Spanish further explored with visit from BBHS students
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
Spanish further explored with visit from BBHS students
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Each day, Spanish teacher Jasminne Paulino visits third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms at BMPRSS to bring language learning to life as part of the Foreign Language in Elementary Schools, or FLES, program. Recently, she brought along some special “amigos”—students from the BBHS Spanish 2 class!
The high school students teamed up with younger classes to share fairytales they had written and illustrated as part of a class assignment. Working in small groups, they introduced key vocabulary, read their stories aloud, and, when time allowed, led fun follow-up activities like word searches and matching games to reinforce new Spanish words.
“I think it’s really interesting to learn about new cultures,” said BBHS freshman Emily Levine. “You get to speak a new language.”
Emily and her partner put a creative spin on the classic “Snow White” story, making the stepmother kind and Snow White the one with a mean streak.
“It was fun to write,” Emily said. “The hardest part was choosing words that third graders would understand when they heard the story.”
Another group, Julian Keller and Connor McCreath, brought together Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel in one adventure. When Cinderella is taken, the others step in to save her—with a little help from Rapunzel’s famously long hair.
“I thought it was going to be fun,” Julian said of the project.
“We knew FLES was here at Ridge Street and thought this would be the perfect audience,” said Blind Brook High School Spanish teacher Krenare Osmani. “The students were so excited to share their work—and they really rose to the occasion, asking questions and getting everyone involved.”
“I had fun,” said third grader Chloe C. “We got to do something different.”
- BBHS
- BMPRSS