34 students place 1st in 2015 Long Island History Day contest

Thirty-four Long Island students were first-place winners in a regional contest that encourages exploration of local, state, national and international history.

The 2015 Long Island History Day competition, which attracted 318 entries from more than 500 pupils in Nassau and Suffolk counties, challenged youngsters to research historical topics through libraries, archives, museums and oral interviews. Topics ranged from the eradication of smallpox to the musical and political legacy of the late songwriter Harry Chapin.

The top two or three winners in each category are eligible to compete at the state level in Cooperstown on April 27.

First-place winners named last month were: Rachel Forman, Julianna Jacobs and Liz Jacobs, Commack Middle School; Emma Lu, Annabele Ng, Michelle Mu Yang and Annie Yang, Great Neck South High School; Jade Carvalho, Hauppauge High School; Sahil Abbi, Brittany Battista, Nicole Cohanpour, Matthew Cohen, Nicole Garcia, Karishma Kamat, Sulaiman Kidwai, Dustin Liu, Neil Patel and Ashwin Viswanathan, Herricks High School; Melissa Lau, Felisha Ma and Ashley Wong, Herricks Middle School; Julianna Deangelis, Gillian Polakoff and Jolie Schornstein, Hewlett High School; Emily Shutman, Huntington High School; Chase Serota, Jericho High School; Nicole Orbuch, Jericho Middle School; Sophia Jang, H.B. Thompson Middle School, Syosset; Maggie Caroddo and Rebecca Zeltsman, Willets Road School, Roslyn; Lawrence Froymovich, Gabby Nakkab, Rachel Poutre and Lindsay Shatz, Woodmere Middle School.

UNIONDALE/VALLEY STREAM: Schools of Character

Two schools in Uniondale and one in Valley Stream are among nine schools and districts named New York State Schools of Character by the Academy of Character Education at the Sage Colleges. The schools are Northern Parkway Elementary School and Lawrence Road Middle School in Uniondale and Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School.

In addition, Jonas E. Salk Middle School in Levittown and Valley Stream North and South high schools each received an honorable mention. Uniondale High School was named an Emerging School of Character.

Criteria ranged from providing students with opportunities for moral action to engaging families as character-building partners, the academy said.

DIX HILLS: I-SWEEEP finalists

Four students from the Half Hollow Hills Central School District were named finalists last month out of nearly 2,300 projects from 78 countries in the 2015 International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering, Environment) Project, also known as I-SWEEEP. The science fair aims to promote research based on alternative solutions for sustainable energy.

Finalists were Anja Kenagy of Half Hollow Hills High School East and Liana He, Soram Kim and Tatum Ogata, all of Half Hollow Hills High School West. Seventeen Nassau County students also were finalists.

The 21 local finalists are eligible to compete at the world finals in Houston on May 7-10.

MASTIC BEACH: Youth & Government

William Floyd High School's Youth & Government Club captured seven of the 12 leadership positions last month at the 79th Annual New York State YMCA Youth & Government Conference in Albany.

At the event, about 600 students from throughout the state took part in a simulation of government inside the state capitol's legislative chambers.

Students who were "elected to office" were: Emma van Nieuwenhuizen, lieutenant governor; Leah Antovel, president pro tempore of the Senate; A.G. Chancellor, speaker of Assembly Freedom; Nicole Cervone, deputy speaker of Assembly Freedom; Alexandria Willets, deputy speaker of Assembly Liberty; Shannon Beattie, chief justice; and Jonathan Caputo, attorney general.

"Their hard work, dedication and passion for public policy and the workings of government is a testament that our future is in good hands," Superintendent Paul Casciano said.

NASSAU COUNTY: I-SWEEEP finalists

Seventeen Nassau County students were named finalists out of nearly 2,300 projects worldwide in the 2015 International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering, Environment) Project, also known as I-SWEEEP, a science fair that promotes research based on alternative solutions for sustainable energy. They are eligible to compete at the world finals in Houston on May 7-10.

Finalists are: Justin Lish, Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaways; Sahil Abbi and Abhinav Talwar, Herricks High School; Meghan Bialt-DeCelie and Benjamin Golbin, Hewlett High School; Steve Zheng, Jericho High School; Lee Blackburn and Arthur Chen, Lawrence High School; Justin Weissberg, Long Beach High School; Vivek Shah, Lynbrook High School; Jason Fiacco, Jessica Kim, Kevin Sadhu, Kimberly Te, Jinyu Wu and Christine Yoo, Manhasset High School; Arjun Kapoor, The Wheatley School in Old Westbury.

ISLANDWIDE: Best music communities

Forty local school districts are among 388 nationwide designated 2015 Best Communities for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to advance participation in music.

Nassau County winners were: Baldwin, East Meadow, East Rockaway, Farmingdale, Garden City, Great Neck, Herricks, Island Trees, Jericho, Levittown, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Malverne, Manhasset, Massapequa, Merrick, Mineola, Oceanside, Plainview-Old Bethpage, Port Washington and Syosset.

In addition, Floral Park Memorial High School and Woodhull School in Ocean Beach were among 120 schools nationwide to receive the foundation's 2015 Merit Award.