Making the Grade: 5 LI teams heading to national robotics contest

Five Long Island teams are advancing to the national level after taking top awards at this year’s Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, held last month at Hofstra University in Hempstead.

To participate, teams of students ages 14-18 designed and built robots using a kit of parts that included motors, control systems and game components. They then competed in an alliance-style double-elimination tournament under the theme of “Crescendo,” which challenged teams to score by getting foam rings into goals and then move their robots to trusses and climb on metal chains to earn additional points.

Mineola High School’s Wild Reds team bested 48 others to win the Regional FIRST Impact Award, which recognized the team that best represented a model for other competitors to emulate. (FIRST Stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”)

The winning alliance was Syosset High School’s Supersonics and the POBots from Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School. Bethpage High School’s Regal Eagles and Cold Spring Harbor High School’s CyberHawks won the Regional Engineering Inspiration and Wildcard awards, respectively.

The five teams will now compete in the national robotics championship, to be held in Houston from April 17-20.

“The entire Mineola school community is proud of our robotics team,” said Interim Principal Edward Escobar. “This achievement is evidence of the dedication and commitment of the students and their coaches in working collaboratively to design, build and code robots.”

MANHASSET

New podcast

Manhasset High School junior Rashida Poonawala has launched the school’s first podcast using equipment donated by the Tower Foundation of Manhasset, which strives to enrich the district’s educational experience.

The podcast, titled “The Career Spotlight,” posts new episodes every other month on a YouTube channel, @manhassetbroadcast. Episodes so far have included interviews with Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and Carson Daly, a co-host on NBC’s “Today” show.

“The reason I chose a career spotlight was because there are a lot of kids, especially in high school, who are trying to figure out what they want to pursue in college and as a career,” Poonawala said.

SMITHTOWN

New principal

William Holl has been appointed principal of Smithtown High School West, effective July 1. He will replace John Coady, who is retiring.

Holl has served as principal of East Moriches Middle School since 2020, and before that was an assistant principal at Seneca Middle School in Holbrook. He began his career in education as a physics teacher at Sachem High School North in Lake Ronkonkoma.

“I’m incredibly excited and honored to have been given the opportunity to serve the Smithtown community as the new principal of Smithtown High School West,” Holl said.

ISLANDWIDE

Poetry finalists

Four Long Island students — Ryan Karis of Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick; James Masson of Syosset High School; Kaitlyn Rams of Herricks High School in New Hyde Park; and Isabelle Scherl of Shoreham-Wading River High School — were among 18 state finalists at this year’s Poetry Out Loud competition in Manhattan, which was held in March.

To reach the state level, the students first competed at regional semifinals in February. At both the semifinals and finals, participants recited works from classic and contemporary poets and were scored by a panel of judges that included poets and educators.

The state competition was coordinated by the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts.

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.