Intergenerational fun Students visit area senior center for fun and games
BBHS Seniors recognized as Semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition
Congratulations to Blind Brook High School seniors Amrit Mohapatra, Simon Riley, Abigail Weintraub and Jocelyn Zheng for being named a 2026 National Merit Scholar Semifinalists.
This past week officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMS®) announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.
“I am so proud of these four semifinalists,” BBHS Principal Mark Greenwald said. “They are all incredible, committed students and are very deserving of the recognition. I wish them all the best as they move forward through the process to become National Merit Scholars.”
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
In a release from the NMSP, it noted “over 1.3 million juniors in about 20,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.”
The release also outlined the next steps for semifinalists, who must
Intergenerational fun Students visit area senior center for fun and games
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The music was pumping, there was laughter in the air, food was on its way and the spirit of competition was alive and well.
In a first, students from Blind Brook Middle/High School visited the Anthony J. Posillipo Community Center in Port Chester on March 31, where they made some new friends. Together they spent an early afternoon getting to know one another and enjoying some games.
“I enjoy being around young kids,” Doris Stabinksy said as she took part in a game of Cornhole with a group of high school students. She said she lives in a 55+ community, so she does not have many opportunities to interact with younger residents.
“I just love meeting new people,” BBHS freshman Alex Klein said. “I enjoy hearing about their experiences,” he said as to what inspired him to stop in.
In one room of the community center, a group played Cornhole, and another was busy with Ping Pong. Across the way, table games such as Chess and Rummikub were being played. If folks wanted some fresh air, they ventured across the street to a local park and played Pickle Ball. The group also enjoyed the karaoke machine.
“The goal was we wanted more of a connection with the school and community as a whole,” said Pamela Huang, the PTA program chair, who helped organize the event.
In total, 14 students from the middle school and another 14 from the high school participated and Ms. Huang later noted that when surveyed students gave the experience a “4” (good) or “5” (excellent). And agreed they would like to do it again. Among the things students said about it: “It was so much fun!,” “I would definitely come back here!,” and “I would do this again.”
Earlier this year, Ms. Huang said students created more than 600 Valentine’s Day cards that they shared with seniors and hopes to do more intergenerational activities in the future.
“It’s fun and something different,” BBHS sophomore Maya Hazan said, as she was being taught Rummikub by a group of community center members.
“I wanted to break down stereotypes between the two groups,” Liz Rotfeld, Senior Center Coordinator for the Village said. “Seniors are doing more and those who come to the Senior Center do better. We hope to do more events like this in the future.”
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