Rocky Point High School senior Samantha Palmese has amassed numerous Advanced Placement courses in her high school career and has been named an AP Scholar with Distinction. She has been involved in the school’s Pocket Theatre, earned a Teeny Award All-County acting award nomination, has been a member of the International Thespian Honor Society where she currently serves as president, and is a member of the Newspaper Club – all since her freshman year. She was selected as a student participant in the District’s Strategic Planning Committee – an honor for only four students in Rocky Point High School – and joined the High School’s Shared Decision-Making Committee in her junior year, being instrumental in reinstating the Senior Class Trip this year. She is a member of the English, History, Math, National and Science honor societies. Her work as treasurer of the Student Council includes assisting in organizing Spirit Week activities and Senior Prom and Senior Trip planning, promoting and running fundraising events for veterans and overseeing budget transactions. In her spare time, Samantha volunteers at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook, tutors students through her work with the Math Honor Society and has been named to the Principal’s List each quarter since her freshman year.       
                        
In addition to these accomplishments, Samantha will also graduate Rocky Point High School as only the second student in the school’s history to be honored with the New York State Seal of Biliteracy. The designation consists of attaining a high proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. To do this, she completed historical research on women’s rights and presented her work to a team of teachers and administrators, entirely in French.

Samantha brought her research topics to life by featuring prominent French women – Olympe De Gouges, Joan of Arc and Louise Michel, who are noted as key players in championing various aspects of women’s liberation. Rocky Point High School French teacher Katerina Daly, who has taught Samantha since seventh grade, is awed by her accomplishments. 

Noting how the benefits of being bilingual or multilingual can be observed in every aspect of life, Ms. Daly praised Samantha, and remarked how having worked with her all these years and encouraging her collegial efforts has been a true privilege. She indicated that the traditional roles in the teacher-student relationship were flipped in this process, with Ms. Daly learning much from an exceptional student who took the initiative to surpass her own challenge.

Samantha, in her kind and humble ways, would recommend to her peers to take on similar challenges, noting if you have the drive, it can be accomplished. 

“Work hard,” she said. “You can achieve it.”