Nassau student overcomes adversity to achieve valedictorian honor

This week's top stories

1. Valedictorian overcomes adversity

First came the trauma: the violence in the family home, the foster care, the homelessness and hunger, college failure and abusive relationships and sexual assault. Then came her second chance. And now, at age 38, Karol Rubiano is valedictorian at Nassau Community College.

In a season when commencement speakers praised college graduates for getting through the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic and urged them to pursue their aspirations, Rubiano had to look no further than her own life for inspiration.

"It’s like a dream; it feels like I’m going to wake up tomorrow and keep living my life," said Rubiano, of the valedictorian honor.

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2. Revotes in four districts

The Northport-East Northport and Wantagh school districts are submitting reduced budgets for June 15 revotes, while Bridgehampton and Three Village are sticking with original spending plans.

• Newsday's tracking of budget proposals across Long Island also finds the June 15 ballot shaping up as a test of the state's tax-cap limits.
• Three of the four systems holding revotes — Bridgehampton, Three Village and Wantagh — continue seeking cap overrides.

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3. Superintendent's sudden resignation

The longtime superintendent of the Amityville school district resigned her job, and was quickly hired by the Bridgehampton school district, school officials said.

• Mary Kelly had been the superintendent in the Amityville district for more than seven years when the school board accepted her resignation at its May 18 meeting.
• It's unclear whether there was any connection between Kelly's resignation and fallout in the district over a teacher accused of making a racially insensitive comment at a football game last month.

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4. The pandemic's impact on mental health

COVID-19 has taken a toll on the development and social skills of children, but it’s too early to determine whether kids will have long-term mental health problems, experts told Newsday.

• Some agencies, whose services include children’s therapy, saw increases of 20% to 50% in parents seeking help for their kids during the pandemic.
• Shenic Dick, 28, of Hempstead, is concerned that her son Mason, who is almost 3, is less social than he should be because he missed preschool all year.

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5. Center renamed for community activist

Farmingdale State College will rename its student activities center after Long Island community activist and civil rights pioneer Delores Y. Quintyne, the SUNY school announced.

• Conklin Hall will become Delores Y. Quintyne Hall at a June 15 ceremony on the Farmingdale campus, officials said.
• Quintyne, a resident of Amityville for almost 60 years, worked to bring attention to — and ultimately improve — deplorable living conditions of migrant workers at Long Island duck farms.

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Resources for you

• For both students and parents, it’s crucial to stay on top of college preparation during the 11th-grade year and summer. A tip sheet provides what parents and students should be doing at this critical time.
• Tilly's Life Center, a nonprofit educational agency, provides free virtual mental health workshops for teens and young people.
• See how local high school seniors are spending their final year in school.

Round of applause

A Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School student has been named the regional spelling bee champion for a second time and has qualified to compete at the national level.

Bhavana Madini, a seventh-grader, took the title in this year's NYC Regional Scripps Spelling Bee. She also won the regional bee in 2019 and was slated to compete in last year's regional bee, which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To reach the regional level, Bhavana emerged victorious in her school's spelling bee — for the third consecutive year.

Bhavana will go on to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which begins with a preliminary competition on June 12. The preliminary round will be followed by quarterfinal and semifinal rounds to determine who will advance to this year's final round, slated to be held on July 8 in Orlando, Florida.

Your questions answered

Have questions? Send them to ednews@newsday.com. Newsday’s education reporting team will pick one to answer in this space each week.

What will summer camps be like this year?

Kids at summer camps can skip wearing masks outdoors, with some exceptions, federal health officials said Friday.

Children who aren’t fully vaccinated should still wear masks outside when they’re in crowds or in sustained close contact with others — and when they are inside, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Fully vaccinated kids need not wear masks indoors or outside, the agency said.

The guidance is the first in a wave of updates that will incorporate the agency's recent decisions on masks and social distancing. Earlier this month, the CDC said Americans don't have to be as cautious about masks and social distancing outdoors, and that fully vaccinated people generally don't need to follow such measures in most situations.

Previously, the CDC advised that just about all people at camps should wear masks with only a few exceptions, like while they are eating, drinking or swimming.

But that was before adults began getting vaccinations in December, and before the U.S. government authorized Pfizer vaccinations for kids as young as 12 to 15.

— Find the latest education news at newsday.com/long-island/education. Joie Tyrrell can be reached at joie.tyrrell@newsday.com or on Twitter @JoieTyrrell.