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Scanteianu is one of 40 distinguished high school seniors in New York and more than 1,000 nationwide who learned last week they have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 200 corporations, company foundations, and business organizations.
“I am very honored to have received this award, and I think it speaks for the quality of Ossining schools and the high caliber of teachers and programs at Ossining High School more than anything,” Scanteianu said.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. is awarding about 7,500 scholarships worth more than $32 million this spring and early summer. Scanteianu was one of roughly 16,000 students nationwide who qualified last fall as semifinalists because of high scores on the 2015 Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. Only about 1 percent of some 1.6 million juniors who took the PSAT became semifinalists. In February, she was selected as one of about 15,000 finalists.
Marybeth Griffin, Scanteianu's school counselor, praised her for being an exceptional student, skilled athlete and talent musician.
“I could go on for days stating many examples of what makes her a great student and community member,” Griffin said. “Suffice it to say she is one of the brightest and most humble young women that I have had the pleasure to know. I am sure that we will be hearing great things from her in the future.”
Scanteianu said she likely will be attending the Honors College at Rutgers University and studying for a degree in mathematics. Scanteianu said she is not sure at this time whether she wants to pursue a career in research, industry or education.
Scanteianu is a member of Ossining's Science Research Program and has received a number of awards for her research in proteomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She studied large biological datasets and found a way to predict protein concentrations.
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