Senior Nicasia Beebe-Wang has made a lasting impact on the WHB school district. Weeks of dedication and commitment rightfully earned her the title of Intel Science Semifinalist – the first WHB student to ever receive such an honor.
Previously attending the Long Island School for the Gifted, Nicasia became seriously involved with her education and future life experiences. “Private school was a great experience, and felt a lot like a close-knit family. WHB was a huge change,” she said.
Attending LISG gave her the necessary determination to pursue such a prosperous high school career here at WHBHS. “I never expected to end up in LISG or WHBHS, with all the opportunities they offered me,” she says.
She was able to fit right in, and is now proud to call WHB her home – especially since attending WHBHS has permitted her to be “so successful in high school.” Today, Mr. Herr describes her as “as model for what can be achieved if you work hard, put forward the effort and utilize the resources of the school and beyond.”
Nicasia has focused much of her vigor on experiencing “real world” situations, while also excelling in her education and being distinctly involved in various school proceedings. An internship at the Brookhaven National Laboratory with the Neuropsychoimaging group offered Nicasia the opportunity to conduct her own research regarding cocaine addiction.
Her complicated research “was basically to see the impact of variations in the dopamine transporter gene on responsiveness to cocaine pictures in cocaine-dependent individuals, and to see if these effects were reliant on withdrawal status.” After completing such successful studies, she explains “it was just a natural step to submit them to competitions like Intel STS.”
Sacrificing a lackadaisical summer vacation for a demanding research based internship proved to be a great decision. Her submission earned her being chosen as a semi-finalist – the first High-school student on the east end to receive this greatly deserved reward. “Being named an Intel semi-finalist puts her as one of the top research minds in the country,” Mr. Herr proudly states.
It’s obvious that Nicasia is headed for a highly successful future, but through all her successes, which also include her recent acceptance to Harvard, she maintains a very humble outlook. “I’d like to be thought of as someone who added to WHBHS’s prestige as a school, and made the atmosphere a little better for being here, but I really don’t expect to have much of a lasting impact on the school,” she says.
As for the future, she says, “For now, it’s wide open.”