Edgar Rivas Lizama graduated last June with the respect of everyone at Huntington High School, winning numerous scholarships and awards and heading off to college with high hopes. He hasn’t disappointed those who think so highly of him, earning a sensational grade point average during his freshman year.
“Well, I finished my first year already at Suffolk Community College and I will be transferring to Farmingdale State College for the fall semester,” Mr. Rivas Lizama said. “I have decided that I want to go into the computer security technology field. I’ve done very well regarding grades. I’ve managed to get a 3.6 GPA.”
At Huntington High School’s senior academic awards night in June 2019, Mr. Rivas Lizama captured the Alan Kuver Memorial Scholarship, Appliance World of Huntington Scholarship, the bELIeve Project: Eli Mollineaux Memorial Scholarship, Congressional Merit Award, Donald A Pius Scholarship, Honorary Chief Robert Henneborn Award for Citizenship, Howard Munson Scholarship, John Bosco Memorial Scholarship and the Spanish Honor Society Award.
The Huntington alum has compiled a spectacular academic record while attending college fulltime and simultaneously working fulltime for FedEx as a driver.
“In three years from now I see myself working as a cyber security specialist,” Mr. Rivas Lizama said. “This is one of my goals and I am very confident that I will accomplish it.”
At Huntington High School, Mr. Rivas Lizama was vice president of the Spanish Honor Society as a junior and co-president as a senior. He wrote articles for The Dispatch, the high school’s student newspaper. He won a Bronze Award in the National Spanish Exam competition. He was chosen to participate in the Angelo del Toro Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute in Albany. A very hardworking young man, he also held down a job at Huntington Hospital.
Among Mr. Rivas Lizama’s favorite Huntington faculty members were Spanish teacher Mercedes Pena, math teacher Amanda Scott and social studies teacher Sarah Buchalter.
“I learned a lot during those four years at Huntington,” Mr. Rivas Lizama said. “The teachers were very supportive. Ms. [Diana] Bonilla, the school counselor, helped me a lot, too, with the scholarship applications. I am very thankful to everybody at Huntington High School who helped me during those four years.”