Eastern Suffolk BOCES students win auto competition
Nick Camarata, left, and Adam McAlister, both seniors at Eastern Suffolk BOCES Harry B. Ward Technical Center in Riverhead, won first place last month in the Long Island Auto Tech Competition. They are pictured here with teacher Michael O'Hara. Credit: Dominick Totino
Two Eastern Suffolk BOCES students have taken the title in a local competition for their skills as auto technicians.
Nick Camarata and Adam McAlister, who attend Harry B. Ward Technical Center in Riverhead and are seniors at Riverhead High School, won first place last month in the Long Island Auto Tech Competition. For winning, they each received about $14,000 in scholarships.
The competition required teams to demonstrate their skills during 15-minute intervals at 10 different workstations. It was held at the Center for Automotive Education & Training in Queens.
Camarata and McAlister, along with the three runner-up teams, will compete next week at the state finals for a chance to reach the national level this spring at the New York International Auto Show. There, teams will vie for $3 million in prizes and scholarships.
"I was happy that we won and our hard work paid off," Camarata, 17, said of the duo's achievement.
McAlister, 17, added: "Even though we won, we'd still like to get more practice."
Second place went to Spencer McKee and Benjamin Scelza of Western Suffolk BOCES, third place went to Harvey Edwards and Shane Hampson of Harry B. Ward Technical Center, and fourth place went to Andrew Albers and Nick Pascone of Edward J. Milliken Technical Center in Oakdale.
In New Hyde Park, Denton Avenue Elementary School hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month to unveil a new library that includes new carpeting, shelving, seating options, book displays and computers. Denton Avenue Elementary School is in the Herricks School District. Credit: Herricks School District
EAST MEADOW
Young Poets Contest
W. Tresper Clarke Middle School eighth-graders Abigail Feinstein, Arpita Raisah and Lina Resende were among 12 winners of a Young Poets Contest sponsored by the Poetry Society of America and the New York Botanical Garden. They were the sole winners from Long Island.
The contest invited students to submit poems inspired by winter and the holiday season. For winning, the trio had their poems displayed at the botanical garden and on its website, and also recited their works at the garden in December.
In North Bellmore, sixth-graders at John G. Dinkelmeyer Elementary School recently studied engineering and mathematics as part of a bridge-building activity. Each group had 200 wooden sticks to build a bridge at least 14 inches long and 3 1/2 inches tall. Credit: North Bellmore School District
Semifinalists were selected by judges from the garden and poetry society, while winners were selected by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins.
COUNTYWIDE
MLK Day
Many local schools held educational events and activities last month in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In Locust Valley, second-graders at Ann MacArthur Primary School read Doreen Rappaport's book, "Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." They then wrote their names on paper hearts and surrounded them with their own "big words," such as "friendly," "kind" and "beautiful," school officials said.
In Long Beach, fourth-graders at Lindell Elementary School studied King's "I Have a Dream" speech and decorated boxes with words and pictures that represent their own personal dreams using resources in the building's Innovation Lab Makerspace.
In Freeport, the school district hosted a viewing of the documentary "Defining Moments: The Civil Rights Movement in North Hempstead" in conjunction with a local branch of the NAACP.
ISLANDWIDE
Calendar contest
Twelve Long Island students were winners in a Peace Poster Art Contest coordinated by the Shanti Fund, a Medford-based organization committed to promoting peace and enlightenment through education. For winning, their artwork appears in the organization's 2020 calendar, and they received prize money ranging from $101 to $1,201 based on their grade level.
Winners and their school districts were: Devin Lugo, East Meadow; Emily Alvarenga, Freeport; Matias Archer and Valentina Carr, Garden City; Eila McGowan, Kings Park; Anabel Miller, North Merrick; Connie Choi, Sania Parikh and Ziliana Zhang, Plainview-Old Bethpage; Nethmi Withanage, Smithtown; Keren Dial, Valley Stream Central; and Yasmeen Darwich-Abdulsalam, William Floyd.
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.
