Chaminade team wins regional Envirothon competition

A team from Chaminade High School in Mineola has won first place among Nassau County schools at the Long Island Regional Envirothon for the fourth consecutive year.

The envirothon - the 12th annual environmental education competition for high-schoolers - consists of exams and outdoor challenges in aquatics, forestry, soil and wildlife and an oral presentation on groundwater, each worth up to 25 points.

More than 35 Nassau and Suffolk teams competed last month at the Usdan Center for Creative and Performing Arts in Wheatley Heights.

"They're driven and don't like to finish second," said Chaminade's team adviser, Brother Benjamin Knapp.

For reaching the state level, each team member was awarded a $500 college scholarship and a digital camera from Canon, a corporate sponsor. Chaminade High School also received a Canon printer/copier.

The team - James Agolia, Sean Dvorak, Dan Ebanks, Andrew Koche and Tim Healy - will vie next month at the state envirothon held in upstate Keuka Park.

The Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Nassau and Suffolk coordinated the event.

CARLE PLACE, MERRICK

Outstanding teachers

Jen Bambino, a cooperating teacher who mentors student teachers at Carle Place Middle School, and Kate Caporusso, a social studies teacher at Calhoun High School in Merrick, were named 2010 Outstanding Teachers by the New York State Council for the Social Studies for the middle and high-school levels, respectively.

PLAINVIEW

Odyssey of the Mind

A team from Mattlin Middle School - Nikki Almer, Trisha Chabria, Ravid Granov, Amanda Hedgecock, Alyssa Lubrano, Hannah Stewart and Alma Wang - was one of three teams in New York to reach the 2009-10 World Finals of Odyssey of the Mind, a competition in which students find ways to solve problems ranging from building devices to interpreting literature. Finals are slated to start Wednesday at Michigan State University.

WEST HEMPSTEAD

Family Literacy Night

West Hempstead High School recently hosted a Family Literacy Night that attracted 700 community members to celebrate diversity and reading.

Multicultural acts included a steel drum performance by Kareem Dingwell, a fifth-grader at George Washington Elementary School, and a recitation of a Native-American poem by Chief Running Water of the Setalcott Indian Nation in Setauket, the aunt of a student.

Literacy activities were set up in the cafeteria and gym.

COUNTYWIDE

NYS History Day winners

Fourteen Nassau County entries - some individuals, some teams - were winners at 2010 New York State History Day, a Cooperstown-based contest sponsored by the New York State Historical Association that promoted the exploration of local history. Winners were:

Baldwin: Taylor Grant, Sydney Pigott, Tyler Warner and Mylz Wilson of Baldwin Middle School; Hewlett: Jessie Kurz of Woodmere Middle School; Jordan Friedman, Michelle Roter, Allison Schlissel, Amanda Villani and Hadas Werman of Hewlett High School; Jericho: Matt Marber, Ilana Porges and Samantha Sokol of Jericho High School; Lawrence: Noam Barazani and Elijah Corwin of the Brandeis School; Lynbrook: Dan Kramer of Lynbrook High School; Manhasset: Vincent Devenoge, Matt Grillo, Shan Jafri, Seamus Scaring and Giovanni Vittozzi of St. Mary's High School; Massapequa: Nicole Heneveld, Jordyn Iger and Lauren Reisig of Massapequa High School; New Hyde Park: Anisha Chava, Sindhu Darisi, Mickey Dibattista, Nick Elias, Sarah Elsheryie, Sophie Feng, Anika Jain, Warren Lin, Natasha Masub, Foram Parikh, Damanpreet Pelia and Minkyung Shinn of Herricks High School.

ISLANDWIDE

National Merit scholars

Thirty-six Long Island students were among 2,500 winners nationwide last month of $2,500 scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. Teens were evaluated on academic record, difficulty of subjects and leadership in the school community. Nassau County winners were:

Bellmore: Matt Stern of John F. Kennedy High School; Glen Cove: Jordan Dashow of Solomon Schechter High School; Glen Head: Holly Mandel of North Shore High School; Great Neck: Jen Kramer of Great Neck North High School; David Chen and Joe Yagoda of Great Neck South High School; Charles Peyser and Josh Pfeffer of North Shore Hebrew Academy; Hewlett: Eric Brooks of Hewlett High School; Hicksville: Aakash Abbi of Hicksville High School; Jericho: Rohitvarma Basavaraju, Alvin Jeon, Pragya Kakani, Yvette Leung and Brandon Li of Jericho High School; Locust Valley: Eric Padilla of Locust Valley High School; Manhasset: Nitasha Gupta of Manhasset High School; Mineola: Tyler White of Chaminade High School; Plainview: Jane Chun of Plainview-Old Bethpage High School; Port Washington: Rich Grove and Andrew Seo of Paul D. Schreiber High School; Rockville Centre: Alyssa Ehrlich of South Side High School; Roslyn Heights: Lindsay Mandel and Kevin Xu of Roslyn High School; Syosset: Catherine Wilshusen of Our Lady of Mercy Academy; Uniondale: James Lasker of Kellenberg Memorial High School; Westbury: Justin Shanahan of W. Tresper Clarke High School.