School Notebook: LI schools help feed those in need
Students in the National Junior Honor Society at Massapequa High School's Ames Campus held a Thanksgiving food drive that collected enough nonperishable items to fill 30 boxes for the pantry at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park. Credit: Massapequa School District
Long Island students collected food and funds to help local families in need have a special Thanksgiving.
In Merrick, members of Meadowbrook Alternative Program’s Key Club hosted a Taco Tuesday fundraiser to benefit the Community Cupboard, the food pantry for the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District.
The effort raised enough money to purchase 50 roasting pans for the pantry’s Thanksgiving baskets, which students and staff assembled on Nov. 15.
“Families in our area really need our help, and it’s important for us to do what we can,” Key Club president Grace Kavanah said.
In East Rockaway, students and staff at Waverly Park Elementary School in the Lynbrook school district collected about 200 canned food items as part of a Waverly Park CAN Be Kind project held in honor of World Kindness Day. The items, which were donated to Island Harvest, were decorated by students with stickers that featured inspirational sayings and drawings.
The National Junior Honor Society at Massapequa High School’s Ames Campus hosted a three-week food drive, collecting enough nonperishable items — including soup, cereal and canned vegetables — to fill 30 boxes for Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park.
In West Hempstead, the high school’s Key Club gathered enough food items to feed about 45 families. The student body also donated many gift cards.
At a recent Community Service Fair hosted by Manhasset Secondary School, students met with representatives of Tuesday's Children, a Manhattan-based nonprofit that supports children who have been affected by traumatic loss and terrorism. Credit: Manhasset School District
PLAINVIEW
Discovery Learning Lab
The Plainview-Old Bethpage school district recently unveiled a new Discovery Learning Lab that will allow the system’s elementary school students to participate in hands-on learning opportunities in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics and Earth science.
The lab, located at Stratford Road Elementary School, is expected to help children form their own hypotheses and develop lab experiments to prove or disprove the theories. During the first lab session, students from Old Bethpage Elementary School explored the density and solubility of solids in various solvents.
“We hope that by encouraging our young students to participate in these fun, creative, science-based exercises, they will become more inquisitive, knowledge-seeking young adults, and have skills that will serve them well whatever direction their lives may take in the future,” Superintendent Lorna Lewis said.
Students at Freeport's Leo F. Giblyn School performed a song titled "Many Thanks Freeport Police!" in nine different languages as part of the school's annual Adopt-a-Cop event. Music teacher Shannon Abramovitz wrote the song's lyrics. Credit: Freeport School District
COUNTYWIDE
Math scholars
Eighty-three students have been named Long Island Young Scholars of Mathematics by the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students at SUNY Old Westbury. Selection means they are in the top one-tenth of 1 percent of math students in the grade across the Island.
Nassau County scholars and their school districts are: Aurrel Bhatia, Simoni Khashu, James McGlynn and Pawan Pitiranggon, Bethpage; Derek Zhang, East Williston; Edward Shen, Floral Park-Bellerose; Thor Cepeda, Freeport; Julia Wang and Oliver Zhang, Garden City; Christina Bai and Amber Sun, Great Neck; Jarod Chan, Connie Huang, Carolyn Lau, Kloie Liao, Joy Om, Nikita Shah and Kayla Sohn, Herricks; Daniel George, Hicksville; Chris Huang, Island Trees; Victoria Chang, Anahita Chowdhary, Michael Jiao, Jean-Claude Pierre III and Vyom Shah, Jericho; Rio Arengo, Long Beach; Owen Brennan, Malverne; William Massaro and Deanna Polosino, Mineola; Darsh Mirchandani, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park; Aaryan Vira and Eli Weseley-Jones, North Shore; Alexa Perri, Oceanside; Sydnie Metrano and Kaisei Vi, Port Washington; Fiona O’Reilly, Sewanhaka; Cody Cheng, Griffin Hon, Vivien Huang, Katherine Li, Maggie Liu, Karan Patel and Samuel Wang, Syosset; Charles Wu, Valley Stream Central; and Melanie Volz, Wantagh.
Other local students selected are Jada Daniels, of Long Island Lutheran High School, and Alvin Deng and Misha Gujja of Long Island School for the Gifted in South Huntington.
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.
