Suffolk School Notebook: LI winners in History Day competition
Hebrew Academy of Long Beach students, some of whom are pictured here with staff, were among the winners of the 2021 Long Island History Day, which was held virtually last month because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Hebrew Academy of Long Beach
Thirty-nine Long Island students have been named first-place winners for their efforts researching local, national and international history.
The 2021 Long Island History Day, which was held virtually last month because of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenged more than 400 participants to explore topics of their choice on the theme of "Communication in History: The Key to Understanding." Groups or individuals could submit entries in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website.
This year's submissions topics ranged from Norman Rockwell's efforts to communicate racial inequity through art to music's role as a communication tool in the Holocaust.
Ninety-four projects advanced to the state level, which will announce its results on April 30.
First-place winners and their schools were: Jacob Leshnower, Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills; Amisha Brahmbhatt, Aanya Goel, Alisha Gwalani, Genesis Kang, Prableen Kaur, Sarah Ninan, Roshni Patel and Stephanie Sukhraj, Herricks High School in New Hyde Park; Mikhaela Abayev, Talia Beck, Rebecca Berg, Shira Friedman, Ruth Ginsburg, Gabrielle Heller, Ayala Hoschander, Abby Karkowsky, Olivia Papilsky, Kayla Paul, Nina Plaut, Sima Ross, Avtalya Teitelbaum, Shoshana Waxman and Rachel Yadgarov, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach; Talia Addeo, Laurel Bonn, McKenna Buffa, Isabella Lima, Rachel Morina and Mikah Schueller, Huntington High School; Kaitlyn Choi, Jericho High School; Manfred Lim, Jericho Middle School; Caroline Hsu, Syosset High School; Charlotte Iannone, Maximilian Melnikov, Sonia Patel and Madeline Rong, Wheatley School in East Williston; and Maliha Bhalloo and Willow Grosskopf, Willets Road School in Roslyn Heights.
"They put their best foot forward under difficult circumstances and produced amazing projects," said Kristen Waterman, the History Day coordinator for Hebrew Academy of Long Beach.
DIX HILLS, GARDEN CITY AND LEVITTOWN
Babylon High School students volunteered to paint portraits of the cats and dogs awaiting adoption at Babylon Animal Shelter. The finished portraits have been posted on each animal's cage to capture the attention of potential adopters; the new owners will be able to take home the portrait as a keepsake. Credit: Babylon School District
Chemagination
Students from Garden City High School, Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills and MacArthur High School in Levittown placed first in various categories of this year's Chemagination Competition coordinated by the American Chemical Society's New York Section.
The competition, held virtually during the pandemic, asked students to imagine they were living 25 years in the future and describe a recent breakthrough or innovation in chemistry or its applications that has improved the quality of people's lives today.
Winners and their schools were: Sylvia Diaz, David Digan, Erin Gately and David Hernandez-Arroyo, Garden City; Viti Chandra, Ellis Eisenberg, Mariam Hassan, Alex Huang and Seohyun Lee, Half Hollow Hills West; and Naeel Quasem, Angie Rodriguez and Noah Yousha, MacArthur.
In East Setauket, Ward Melville High School students and staff proudly display T-shirts they created to celebrate unity and to raise funds for the nonprofit ERASE Racism. Sales of the T-shirts raised more than $1,000 for the organization. Credit: Three Village Central School District
EASTPORT, HERRICKS AND JERICHO
Literary magazines
Three literary magazines from Long Island schools were among six statewide to receive a "first class" distinction — the highest honor available — in the National Council of Teachers of English's 2020 Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines program. Judging was based on a point system: first class (93-100), superior (86-92), excellence (71-85) and merit (70 or fewer).
First class winners were Eastport-South Manor High School's Unlocked Underworld, Herricks High School's OPUS (Issue 62) and Jericho High School's Pegasus.
Other winners were Valley Stream South High School's Trials of Society, with a "superior" rating, Smithtown High School East's Solstice, with an "excellent" rating, and Smithtown High School West's Penumbra, with a "merit" rating.
In Manorville, Dayton Avenue Elementary School students made a collective commitment last month to spread kindness throughout their school community and beyond by signing a pledge board that reminds them of their promise to spread kindness each day. Credit: Eastport-South Manor Central School District
GREENLAWN
WordMasters Challenge
Thomas J. Lahey Elementary School students were among the top performers in the second of three meets in the 2020-21 WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition.
Lahey's fourth-grade team placed first in its grade level, while its fifth-grade team placed third in its grade level. Both competed in the blue division, which is for "average to above-average reading and reasoning abilities," according to WordMasters.
Students Claire Bernstein, Abigail Kelly, Elise Larson, Michael Palermo, Charlotte Storm, Lorelei Tripp and Molly Walsh earned perfect scores.
— 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.
