School Notebook: Robotics teams win Chairman's Award
A team from Great Neck South took home one of the Chairman's Awards, the most prestigious honor, at this year’s Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. Credit: Great Neck Public Schools
Teams from Great Neck South and Hicksville high schools took home the Chairman's Award, the most prestigious honor, in this year's regional robotics competitions on Long Island.
The Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition was divided into two separate three-day events last month that attracted 84 teams to Hofstra University. FIRST is an international youth organization that stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
A three-team alliance of Southold Jr./Sr. High School, Westhampton Beach High School and the Wheatley School in Old Westbury was the winner of Regional 1, while a three-team alliance of Bethpage High School, Southold Jr./Sr. High School and Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan was the winner in Regional 2.
Great Neck South's "Rebel Robotics" (Team 2638) and Hicksville's "Hicksville J-Birds" (Team 1468) each received the regionals' Chairman Award, which recognized the team that "best embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST," the organization said.
"All participating teams demonstrated tremendous teamwork, gracious professionalism and critical thinking," said Bertram Dittmar, executive director of the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, which sponsored the event. "The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students and mentors got caught up in the spirit of the event."
To participate, teams designed and built robots that weighed up to 120 pounds using a kit of parts that included motors, batteries and control system components. This year's competition had a theme of "Rapid React," which challenged alliances to outscore their opponents by shooting inflatable balls into a central "hub" and then climbing within their respective hangars at the end of the match.
FARMINGDALE
Bayport-Blue Point High School students enrolled in the school’s Spin Fusion class participated in a 60-minute workshop that incorporated treadmills, rowers and weights at Orangetheory Fitness in Sayville. Credit: Bayport-Blue Point School District
Trade school fair
Farmingdale High School hosted its first trade school fair last month in which teens learned about various career paths available to them in the local area.
The inaugural event, which is intended to be annual, included representatives from educational facilities including the Long Island Beauty School, the Long Island Drafting & Technical Institute, and Suffolk County Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Training Center.
"For students starting to consider their next steps, it's important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach," said Farmingdale special-education teacher Ivelysse Powers, who organized the fair.
In St. James, fourth- and fifth-graders at Mills Pond Elementary School performed circus acts for the school’s younger students last month after a week of training under the guidance of the National Circus Project. Credit: Smithtown Central School District
HAUPPAUGE AND WEST BABYLON
Coca-Cola Scholars
Varsha Saravanan of Hauppauge High School and Michael Fuentes of West Babylon High School were among 150 students nationwide named 2022 Coca-Cola Scholars by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. They each received $20,000 scholarships.
To become scholars, they were first among 1,617 semifinalists and then among 150 regional finalists, the latter of whom participated in interviews with a regional committee composed of previous scholarship recipients and a foundation staff member.
This year, more than 68,000 students nationwide applied for the designation.
Riverhead High School hosted “Empty Bowls,” a fundraiser in which the school’s ceramics classes crafted bowls that were sold and filled with soup made by members of the Cooking Club. The event raised $1,700 for Maureen’s Haven Homeless Outreach. Credit: Riverhead School District
LEVITTOWN
'Law and Justice' selectee
Vincent D'Antone, a senior at MacArthur High School, was one of 20 students nationwide recently selected to spend a week learning about all branches of the criminal justice system at the National Academy of Law and Justice in Washington, D.C.
During the visit, D'Antone had the opportunity to participate in forensics courses at the International Spy Museum and the National Law Enforcement Museum as well as meet with personnel from the U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
"This class is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and points you in the right direction by getting the experience and hands-on learning you need," D'Antone said.
Gabriel Wilkinson, with his design “Thunder Storm,” was one of four students from Connetquot and Timber Point elementary schools in the East Islip School District whose doughnut drawings were turned into real donuts and sold for a limited time at North Fork Doughnut Co. in Bay Shore. Credit: East Islip School District
SOUTH HUNTINGTON
Blessed relic
St. Anthony's High School hosted a Mass earlier this month that featured a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a London-born amateur computer programmer who documented Eucharistic miracles online before his death from leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006. He was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020.
The school was the first place nationwide to host Acutis' relic, a fragment of his heart's pericardium.
"My prayer is that the presence of Blessed Carlo's relic stirs a desire within our American brothers and sisters, especially the young, not to waste life, but rather to make of it a masterpiece," said Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of the Diocese Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino in Italy, who brought the relic to St. Anthony's.
In Bellmore, Jake Parrino, left, and Dylan Bottarini were among third-graders in Samantha Seith's class at Winthrop Avenue School who researched and wrote about animals of their choice as part of a writer’s workshop. Credit: Bellmore School District
ISLANDWIDE
Photography showcase
Eleven students have been named first-place winners in various categories of a 2022 Youth Showcase competition coordinated by the Photographic Federation of Long Island, a nonprofit organization that includes camera clubs from Long Island and New York City.
Winners were selected in print and digital divisions that featured six categories: architecture, people/animals, photojournalism, scapes, photographer’s choice (creative) and photographer's choice (monochrome).
This year's first-place winners and their high schools were: Evelyn Kim, Commack; Jenna Cox, Farmingdale; Emma Gross and Bonan Wei, Jericho; Elliot Schenck, Long Beach; LaLone Giavanna and Sweezey Ryan, Longwood; Jade Crawford, Malverne; Gertsen Riley and Gabriella Rose Sclafani, Patchogue-Medford; and Ibraheem Mahmood, Valley Stream South.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
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.
