School Year in Review: Awards & Achievements

Harrison High School consistently ranks among the best high schools in New York and the country by US News and World Report.  

The Challenge Index ranks Harrison High School 3rd in Westchester, 19th  in New York State, and 219th in the country.  The Challenge Index began in 1998 and is the oldest high school ranking in the country.

Harrison High School earned recognition as a School of Distinction by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, with 90% of varsity teams earning scholar athlete status. 

The District continues to maintain a Standard and Poor’s Global Rating of “AAA,” validating our sound financial and organizational management.

The District was recognized for the 14th consecutive year for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Association of School Business Officials International.

 More than 1000 students participated in the District’s Summer Program offering instructional and enrichment courses at no cost to students. Registration for Summer 2022 begins in May.

Celebrating Student Dedication & Success

Three HHS Students Qualified as finalists in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair:  Science Research Scholars, Seniors Mai Blaustein, Jack Kelly, and Junior Ariella Blackman will compete in May. 

Westchester Science & Engineering Fair Winners: Mai Blaustein and Jack Kelly also won "Best in Fair'' (top 20 projects) and placed first in their competition categories, Mai (Chemistry) and Jack (Behavioral Sciences). Additional Award Winners at WESEF: Morgan Remeza, Katie Pflieger, Ariella Blackman, Nicole Giandomenico, Keelan Vaswani, Yuiko Suzuki, Macarena Hesse, Zaynab Faisal.

Ariella Blackman earned 1st place at the New York State Science and Engineering Fair and qualified for ISEF. Ariella also won the Mu Alpha Theta award for the creative use of math in her project.  Zaynab Faisal earned honorable mention and won the Stockholm Junior Water Prize.

Harrison High School Debate Team achieved unprecedented success with 13 tournament wins this season and 13 qualifying bids to the National Tournament of Champions (the most competitive debate tournament in the country), where Junior Jessie Pein placed in the top 30.  Two Harrison debaters rank among the top 10 Lincoln Douglas debaters in the nation, and the top 3 in New York State. The Team earned membership in the prestigious National Speech & Debate Association's 100 Club.  Annie Chen, Mai Blaustein and Ali Ahmad earned the National Speech & Debate Association’s Academic All American award.  Jessie Pein, Mai Blaustein, Annie Chen, Thomas Berg, and Elizabeth Murno qualified for the National Debate Coaches Association Championship and are among the top debaters in the nation. Charles Zenhausern and Jack Borman were novice co-champions of the National Debate Coaches Association’s national championship.

Four LMK Middle School students received medals at the New York State Science Olympiad competition: Atharv Gandhi, Mizuki Shimatani, Isani Mitra, and Ron Blaustein.

Seven Harrison High School Seniors were named Commended Students in the 2022 National Merit® Scholarship Program: Julia Ansel, Ethan Gilden, Macarena Hesse, Joanna Howson, Jack Kelly, Benjamin Lovinger, and Graham Napack.

Senior Joanna Howson won 11 Scholastic Writing Awards for her original writing: 2 Gold Keys, 5 Silver Keys, and 4 Honorable Mentions.

Senior Jack Kelly was selected as a delegate to the United States Senate Youth Program that brings high students together for a week-long study of the federal government.

37 DECA Business Club students competed at the state competition. Eight students placed first at states and qualified for the National DECA Business Competition: Jake Sarlo, Johnny Karipides, JOrdan Lubowitz, Stella Perini, Cate Ansel, Max Johansson, Michael Sica, Shweta Nadagouda. 

Harrison Model Congress club competed in the Princeton and Harvard Model Congress conferences and continues to perform among the top Model Congress clubs in the country earning a total of seven Best Delegate Awards. 

Junior Ariella Blackman was selected to perform in the 2022 NYC Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the Great American Marching Band.

Harrison High School senior Joshua Feldman, earned the position as first chair French Horn in the All State Symphonic Band.

The Young Artists 2022 Exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art featured exhibits by HHS Students Eileen Dockery, Julia Bonaiuto, Marina Misic, Georgia Robb, Kotomi Inaba, Amelia Kraus, Danielle Duffy, Anna FitzPatrick.

Artwork from HHS students Ami Goble, Gianna Allegretti, Angelea Nicaj, Sasha Konigsberg, Annalena King, Gianna Salvo, Rion Yoshimura, and Aaron Oro  was featured in the Identity Exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Westport.

HHS students Angelea Nicaj (Gold Key) and  Gianna Allegretti (Honorable Mention) earned awards from the Scholastic Art Awards Competition.

Seniors Victoria Peralta and Lauren Homem advanced to the regional level of the NYS PTA Reflections Choreography Competition.  

Faculty Accomplishments

Harrison High School teacher Leah Moore recently wrote a memoir Loving You Big which was featured in Forbes.

Harrison Avenue Elementary School Psychologist Dr. Caren Baruch-Feldman has written a book on helping children build resilience, The Resilience Workbook for Kids.

Harrison High School teachers Jen Daddino and Kim Grogan received the Co-Teaching Pair of the Year for an ENL and Classroom/Content teacher pair at the 51st Annual New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Harrison Athletics: Let’s Go Huskies!

The Varsity Girls Basketball Team, ranked among the top 25 teams in the state and 3rd in Section 1, won the League Championship.

Girls Varsity Basketball Head Coach Louis Kail was named League Coach of the Year.

The Girls Winter Track Team won the League Championship. First Place Finishers: Meghan McGurk, Ami Goble, Katrina Torelli, Ava Cefaloni, the 4x800 and 4x200 relay teams.

Ava Cefaloni finished 2nd overall in points for all of Westchester in girls varsity soccer.

Boys Varsity Basketball Captain Alex Homem was selected to the Section 1 William J. Thom Court of Excellence given to 10 student-athletes who excel in the classroom, on the court, and in the community.

Varsity Cheer Team placed 12th in the medium school division at the UCA National Competition.

Long-time Harrison Varsity Wrestling Coach, Vinnie Nicita was inducted into the Section 1 Hall of Fame for his many accomplishments as a coach and leader. 

Harrison Varsity Girls Soccer Coach, Jon Erik Zappala earned his 100th win as a coach; the win was recognized as the LoHud Game of the Day.

For a comprehensive review of our most recent athletic accomplishments, read the Harrison Athletics Winter Season Review.