The Queens Courier of November 22, ran a story about the four Queens students who made it to the regional finals of the Siemens High School Competition in Math, Science and Technology, but no further. Three of the four students, Shabitri Dasgupta, James Leung and Rebecca Long attend Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows. The fourth, Tiffany Yau, goes to Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.
Rebecca Long sent this clarification about their scholarship prize money:
Dasgupta, Leung, Yau, and I are all regional finalists. At the regional finals, whoever did not make it to the nationals or, in other words, are not the one group winner or one individual winner chosen at the regionals, the rest are ALL runner-ups. ALL runner-ups, in other words, those who did not make it to the nationals but are regional finalists only get a $1,000 scholarship each, not $3,000.
The one individual winner from the regionals gets $3,000 and the one team winner from each regional competition splits $6,000. Hope this clarifies the situation.
The $2,000 grants our schools get is correct though. It is a $2,000 grant for each project so Stuyvesant and Francis Lewis will split the $2,000 for the Leung-Yau-Dasgupta team.
Rebecca Long
Francis Lewis High School
We stand corrected
I read, and enjoy your “Where Is This?” contest very much as I am a history buff, and a lifelong resident of Astoria. Consequently, I take my Astoria history very seriously.
A few weeks ago, I saw the pix of the Citicorp building in your contest. When I read your profile of the building in a subsequent edition of The Courier, I was dismayed to see the major error regarding the history of the building.
The Citicorp building was not built on the site of the “Old L.I.C. jail” as you indicated. The jail was not demolished until after the Citicorp building had started being built.
The building was in fact constructed on what was originally the site of the first St. John’s Hospital and the adjoining nurses’ apartments. St John’s Hospital is currently located on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst. After the hospital was demolished, and before the Citicorp construction began, the site was a parking lot.
George Andrew
Astoria
A Hillary fan?
Were the countries that elected female leaders, i.e. Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Benazir Bhutto, Indira Gandhi, Angela Merkel, etc. concerned that the gender of these leaders was a negative - that they were possibly incapable of dealing successfully with foreign policy, domestic issues, and other important problems requiring good judgment?
I think not!
Gender obviously was not the issue when these women worldwide were chosen to lead their countries! I wonder why gender has become such a polarizing factor in the United States?
Are “changes” from the traditional way of “doing things” difficult for the American populace to assimilate? I have always believed that some changes “turn out” for the better!
Leonore Brooks
Whitestone
Most workers deserve Thanksgiving holiday
While most of us were with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day, it was very sad to observe that some businesses chose to open that Thursday. Thanksgiving is a day to be with our families and friends as well as to give thanks to God for all of the blessings he has given us. No matter what religion we are - Thanksgiving is a universal and national holiday in the United States, and all of us deserve to have the day off.
Of course, there are those who work in essential services - police, fire, hospitals, and EMS who do have to work, as well as those who run the city’s subways, buses and rail lines.
It would be nice if all nonessential businesses would close for this day of giving thanks. When I was a kid, everything closed, except for bakeries, and even they closed no later than 1 p.m. Shame on those money hungry businesses who only know that value of the almighty dollar, and not the value of being with family and friends on holidays.
John Amato
Fresh Meadows
Sign up to become an organ donor
The generosity of live organ donors like Tyehesian Johnson, The Queens Courier issue of 11/1 - “The Gift of Life - Fianc/ gives kidney to his love,” is wonderful. It is a shame we need so many live organ donors. Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs every year.
There is another good way to put a big dent in the organ shortage - if you do not agree to donate your organs when you die, then you go to the back of the waiting list if you ever need an organ to live.
Giving organ donors priority will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 50 percent of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who have not agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has 9,978 members, including 543 members in New York.
David J. Undis
Executive Director, LifeSharers
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