The Stony Brook School wins LI Ethics Bowl

A team from The Stony Brook School has taken the top spot in the Long Island High School Ethics Bowl for the second consecutive year.

The 10th annual competition, which drew 26 teams from 14 local high schools to Hofstra University, is a collaborative event in which students analyze timely moral dilemmas and defend the position they believe is right. They are judged on the quality of their contributions to a civil discussion.

The Stony Brook School's seven-member team advances to the National High School Ethics Bowl, which is held each year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is scheduled April 5-7.

“I am proud of their philosophical depth and rhetorical skills, but I am more impressed by their intellectual humility, their love of justice, and their charity toward their opponents,” said Sean Riley, Stony Brook’s co-coach.

Second place went to a Bethpage High School team. Third place was a tie between teams from Syosset High School and Bethpage High School. A Farmingdale High School team received the Robert Ladenson Spirit of the Ethics Bowl Award for their respectful dialogue and sportsmanship, while a Jericho High School team received the Honorary Award for Commentary and a Roslyn High School team received the Honorary Award for Response to Questions.

The regional bowl was sponsored by the Squire Family Foundation in East Northport.

MOUNT SINAI

Bay Scallop Bowl

Mount Sinai High School’s five-student team, called the Mighty Mustangs, took second place in this year’s Bay Scallop Bowl, a “Jeopardy!”-style competition that tests students’ knowledge of oceanography and related sciences. First place went to a team from Hunter College High School in Manhattan.

The competition, which drew 12 teams statewide to Stony Brook University, featured a morning round-robin format in which teams were separated into divisions to determine seedings based upon overall records and points. The afternoon session consisted of a double-elimination playoff bracket.

Long Island’s other participating teams came from the Half Hollow Hills, Huntington, Locust Valley and Massapequa school districts.

COUNTYWIDE

Valentine’s Day

Many local schools hosted community service activities in February in recognition of Valentine’s Day to spread love to those in need.

In West Islip, kindergartners in Mary Berger’s and Pamela Hergerton’s class at Oquenock Elementary School prepared gifts, including red cups filled with goodies, to be delivered to homes participating in Meals on Wheels, a program that delivers meals to the elderly and disabled.

In Copiague, students in the middle school’s Builders Club delivered homemade cards, notes and letters along with a rose to elderly residents at nearby Tanner Park Senior Center. The children also spent time talking to, and dancing with, the senior citizens.

In Shirley, William Floyd Elementary School students created more than 300 cards for distribution to active-duty military personnel serving in Afghanistan through Sgt. Robert Fredette, who is the nephew of the school’s social worker, Jeanne Stern.

ISLANDWIDE

New York Recycles

Four Long Island students were winners for their recycling-themed artwork in the 16th annual New York Recycles Poster Contest sponsored by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and New York Recycles Steering Committee.

First place went to Ilana Sacolick of Hebrew Academy of Five Towns & Rockaway High School, or HAFTR. Second place went to Molly Feder of HAFTR High School and Luna Pankratz of Oquenock Elementary School in West Islip, and third place went to Nechama Hillel of HAFTR High School.

The winners’ artwork is being featured in the 2019 New York Recycles calendar. They were honored at the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling’s annual recycling conference in upstate Cooperstown.