Presidential Scholar On His Way to Princeton (Long Island, New York)

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
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<p>[Long</a> Island teens named for national education honor – – Newsday.com](<a href=“http://www.newsday.com/news/local/education/ny-lipres175694224may20,0,4066833.story]Long”>Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source - Newsday)</p>

<p>“One is a political junkie; the other an aspiring scientist.</p>

<p>“But both students – Lauren Lisann [Yale 2012] of Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills and Alec Slatky [Princeton 2012] of Massapequa High School – have at least one thing in common. They are among 139 seniors nationwide to be named 2008 Presidential Scholars from the U.S. Education Department.</p>

<p>“For his essay, Slatky picked five-time presidential candidate, Ralph Nader.</p>

<p>“I figured most people would put their parents, so I thought I’d do something a little out of the ordinary,” said Slatky, 17, who earned perfect scores on the ACT and SAT. “I was only a fifth-grader at the time, but his involvement in the 2000 election drew me to politics . . . The vote in Florida was so close that his candidacy changed the course of history.”</p>

<p>“Slatky also described a high school research project in which he was able to predict people’s overall political stances by having them answer a 10-question survey on controversial topics ranging from illegal immigration to stem cell research.</p>

<p>“Alec showed that you can deduct a lot from a simple survey,” said Mark Bellerini, a science research coordinator at Massapequa. “He’s incredible; a great person and a great student.”</p>

<p>“Slatky will attend Princeton University.</p>

<p>--------------------------------.</p>

<p>Congratulations to another new member of the Class of 2012!</p>

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<p>I’m sure this kid is incredibly intelligent, but I’m just not that impressed by his “project”. Isn’t it obvious how someone leans by them answering probably significantly less than even 10 questions.</p>

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<p>It is often hard to describe the topic of a research project to a lay audience. Newspapers are notorious for over simplifying things in an effort not to lose readers. I’m not sure if that happened here, but having experienced this sort of thing first hand, it’s the first explanation I thought of.</p>

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<p>The senior form my sons’ HS in Dallas who was named a 2008 Presidential Scholar will also be attending Princeton in the fall. By all accounts, he is a wonderful (and humble) young man.</p>