part in the National Academy for Future Physicians and Medical Scientists at University of Massachusetts and WorldsStrides Engineering at Georgia Tech University. Glorianni Pena Feliz engaged in the Medical Scholars Pipeline Program at Hofstra University. Abigail Rodriguez spent her summer participating in Harvard University’s Secondary School Program, and Ethan Zheng engaged in the Mathematics Summer Program at SUNY Stony Brook.

Science research sophomores displayed just as much zeal for summer learning as upperclassmen. Ronan Higgins, Anisa Sattaur and Rosina Wickham all participated in the forensics summer program through the iSTEM Institute at SUNY Stony Brook, and Jaida Jordan spent time in Washington, D.C., at the pre-college nursing program at American University.

Date Added: 10/23/2023