COMMACK HIGH SCHOOL

The summer is no time off for Commack High School’s science researchers.

Students gathered in Lab 10 at the high school on Wednesday morning with science teachers Andrea Beatty, Jeanette Collette, Dr. Daniel Kramer as well as retired teacher Dr. Lorraine Solomon to gain an overview of the Regeneron Science Talent Search application process and receive initial feedback on their 20-page research papers and essays.

Regeneron STS is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science research competition for high school students. Started in 1942 as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, Regeneron STS recognizes and empowers the nation’s most promising young scientists who are developing ideas that could solve society’s most urgent challenges. 

Roughly 2,000 students submit applications each November to Regeneron STS, which involves original research in critically important scientific fields of study. Unique among high school competitions, the Regeneron STS focuses on identifying, inspiring and engaging the nation’s most promising future leaders in STEM.

Commack has a proud tradition of students achieving in the Regeneron competition. The high school has produced 14 semifinalists in the past decade: Jonathan Zhang (2024), Soyoun "Ashley" Moon (2022), Kimberly Liao (2020), S. Shamtej Singh Rana (2020), Pragati Muthukumar (2019), Daniel Lee (2018), Anoop Singh (2018), Jordan Cooper (2017), Abby Cuomo (2017), David Li (2016), Mehtaab Sawhney (2016), Scott Massa (2015), Matthew O’Connell (2015) and Josh Zweig (2014).

Massa achieved finalist status.

Those graduates have continued their research at elite universities including Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn and Stanford.