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'American Idol' star Kevin Covais sings in Medford

BY PAT BURSON | pat.burson@newsday.com

8:31 PM EDT, March 25, 2008

"American Idol" alum Kevin Covais, the teen balladeer from Levittown, performed for about 700 students at Tremont Elementary School in Medford Tuesday, in a concert that rewarded the children for helping to raise the most money for a new diabetes center for their community.

Wearing jeans and blue-and-white sneakers with a light blue buttoned-down shirt and pink plaid tie, the bespectacled crooner ran through several pop tunes, including newer ones such as BBMak's "Back Here Baby" and classics like Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."

Last fall, students at the Patchogue-Medford school district's seven elementary schools held a walkathon, collecting more than $43,000, aimed at establishing a diabetes center at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital. Tremont students raised the most, more than $12,000, earning the visit from Covais.

Covais was diagnosed with diabetes at 11. Now 18, he travels the country raising awareness about the disease. Yesterday's performance coincided with Diabetes Alert Day.

After a few songs, Covais jumped down from the stage to answer questions, about his 11th-place finish in "Idol's" fifth season, how he's spent the past two years, his nickname, "Chicken Little," and his diabetes.

"How has diabetes changed your life?" one girl asked.

"At first it was really scary," Covais said. "I was a pretty young kid, like a lot of you, and I wasn't sure what to do or everything involved with diabetes. As I got older, I became more knowledgeable about it. ... You realize that you have to test your blood sugar often, eat all the right things and take care of yourself."

He ended with a twofer from Michael Bublé's: His mellow "Home" and a more upbeat cover of "Save the Last Dance for Me," walking into the middle of the crowd, slapping palms with kids, and urging them to dance along.

"I felt incredible about being here today," he said afterward. "To contribute towards such a worthy cause, such a cause that hits close to home for me, it's amazing. To include me in this, it's just very humbling and very gratifying for me."