Fire Prevention Month lets students learn safety tips
Kindergartners at Miller Avenue Elementary School in Shoreham learned about fire safety during a visit from Rocky Point Fire Department's Shoreham Co. No. 3. Credit: Shoreham-Wading River Central School District
Students in districts across Long Island were equipped with safety tips and know-how during National Fire Prevention Month in October.
The Cutchogue and Mattituck fire departments educated more than 600 children through visits to schools, including Cutchogue East Elementary School and Our Lady of Mercy Regional School. Pupils learned how to dial 911 to report an emergency, identify and correct hazards in the home and safely exit a smoke-filled house.
“The kids were pretty much mesmerized,” Cutchogue Principal Kathleen Devine said. “They also go home and remind mom and dad about fire safety, so this opens up that conversation.”
In Lindenhurst, members of the Lindenhurst Fire Department visited schools and told students about the importance of testing smoke detectors monthly and changing the detectors’ batteries annually. Children also practiced how to “stop, drop and roll” and were advised never to hide in the house or to return to the house for possessions.
Students at Tuttle Avenue Elementary School in Eastport were able to put on equipment — including jackets, helmets and oxygen tanks — during a visit from the Eastport Fire Department. The activity was intended to ease fears kids might have when seeing a firefighter in full gear.
In Farmingville, Lynwood Elementary School students watched firefighters perform rescue simulations, which included rappelling 100 feet from a ladder truck, during a visit from the Farmingville Fire Department.
HAMPTON BAYS/MORICHES
Clam restoration
Students from Hampton Bays High School seeded 62,685 clams into Shinnecock Bay, while teenagers from William Floyd Middle School did the same with 61,408 of the bivalve mollusks.
The schools participated through the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program, created in 2012 and designed to improve the water quality and fisheries. It was founded by Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and its Institute for Ocean Conservation Science.
Hampton Bays’ amount was the most seeded by a school group in the program’s history, officials said.
COUNTYWIDE
Math scholars
Eighty-seven students were named Long Island Young Scholars of Mathematics by the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students at SUNY Old Westbury. Selection means they are in the top one-tenth of 1 percent of math students in their grade Islandwide.
Students chosen from public school districts in Suffolk County were: Michael Jang and Harry Poulose, Commack; Miles Kim, Jason Long, Talha Waseem and Alexander Witkowski, Half Hollow Hills; Caleb Kapen, Harborfields; Rishabh Dholakia and Sahishnu Sagiraju, Hauppauge; Samantha McGloin, Huntington; Taryn O’Connor and Nadia Prasad, Kings Park; Braden Ciszek, James Connor, Tara D’Amico, McKenzie Schuvart and Luke Tuthill, Northport-East Northport; Mili Das, Sachem; and Amy Chen, Theresa Jiao and Benjamin Zhang, Three Village.
Those chosen who attend private schools in Suffolk were: Daniel Mullan and Stephanie Mullan, St. Anthony’s High School, South Huntington; and Vincent Yang, Long Island School for the Gifted, Huntington Station.
ISLANDWIDE
Poster winners
Five local students were among winners in the 2017 New York School Bus Safety Poster Contest, sponsored by the New York Association for Pupil Transportation and the Cyr Foundation.
The theme was “My Driver — My Safety Hero!”
Winners and their districts were: Hunter Koeppen, Longwood, third place, Division 2 (grades 3-5); Isabella Vallacis, West Babylon, first place, Division 3 (grades 6-8); Charles Albano, Wantagh, third place, Division 3; Jacob Brill, Longwood, first place, Division 4 (special education); and Lacey Kaufer, Nassau BOCES, second place, Division 4.
Vallacis’ and Brill’s first-place posters advanced to the contest’s national level.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
