Hewlett High School’s val and sal for 2022

For Hewlett High’s class of 2022, Elizabeth Zemylansky is the valedictorian with Benjamin Sherman the salutatorian. Zemylansky and Sherman were very close with the valedictorian edging the salutatorian 104.605 to 104.057 in weighted averages.

Zemylansky is a Nassau County District Attorney SHIELD Award winner that honors a commitment to charter, self-growth, spirit and initiative to bring about positive change. She is a member of the Asterean Chapter, Spanish Language and Culture, Science, Business and Marketing honor societies.

As part of her scholastic education, Zemylansky completed an academic research project that examined the extent to which increased usage of social media among adolescents correlates to self-esteem and gullibility. She expanded the project to independently study peer victimization.

In her years at Hewlett High School, Zemylansky was the founder and president of the Mental Health Awareness Club. She started an initiative to promote awareness and work towards eliminating the stigma of mental illness. Her insights were featured in a two-part series on student mental health the Herald wrote last year.

As part of Mock Trial, she was lead lawyer four times, was vice president and mentored younger students. Being head news writer for the Spectrum student newspaper, Zemylansky supervised writers, selected and edited stories, and did lay out.

She took part in DECA competitions, served as club president and was a four-year state competitor. Serving as president of Best Buddies she helped form relationships with students with intellectual disabilities inside and outside the classroom, and was CEO of the virtual enterprise company Global Glimpse.

A five-year started on the varsity girls’ soccer team, Zemylansky was a team captain and named Player of the Year and honored for her hustle. She also ran winter and spring track.

Her community service included volunteering at the Chabad of Hewlett, doing peer tutoring and helping to ensure soccer team members were eligible to play.

She visited and donated toys to the Mispacha Orphanage of Odessa in Ukraine and continues her contact with that institution. Conducted community outreach for two summers in the office of State Sen. Todd Kaminsky.

Zemylansky plans on majoring in business management and/or economics with a minor in political science. She aspires to be a sports and entertainment lawyer.

Sherman aimed to spread his love of science throughout the community as he served as co-president of the Science Honor Society. His enjoyment of science took shape as he took part in high-level research through the Garcia Summer Scholars program at Stony Brook University.

He developed original research optimizing the efficiency of PEMFC hydrogen fuel cells. Sherman as finalist in the International Science and Engineering and was a national finalist in the GENIUS Olympiad a Clean-Tech competition semifinalist.

A four-year varsity swimmer, he was a conference champion in 2019-2020 and a county finalist in 2021-2022 in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke. For nine years he has swam as part of the Long Island Express Swim Team at the club level.

An All County alto saxophone player, Sherman placed second at the International Crescendo Competition at Carnegie Hall and is the lead saxophonist in the school’s wind ensemble and jazz orchestra.

Applied mathematics and statistics is his considered major. “I want to use my love of mathematics and computation to reform the clean/renewable energy market by building on my research,” He wrote. “My future aspirations include finding a start-up that works to redevelop and optimize renewable energy systems to better suit them for use in the real world.”