An East Hampton student’s poetic prowess has earned her the top spot in this year’s Suffolk Youth Poetry Competition.

East Hampton High School sophomore Jessica Berger placed first in the second annual competition, which invited submissions of original poetry from teens ages 13-18 across Suffolk County. This year’s competition garnered 71 poems, competition officials said.

Berger, 16, received a $100 prize for her poem, titled “What That Light Costs.” Second place went to Aishani Kadiyala of Smithtown High School East for the poem “The Fire She Carried." Tajriyan Kader of Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills placed third for the poem “First They Came.” Both received gifts cards to Dog-Eared Bard’s Book Shop in East Northport.

“Poetry has always been a very special way I make sense of the world,” said Berger, who described her poem as being about the struggle between meeting life’s demands and preserving yourself. “Having my work recognized like this makes me feel seen in a way that really matters.”

An event celebrating the winners is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum in Huntington Station. It will also serve as a launch of the resulting anthology, “Where Tomorrow Begins,” which features select poems from the competition.

“The submissions we received this year were absolutely outstanding,” said Suffolk County teen poet laureate and competition creator Sarah Goodman. “The youth is the future, and that’s why it’s my mission to amplify their authentic voices.”

ELWOOD

Multicultural Night

James H. Boyd Intermediate School recently held its first Multicultural Night, a family event centered on “celebrating food, traditions and cultures from around the world,” according to school officials.

The inaugural activity invited local families to share things ranging from cultural artifacts to music and meals reflecting their heritage. Children also created flags prior to the event that represented their countries of origin and depicted letters that together spelled out “BOYD.”

“This special evening would not have been possible without . . . all of the families who generously participated and shared their cultures with our community,” Boyd Principal Elissa Millan said in a statement.

GLEN COVE

Science labs

The Glen Cove school district recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil renovated science labs at the high school as part of a STREAM Night. STREAM stands for science, technology, reading, engineering, art and math.

The evening event invited local families to visit educational stations set up within the labs on topics including bubbles, laser lights and battery-powered robots. The labs were made possible by a bond approved by community members in 2022, school officials said.

“It was wonderful to see so many families exploring these new spaces together,” Glen Cove Superintendent Alexa Doeschner said in a statement. “The state-of-the-art labs provide our students with the modern learning spaces they need to learn and grow.”

SOUTH HUNTINGTON

Technology showcase

The South Huntington school district recently held an inaugural Technology and Innovation Showcase during which students from its seven schools demonstrated creations they made using tools including Chromebooks, Legos and 3D printers.

The showcase included up to 10 students from each school who were nominated by teachers for their “creativity, engineering skills or digital literacy skills,” school officials said. One project featured a design for an electric aircraft that takes off and lands vertically that was made by Walt Whitman High School senior Enoch Adjahoe.

“We wanted an opportunity for students to show the fun things that they’re doing with technology,” Marlee Rice, the district’s supervisor of educational technology, said in a statement.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

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.