Townsend Harris High School receives national honor

Flushing’s Townsend Harris High School has been nationally recognized for its innovative and effective science program, which offers advanced high school classes in atypical fields.
Intel Corporation, the technology developer, chose Townsend Harris from a pool of 30 high school candidates for the honor, the 2008 Intel Schools of Distinction Award in Science Excellence. Only six schools were honored by Intel - one elementary, one middle and one high school in the categories of science and mathematics.
“I’m just so pleased and proud of the students and faculty in this building,” said Susan Brustein, Assistant Principal of Science and Technology. “Although this award is for science, I believe it’s something we can all be proud of.”
The school will also be granted $10,000 and school representatives will attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., this September, where one of the six schools has the chance to be named “Star Innovator” and receive additional prizes including a $15,000 grant from the Intel Foundation.
Candidates for the Intel Schools of Distinction Award must undergo a rigorous application program, which involves an on-site analysis of the school by an Intel representative. The agent who visited Townsend Harris spent an entire day sitting in classrooms, speaking with faculty and students and reviewing records such as regents test scores and research awards, Brustein said.
“Townsend Harris High School is a school that has transformed a mediocre science program into one that is a role model for other schools,” said Wendy Hawkins, Executive Director of the Intel Foundation, in a statement. “Their effort has resulted in sharply improved results - as measured both by student test scores, and by student participation in advanced science classes.”
This is not the first honor the school has received. The school was awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 2004, the 2005 Lighthouse School Award and was cited as a First Amendment School five times, according to the school’s web site.
Townsend Harris’ science program offers students the opportunity to take advanced courses in robotics, forensic science, genetics, anatomy and physiology, organic chemistry and science research in addition to the required basic courses of biology, chemistry and physics.
The money won by the science program will be used for the science program, Brustein said. It will be used to replenish class supplies such as motors for robotics, specimens for biology and chemicals for chemistry and forensics.
“We have a really small but strong program here,” Brustein said. “The special parts of the program are for students who are passionate about studying them.”
With the national honor, comes national influence. “Intel is proud to hold this school up as an example to others - schools can in fact make major changes that better prepare their students for the 21st century,” Hawkins said.