A team from The Stony Brook School has been named champion of the Long Island High School Ethics Bowl for the sixth time in eight years.

Students Josh Kim, Nika Shi and Sisi Zhang bested about 20 other groups to place first in the bowl, which challenged participants to “analyze and discuss real-life and timely ethical issues,” according to bowl officials. It was sponsored by the Squire Family Foundation in East Northport and held at Hofstra University in Hempstead.

Stony Brook’s team went undefeated in five rounds to win the competition, the school said. The second-place team came from Bethpage High School, while teams from Farmingdale and Syosset high schools tied for third.

“The week prior it seemed like we had a lot of work still to do, but in the end we came out on top and I was really proud,” said McKenzie Taylor, Stony Brook’s coach. “Under pressure it seemed like they got everything together and performed really well, especially in the final round. It was very inspiring.”

This year’s issues included the ethics of third-party voting in major elections if you know your candidate won’t win, as well as the level of autonomy children should have when it comes to participating in sports and extracurricular activities.

Stony Brook advanced to the New York City/Long Island divisional competition, where they lost to a team from Regis High School in Manhattan.

LONG BEACH

ExploraVision winners

A Long Beach Middle School team is one of 24 regional winners nationwide in the 33rd Annual ExploraVision competition, which challenged students to brainstorm solutions for problems that might exist in a decade. It is coordinated by the National Science Teaching Association and Toshiba.

Long Beach’s project, titled “Visionary,” explores the development of an “artificial eye that mimics real-eye function using artificial intelligence and a microchip,” according to school officials.

The team has now qualified for the national competition and will receive Chromebooks to create posters, websites and videos showcasing the technology, according to ExploraVision. National winners and runners-up will receive $10,000 and $5,000 savings bonds, respectively.

SYOSSET

Olympiad winner

A Syosset High School team won first place in the high school division of the New York State Science Olympiad and has qualified for the national tournament in Nebraska on May 23-24. This year’s state contest, which was held last month in Syracuse, consisted of 60 teams that were top performers in one of 13 high school regional competitions across New York.

To reach the state level, Syosset bested 40 teams this past winter in the Nassau West Regional Science Olympiad. Second place at the state level went to Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, which also qualified for the national tournament.

Science Olympiad tournaments consist of teams of up to 15 students competing in more than 20 events that test learning, lab and building skills, according to competition officials.

WYANDANCH

Imagination Library

The Wyandanch School District has announced a partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a free literacy program that mails “age-appropriate books to children from birth until they start school,” according to the Dollywood Foundation.

Through the program, children ages 5 and under living in the district can receive free high-quality books delivered to their homes monthly. Wyandanch is the only Long Island district to offer the program, district officials said.

“Fostering a love of reading and learning starts at a young age and it is the foundation of academic success,” Christine Jordan, the district’s assistant superintendent for administrative and instructional accountability, said in a statement.

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.