40 incoming high-school seniors from across Long Island are recognized for their academic and artistic achievements.

Long Island, NY - Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2024-2025 Long Island Scholar-Artist Awards. This prestigious program, presented in partnership with Newsday, recognizes the region's most talented high school artists, highlighting their exceptional abilities and achievements across five artistic disciplines: Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Dance, and Media Arts.

Each year, outstanding students are selected from a competitive pool of nominees submitted by public, independent, and parochial schools across Long Island. From these nominees, twenty students are chosen as Scholar-Artists, with their profiles and photos featured in Newsday and on Newsday.com throughout the school year. Additionally, twenty students are honored with Merit Awards in recognition of their outstanding achievements.

Dr. John Gallagher, Director of Music & Fine Arts for Longwood Central School District, serves as the Chair of the Scholar-Artist Selection Committee. He says, “High-quality arts education programs have been a staple in Long Island school districts for generations. Each year the Long Island Scholar Artist committee finds it difficult to select students for recognition in our program. We join parents in being very proud of them and commend the arts educators, arts administrators, and building & district leaders for supporting them”.

The Scholar-Artist Awards program is an important pathway for connecting Long Island’s young artists with the region’s nationally recognized universities. Each Scholar-Artist is eligible for early scholarship consideration from LIAA’s higher education partners, providing them with unique opportunities to further their academic and artistic pursuits here on Long Island.

The Long Island Scholar-Artist Awards program is honored to spotlight these remarkable students and their contributions to the arts. We invite the community to join us in celebrating their achievements throughout the year in Newsday and at our annual awards ceremony event at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in the spring.

The LIAA Scholar-Artist program extends its deepest gratitude to our sponsors, the New York Community Bank Foundation and the Arts Reach Fund at Long Island Community Foundation. Their generous support is instrumental in making this program possible.

For more information on the Long Island Scholar-Artist Awards program or to learn about LIAA's other initiatives, please visit www.longislandartsalliance.org. Photos from previous years available upon request.

2024-2025 Long Island Scholar-Artist Award Winners

Media Arts

Scholar-Artists

Victoria Lin, Half Hollow Hills HS East

Abigail Maselli, Locust Valley HS

Riley Wood, LIHSA / Wantagh HS

Henry Zhao, Cold Spring Harbor HS

Merit Awards

Maya Martin, Herricks HS

Nick Miceli, Smithtown HS / LIHSA

Elena Mingorance, South Side HS

Christine Wang, New Hyde Park HS

Music

Scholar-Artists

Lucy Chang, Miller Place HS

Constantine Cheung, Herricks HS

Thomas Lasher, Newfield HS

Eric Reilly, Lynbrook HS

Katie Swansig, Oceanside HS

Merit Awards

Ava Giannitelli, W.T. Clarke HS

Kevin Kirley, Kellenberg Memorial HS

Aaron Liu, Syosset HS

SuQi Tian, Great Neck North HS

Visual Arts

Scholar-Artists

Janice Lee, LIHSA / Syosset

Maia Schaider, Half Hollow Hills HS West

Fiona So, Floral Park Memorial HS

Kerry Yeung, Half Hollow Hills HS East

Merit Awards

Kaitlin Cook, Garden City HS

Baihe Fu, Plainview Old Bethpage JFK HS

Elena Moryl, H. Frank Carey HS

Ashlyn Thitibordin, Jericho HS

Kimberly Widjaja, Hicksville HS

Katherine Yu Zhao, Great Neck North HS

Theater

Scholar-Artists

Danielle Kaplan, Syosset HS

Mackenzie Kling, Mt. Sinai HS

Sara Nearenberg, Locust Valley / LIHSA

Arielle Ziff, Oceanside HS

Merit Awards

Amelia Freiberger, Harborfields HS

Ashlee Fucarino, LIHSA / Wantagh HS

Dani Pressman, Jericho HS

Madeline Naughton, Kellenberg HS

Ariana Washington, North Babylon HS

Dance

Scholar-Artists

Scarlett DePaul, Northport HS / LIHSA

Lauren Gilbert, LIHSA / Kings Park HS

Katelyn Guterwill, Sayville HS

Merit Awards

Ainsley Waite, HHH West / LIHSA

About Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA)

LIAA is dedicated to promoting and supporting the thriving arts and culture sector across Long Island. Through advocacy, education, and public programs, LIAA works to enhance the cultural vitality of the region, ensuring that arts and creativity are integral to the lives of all Long Islanders.