The Intel Science Talent Search, sponsored by the Intel Corporation and Science Service recently awarded their top 10 scholarships. Of all the students competing throughout the nation, a Roslyn High School student, Johanna Waldman, came in seventh place for her behavioral and social science project, entitled, "Cheating To Make the Grade: An Analysis of Factors Affecting Academic Dishonesty."

For the project, Ms. Waldman distributed questionnaires to 224 students, ages 15-17, who were attending a privately-run summer program. Her research revealed that while half of the respondents expressed their disapproval of cheating, more than 90 percent admitted to practicing some cheating behaviors. Ms. Waldman's seventh place finish carried a $20,000 scholarship with it. The faculty advisor for her project was social studies teacher Allison Weseley.

At Roslyn High School, Ms. Waldman is president of the school's model congress. She also won the Wellesley Book Award and qualified for New York State championship tournaments in forensics.

Four other Roslyn High School students were among the nation's 300 semifinalists in this year's competition: Ashley Donnenfeld, Justin Georgekutty, Daniel King, and Brian Lieberman.

Ms. Waldman is the fifth RHS student to place in the top 10 in the Science Talent Search, following in the footsteps of Lisa Schwartz in 1999, Davesh Maulik in 1997, Jessica Boklan in 1986 and Conrad Vences Chester in 1950.

This year's awards marked the 60th anniversary for the Intel Science Search, one of the nation's most prestigious pre-college science competition. The Science Service has administered the program since its inception. Intel has sponsored the competition since 1998. Past winners of the talent search have gone on to become MacArthur Foundation Fellows, Fields Medalists and even Nobel Laureates.