The Long Island teen whose story of academic excellence while her family fell into homelessness was back in the news yesterday—Suffolk County officials presented Samantha Garvey, her parents and two siblings with keys to a new house! The home, which is being rented to low-income families by Suffolk County, has three bedrooms and was offered to the Garveys after Samantha's story was featured on the front page of Newsday. The Brentwood High School senior said, "I was homeless, and I didn't have a house, and because of the kindness of all these strangers, I do—I have a house! I couldn't have gotten here without education—you make the best of it because it's the end to so many things." more ›

Long Island high school student Samantha Garvey continues to capture people's hearts with her story of academic success amid her family's hardships. In a show that airs today Ellen DeGeneres presents Garvey with a $50,000 scholarship for the college of her choice. Watch this video—and, uh, you may get something in your eye: more ›

Awww: Samantha Garvey, the Long Island teen whose story of academic success amid family difficulty inspired many, may be headed to Washington D.C. for the State of the Union Address. Rep. Steve Israel invited Garvey to be his guest; he told Newsday, "The State of the Union attracts the most powerful people on Earth, but I really think Samantha can teach them all a lesson in perseverance." more ›

Newsday has the most aww- and awe-worthy story of the day: A feature on Brentwood High School senior Samantha Garvey who is one of 300 semi-finalists for the annual Intel Science Talent Search. Only Garvey happens to be living in a homeless shelter. She told the paper, "I want better, so that's why I do well in school." more ›

Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech students—actually, New York City high school kids in general—are you reading this? Stop, close the browser and get back to class. This year not one New York City kid made it into the final round of the Intel Science Talent Search (still the Westinghouse Science Talent Search in our hearts). New York State at least had seven finalists, beaten by California's 11. And the city had seven semi-finalists, so there is that. But still, let's do better next time, mmmkay? more ›

NY State has the most semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, with 117 entrants out of 300. Eighteen semifinalists are from NYC public schools. Here's the breakdown: Stuyvesant has 7; Bronx Science has 6; Townsend Harris, SI Tech, Murrow, Midwood and Brooklyn Tech each have 1. Mayor Bloomberg said, "It's another testament to the quality of our schools." Well, it's a testament to seven schools, at least. more ›

Two New Yorkers were awarded Rhodes Scholarships this past weekend. The Big Apple recipients are Jacob Lemieux, who is from the Upper East Side and attends Stanford, and Kevin Shenderov of Brooklyn who attends NYU. more ›

It's that time of year again - when the semi-finalists are the Intel Science Talent Search are announced! The NY Times says that NY State "dominated" the list, with 140 students coming from the Empire State - and there are only 300 semi-finalists total. While Long Island's Ward Melville High had 12 semi-finalists (tied for the most with Montgomery Blair in Maryland), we looked at the NY State breakdown and think we found 24 semi-finalists from Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan combined. (If our count is wrong, tell us - we know you love telling us when we're wrong!) Looking at the public schools, there were six from Bronx Science, one from Brooklyn Tech, two from Murrow, one from James Madison, three from Midwood, two from Hunter, and eight from Stuyvesant. It's probably good times at Stuy, if only to love beating Bronx Science in another way. more ›

David Bauer of the Bronx won the Intel Science Prize, bringing back the glory to NYC and $100,000 (in a scholarship) to his pocket. Bauer is a senior at Hunter College High, and his project for his new method of detecting toxic agents in the nervous system. He says that paramedics would be able to use it to detect toxins in patients, and given our current state, it's certainly a timely project. Bauer is not only the president of Hunter's science club, he also founded a nonprofit for social justice in Liberia. Gothamist will cease thinking about our considerably less impressive high school legacy and focus on how we preferred it when the contest was sponsored by Westinghouse and called the Westinghouse Prize. It was refreshingly old-fashioned to be sponsored by the makers of ceiling fans, garage door openers, and nuclear power. more ›

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