LI students getting into the swing of dancin'

From Long Beach to Hampton Bays, students are showing they have a thing for swing.

In recent years, an increasing number of Long Island schools have added ballroom dancing classes to their physical education curricula in response to the influx of dance-related programming in television and movies.

The lessons - which focus on everything from swing to merengue to the fox-trot - are an effective way to mix fitness and developmental skills, according to state officials.

"We've definitely seen a surge in all kinds of dance education throughout the state," said Colleen Corsi, executive director for the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. "Dance is an excellent form of exercise and an opportunity for physical educators to teach social graces."

In Long Beach, the East and West elementary schools host 10 weeks of lessons each year through a character education program designed to cultivate "collaboration and self-esteem," district officials said. Lessons are taught by instructors from CoDanceCo, a nonprofit dance organization, and culminate in a contest modeled after ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

At Hampton Bays Elementary School, a group of 56 kids recently took two weeks of dance classes with instructors from Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Southampton.

The classes started five years ago after PTA members saw "Mad Hot Ballroom," a 2005 documentary about a dance program in a New York City public school.

"We don't call them couples, we call them partners," Hampton Bays physical education teacher Frank Mancuso said of student pairs, citing a need to make them comfortable about dancing with each other. "This gives kids developmental skills that you can't teach."

GARDEN CITYPoster contest winner

Danielle Smith, a sophomore at Garden City High School, has been named the high school winner of the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers' 2009-2010 Foreign Language Week poster contest. For winning, she received a $50 savings bond.

The contest theme was "Language Teachers: Seeing the Needs, Making a Difference."

PORT WASHINGTONLatin contest victors

Teams from Paul D. Schreiber High School won first place in three of four levels - Levels I, II and advanced - at the Suffolk Classical League's 12th Latin Certamen Contest at Stony Brook University. About 200 students competed from 18 Long Island schools.

The "Jeopardy"-style contest required four-person teams to answer questions on the topics of Roman culture and mythology and Latin grammar, translations and vocabulary.

ROCKVILLE CENTREOutstanding educatorCarol Burris, principal at South Side High School, has been named 2010 outstanding educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State based on her contributions to the field.

Under her tenure the number of teens taking advanced placement or international baccalaureate classes has reached 80 percent, district officials said.

COUNTYWIDEFilm festival honors 13

Thirteen entries from Nassau County - some teams, some individuals - were winners at the Locust Valley High School Film Festival and received scholarships of up to $1,000 each from the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury. Winners were:

Baldwin: Andrew Fonseea of Baldwin High School; Locust Valley: Eamonn Boyd, Victor Cafaro, Joe Casalino, James D'Arpa, Freddy Derenthal, Jon Kaplan, Colin Kennedy, Christian Manzi, Brendan Maraboli, Anthony Nastasi, Luke Palmero, Nick Parra, Matt Rieger, Steve Sammut, Joseph Sorbara, Nick Sorbora, Alex Spear, Matt Ventrella and Anthony Viggiani of Locust Valley High School; Massapequa: Zach Urban of Massapequa High School; Oceanside: Jackie Colello, Rebecca Rogak and Andrew Scibelli of Oceanside High School; Rockville Centre: Jared Cormin, Sam Konkailas, Ian Liuzzi-Fedun and Brad Slavin of South Side High School; Seaford: Nora Klein of Seaford High School; Uniondale: Kelvin Vargas of Uniondale High School.

ISLANDWIDEScience fair winnersFifteen Long Island students are eligible to compete this week at the International Science & Engineering Fair in California after being named winners at the New York State Science & Engineering Fair held at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. They are:

Commack: Erica Portnoy, Alexis Tchaconas and Natasha Tsay of Commack High School; Elmont: Sheila Nieto, Mel Palaca, Keaton Ramjit and Zainab Soetan of Elmont Memorial High School; Jericho: Mubarrat Bhuiyan of Jericho High School; Lido Beach: Arianne Papa and Jane Smyth of Long Beach High School; Lynbrook: Mary Denyse Magilligan of Lynbrook High School; New Hyde Park: Julie Chang and Yesha Maniar of Herricks High School; Port Washington: Dainn Woo of Paul D. Schreiber High School; Roslyn Heights: Samantha Halpern of Roslyn High School.