School Notebook: Jericho High School team wins Long Island Science Bowl

A Jericho High School team has been named the first-place winner in this year's Long Island Regional Science Bowl.

The team, made up of Natasha Kulviwat, Derek Minn, Ashwin Narayanan, Brendan Shek and Hanson Xuan, took the top spot among high school groups in the "Jeopardy!"-style competition that featured topics including biology, math and physics. It was held at Brookhaven National Laboratory in late January.

The team has now advanced to the National Science Bowl, which will be held next month in Washington, D.C.

"I am so proud of these people," said Kulviwat, a junior. "Team members said they studied up until the night before the competition, only adding to their weekly practices and time spent poring over textbooks in preparation for the big day."

Teams from Great Neck South High School and Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills placed second and third, respectively, in the bowl's high-school level. Meanwhile, a team from R.C. Murphy Junior High School in Stony Brook placed second in the bowl's middle-school level, which was won by a team from Hunter College High School in Manhattan.

This year's competition also featured a Cyber Challenge, which asked participants to code a digital flower illustration. The challenge's high- and middle-school levels were won by Shaun Kenney of Island Trees High School in Levittown and Louis Liu of Great Neck South Middle School, respectively.

MOUNT SINAI

Bay Scallop Bowl

A Mount Sinai High School team placed second in this year's Bay Scallop Bowl, a regional competition that tests knowledge of oceanography and related sciences. It consisted of about a dozen high school teams at Stony Brook University.

The "Jeopardy!"-style competition featured a morning round-robin format in which teams were separated into divisions to determine seedings based upon records and points; the afternoon session consisted of a double-elimination playoff bracket.

A team from Midwood High School in Brooklyn defeated Mount Sinai in the final round and will compete this spring in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

VALLEY STREAM

Service Week

Valley Stream North High School recently held an inaugural Service Week in which the school's honor societies joined forces to give back to the community.

The week featured service efforts focusing on different community groups each day — such as writing thank-you letters to health care heroes and composing cards with positive messages to older residents in local nursing homes. The teens also performed such tasks as helping peers with their homework.

"Our goal was to show students how easy it can be to do simple, yet meaningful, tasks that could mean the world to someone else," said the school's National Honor Society adviser, Lori Belbol.

ISLANDWIDE

Olympic spirit

Many schools celebrated the recent 2022 Winter Olympics with activities designed to teach students about the international multisport event.

Students at Andrew Muller Primary School in Miller Place participated in modified versions of various Olympic sports — ranging from bobsledding to curling — during their physical-education classes throughout the month of February.

In Shirley, William Floyd Elementary School hosted a mock opening ceremony in which each class adopted a country and created flags to hold during an in-school "Parade of Nations."

Mandalay Elementary School students participated in modified versions of various Olympic sports during their physical education classes throughout the month of February in Wantagh. For curling, children slid rings across the gym floor while teammates used hockey brooms to clear away objects.

In Westhampton Beach, middle schoolers transformed their building's hallways into an Olympic Village. The initiative, which was spearheaded by the Student Council, saw children collaborate to select a country and decorate a classroom door with everything from that nation's flag to facts about Olympians.

At Bowling Green Elementary School in East Meadow, third-graders dressed up in sports jerseys and winter gear as they competed in an obstacle course. They also used pool noodles as they pretended to ski in the hallways.

In Malverne, Maurice W. Downing Elementary School held a mock opening ceremony in which students marched throughout the building holding Olympic and U.S.-themed signs.

ISLANDWIDE

Coca-Cola Scholars

Four Long Island students — Joshua Dong of Jericho High School, Michael Fuentes of North Babylon High School, Devin Moore of Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School, and Varsha Saravanan of Hauppauge High School — are among 251 regional finalists nationwide in the 2022 Coca-Cola Scholars Program based on their leadership skills, academic achievements and community service.

Regional finalists will participate in a 20-minute interview with a regional interview committee made up of previous scholarship recipients and a staff member of the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. A total of 150 will be named Coca-Cola Scholars this spring and receive $20,000 scholarships.

This year, more than 68,000 students from across the country applied for the designation.

— MICHAEL R. EBERT

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

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.