Making the Grade: Ward Melville HS wins Long Island Regional Science Bowl
Ward Melville High School's winning team, from left: Anna Xing, Michael Melikyan, Sean Skinner, Rithik Sogal and Harry Gao. Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory
For the second consecutive year, a team from Ward Melville High School in East Setauket has won first place at the Long Island Regional Science Bowl.
The team — consisting of Harry Gao, Michael Melikyan, Sean Skinner, Rithik Sogal and Anna Xing — bested 29 others to take the top spot among high school groups in the “Jeopardy!”-style competition, which featured topics such as biology, chemistry and physics. It was held in February at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Ward Melville’s team has been awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to compete in the National Science Bowl, which will be held near Washington, D.C., from April 25-29.
“We were fortunate to kind of have the stars aligned with our team composition,” said Melikyan, Ward Melville’s team captain. He noted that each team member specialized in two science subjects.
The second- and third-place teams at the high school level were from Great Neck South High School and Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills. At the middle school level, the winning team was from Hunter College’s middle school in Manhattan, with teams from Great Neck South Middle School and Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School in Setauket placing second and third, respectively.
Teams from Jericho High School and Henry L. Stimson Middle School in Huntington Station won the competition’s STEM challenge, in which students solved math and science puzzles to break locks on treat-filled boxes. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
MERRICK
STEAM Expo
The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District recently held its inaugural STEAM Expo for sixth-graders in the Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick school districts — each of which feed into the high school district. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math.
The expo, which was held at Merrick Avenue Middle School in Merrick, gave visitors an opportunity to engage in activities ranging from coding programmable robots to using a green screen.
“Our goal was to create an interactive showcase of all Bellmore-Merrick STEAM-related programs, courses and extracurricular activities, providing the sixth-grade and middle school students with the opportunity to explore STEAM fields,” said the district’s mathematics and computer science chairwoman, Danielle Caliendo.
PATCHOGUE
Mentoring program
Eastern Suffolk BOCES has launched its first student-staff mentoring program, which pairs noninstructional staff with middle schoolers from the agency’s satellite location within Oregon Middle School in Medford. Students and mentors meet twice monthly at the Hines Administration Center in Patchogue.
The program’s goal is to support special-needs students with role models who can help them gain additional skills and offer social-emotional support.
“This program will provide our students with one more adult in their lives who can bolster them — aside from their teachers, counselors or parents — so they can acquire even more tools for their toolboxes as they grow and move into high school,” said the agency’s director of special education, Gina Reilly.
ISLANDWIDE
Distinguished teachers
Ten Long Island educators have been named 2024 Distinguished Teachers by the Harvard Club of Long Island for their positive impact on students’ lives. They were nominated by Harvard University undergraduates who went to Long Island schools.
Winners and their high schools: Terrence Bissoondial, Hewlett; Danielle Calvagno, The Wheatley School in Old Westbury; Ann Grady, Farmingdale; Marnie Kula, Ward Melville in East Setauket; Kimberly Eagen Latko, Walt Whitman in South Huntington; Joshua Levitt, Freeport; George Muhlbauer, Paul D. Schreiber in Port Washington; Heather Naughton, Wantagh; Helmut Schleith, John F. Kennedy in Bellmore; and Matthew Sefick, Earl L. Vandermeulen in Port Jefferson.
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.
