Nassau School Notebook: Valley Stream junior takes top spot in LI Youth Summit
Valley Stream Central High School junior Emily Monfort, third from left, was the overall award winner of this year's Long Island Youth Summit. Pictured with Monfort are, from left, Assistant Principal Robert Milani, Long Island Youth Summit Steering Committee member Eric Alexander, Long Island Youth Summit founder and Steering Committee co-chair Nathalia Rogers, Principal Joseph Pompilio and Counselor Ron Rini. Credit: Valley Stream Central High School District
A Valley Stream student has been named the top overall winner of this year's Long Island Youth Summit.
Emily Monfort, a junior at Valley Stream Central High School, beat out 170 finalists to win Best Overall Project in this year's summit, which challenged students to develop solutions to environmental, socio-medical and socio-economic issues. It was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monfort submitted a video on mental health and how students are coping with the pandemic.
"I did pour my heart into this project and this acknowledgment helped me realize that I should have more faith in myself," said Monfort, who received a check for $1,000.
The summit's other overall winners were Jiovanni Saint Jean of Amityville High School, Lillian Kane of Fishers Island School and Cayla Midy of Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead who won Best Overall Art Project, Best Overall Science Research Paper and Best Overall Research Paper by a Junior Researcher, respectively.
Winners of various categories and their high schools were: Melissa Brache and Amber Connell, Brentwood; Ava Gansrow and John Roedel, Eastport-South Manor; Arabella Hatfield, Fishers Island; Nicholas Cataldo, Tulah Chatterton, Torsten Gliszczynski, Ayesha Khondker, Samannita Mukherjee and Daniella Zacharis, Floral Park; Elizabeth Allocca, Claire Frawley, Alex Koliner and Patrick Lynch, Kings Park; Andrew Baek, Ryan Castrillon, Mia Frattura and Matthew Friedman, MacArthur; Shoshana Horn and Serena Khanimov, North Shore Hebrew Academy; Alexander Albrecht, Jeremy Beauplan, Brooke DeSena, Megan Durinick, Rebecca Dwyer, Angelina Ferrara, Kayleigh Malone, Kyle McGuire, Madison Neira, Brenden Payne, Krysten Rafferty, Zack Rosenberger and Laurel Tammany, Patchogue-Medford; and Erin Cooper, Mary Menger and Carmela Musso, Sacred Heart.
HICKSVILLE
About 30 students and parents from the Herricks School District teamed up to beautify the community by picking up trash alongside Hillside Avenue and Herricks Road. The effort was coordinated by Herricks High School student Pranati Patnam. Credit: Herricks School District
Contest winner
Faiqa Ali, a freshman at Hicksville High School, won the high school division of the Japan Center at Stony Brook's 2020-21 Essay Competition, which challenged students to write about an aspect of Japan in relation to their personal views, experiences or future goals to promote global understanding.
Ali's essay, "Kaka Murad: A Tale of Ikigia," told a story about how a Japanese physician working with Afghani refugees in Pakistan saved the life of her mother's sister, who was dying of typhoid fever.
She was awarded $3,000 and a Canon camera.
In Long Beach, sixth-grade technology students at the middle school are continuing a courtyard beautification project that began in 2015. The goal is to have 2,022 bulbs planted in the courtyard for spring 2022, the year the planting intiative's first group of participants will be graduating from high school. Credit: Long Beach School District
COUNTYWIDE
Outstanding Students
Sixteen Nassau County students have been selected to receive Nassau BOCES' George Farber Outstanding Student Award, which recognizes those demonstrating "remarkable traits including talent, commitment, honesty, diligence, compassion and high moral standards," the agency said.
This year's award winners and their school districts are: Ethan Sushko, Farmingdale; Benito Sanchez, Freeport; Juan Pinilla Hernandez, Glen Cove; Brandon Bermudez, Asia Munroe and Maddox Sanford, Hempstead; Arshdeep Kaur and Sonia Wadhawan, Hicksville; Briana Tucker, Malverne; John Dibbins, Giannina Maresca and Kathryn Taber, Massapequa; Jeffrey Mizrachi, Oceanside; Tacarra Verene, Sewanhaka; Aaron Birn, Syosset; and Christoffer Diomande, Uniondale.
ISLANDWIDE
PSA Contest
Students from six Long Island school districts were winners in PSEG Long Island's Earth Day Video Public Service Announcement Contest, which asked participants to make videos that included research-based facts on such topics as energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy. More than 200 videos were submitted.
Winners and their school districts were: Juliette Markesano and Pavly Zaky, East Meadow; Michael Gallarello and Jayleen Martorell, Hauppauge; Zia Baluyot and Valerie Tuosto, Lynbrook; Leah Anzalone, Josh Bonfanti, Dylan Couture, Clara Levy, Nicole Marino, Brooke Marek and Jacob Park, Mineola; James Catania, Skyler Placella, Abigail Rudnet and Jose Velasquez, Oyster Bay-East Norwich; and Layla Kelly, Sophia Lastorino and Lena Okurowski, West Islip.
The winning videos can be viewed at youtube.com/psegli.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
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.
