Serbian royalty speak at Locust Valley H.S.

Locust Valley High School played host to royalty earlier this month when Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia visited to discuss their country's future.

The noble couple - grandparents to one of the school's students - served as featured speakers to about 250 pupils at Locust Valley's "International Baccalaureate Symposium on Southeastern European Democracy and the European Union."

During the lecture, the duo discussed the importance of tolerance in a region affected by ethnic and religious conflict, as well as a resolution recently passed by the Serbian parliament that condemned the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims near Srebrenica in 1995.

"Kids got to see that people they've read about - kings and queens - still exist, but in new roles," said principal Kieran McGuire. "Royalty isn't just about power, it's character."

Before the event, the prince and princess joined a group of 20 teachers and students from the symposium for a catered lunch in a school conference room, McGuire said.

LEVITTOWN

Badminton for Habitat

MacArthur High School raised $2,100 for Habitat for Humanity last month through a March Madness Badminton Tournament in the school gym that consisted of 64 teams of pupils partnered with teachers.

Physical education teacher John Nessler and senior Joseph Giametta won first place.

SYOSSET

New music, media lab

Nassau BOCES' Long Island High School for the Arts unveiled a new digital music and media laboratory this month that contains 18 iMac computers with music composition and editing software programs.

The lab will be used to create digital portfolios and develop soundtracks for films and video games in a "cutting-edge" setting, school officials said.

WANTAGH

2010 leadership award

John Picarello, principal at the Rosemary Kennedy Center in Wantagh, has received the 2010 Leadership and Support Award from the School Administrators Association of New York State for his "leadership through support services."

COUNTYWIDE

History Day contenders

Thirty-five Long Island entries - some individuals, some teams - have advanced to the 2010 New York State History Day competition this week in Cooperstown after winning at the regional level at Hofstra University. The program promotes the exploration of local history via interviews and research. Nassau County students were:

Baldwin: Tyler Grant, Alexandra Moreno, Sydney Pigott, Cheyenne Sussman, Tyler Warner and Mylz Wilson of Baldwin Middle School; Hewlett: Emma Boykin, Elissa Candiotti, Noah Cohen, Ross Finkelstein, Josh Goldenberg, Sarah Green, Carly Greenberg, Dylan Isaacs and Jessie Kurz of Woodmere Middle School; Jenn Bard, Rachel Feit, Jordan Friedman, Brooke Gottlieb, Jeanie Gribben, Michelle Roter, Allison Schlissel, Amanda Villani and Hadas Werman of Hewlett High School; Jericho: Marisa Joachim, Jonathan Serota and Max Strauss of Jericho Middle School; Brandon Dorman, Matt Marber, Nyles Novick, Ilana Porges, Brandon Rabinowitz, Ryan Silber, Samantha Sokol and Jake Steinberg 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, Tim Hannan, Shan Jafri and Seamus Scaring of St. Mary's Elementary School; Massapequa: Brian O'Sullivan, Meg Rao and Tom Tetro of Berner Middle School; Nicole Heneveld, Jordyn Iger, Lauren Reisig and Tom Strang-Grinsell of Massapequa High School; New Hyde Park: Devki Bhatt, Anisha Chava, Daniel Cohanpaur, Sandhu Dansi, Mike DiBattista, Nick Elias, Sarah Elsheryie, Sophie Feng, Stacey Jacob, Anika Jain, Warren Lin, Yesha Maniar, Natasha Masub, Abhiraj Mathur, Ruju Mehta, Christian Neroth, Foram Paikh, Hewan Park, Damanpreet Pelia, Subrena Shah, Minkyung Shinn, Ashley Thakur and Meena Yoo of Herricks High School; Syosset: Brian Koch of Southwoods Middle School; Hunter Rosenblume and Alizain Tejani of Syosset High School.

ISLANDWIDE

Achievement scholars

Fifteen seniors from Long Island were among 800 winners nationwide of $2,500 achievement scholarships for black students from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. Winners were:

Dix Hills: Victoria Baptiste, Kim Brazier, Rachelle Cadet, Sara Sodine, and Niesha Voigt of Half Hollow Hills High School West; Floral Park: Ketsia Saint-Armand of Sewanhaka High School; Huntington: Samuel Sainthil of Huntington High School; Middle Island: Chelsye Nelson of Longwood High School; New Hyde Park: Andrew Dugue of New Hyde Park Memorial High School; Plainview: Alyssa Reimer of Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School; Uniondale: Alisha Thompson of Kellenberg Memorial High School.

Other winners were Kristian Bailey of Westbury (Dalton School in Manhattan), Opraha Miles of Elmont (Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan), Iriane Narcisse of Roosevelt (Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire), and Jarrett Williams of Valley Stream (Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens).