Nassau students focus on practicing tolerance

Nassau County kids are learning to be "upstanders" when it comes to intolerance.

More than 150 students from 12 local schools came together last month for a series of speakers and roundtable discussions as part of a Middle School Tolerance Day hosted by the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County.

Keynote speaker for the 10th annual event at the Barry Technical Institute in Westbury was Werner Reich of Smithtown, a Holocaust survivor sent as a teen to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in Poland.

"Incidents of intolerance occur around us every day, and students often don't know how to respond," said Sarah Cushman, the center's director of youth education. "We try to help find tools so they can be upstanders, not bystanders."

After Reich's speech, students separated into small groups to discuss their own experiences with intolerance and to share strategies - such as hosting bullying prevention programs and multicultural celebrations - to increase tolerance at their schools, Cushman said.

Participating were Baldwin, Locust Valley, Mineola and Herber middle schools in Malverne and Dinkelmeyer, Gunther, Martin Avenue, Newbridge Road, Park Avenue and Sawmill Road elementary schools in the North Bellmore School District.

LEVITTOWN

Gilgo Beach cleanup

Twenty-five students from MacArthur High School joined forces to participate in a cleanup of Gilgo Beach, a barrier beach in the Town of Babylon, through the nonprofit American Littoral Society. The teens collected about 375 pounds of debris such as soda cans, bottles and cigarette butts.

In other news, MacArthur's Amnesty International Chapter coordinated a Unity Day last month; teens took an anti-bullying pledge and wore purple clothes and ribbons.

LOCUST VALLEY

Sharing theory, methods

Locust Valley High School recently hosted an International Baccalaureate roundtable for 16 local teachers who teach the "Theory of Knowledge" signature class of the IB program. The event was held to share successful methods and take them back to their own classrooms.

Participating high schools were Bay Shore, Commack, Locust Valley, Northport, West Islip and South Side in Rockville Centre. Four New York City schools were also on hand.

MASSAPEQUA

Reading relevant content

Massapequa Union Free School District has expanded the sixth-grade reading curriculum at its six elementary schools to include Expert21, a Scholastic literacy program using "relevant and contemporary content," school officials said.

The program begins with students taking an assessment to determine their reading proficiency. Lessons then are geared to their level when they use the program on a computer. For each unit, students watch a 10- minute video and then draw further information on the topic from newspapers, fictional text and other sources.

"For example, there's a piece on Derek Jeter," said Lucille Iconis, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "Kids love it because they can relate to it."

COUNTYWIDE

Embracing differences

Seven Nassau County students were among 28 local artists featured last month in the fourth-annual "Embracing Our Differences" exhibit, held at the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity & Human Understanding in Selden. The exhibit explored the struggles and joys of living in a diverse community. The student-artists were:

Cold Spring Harbor: Courtney Burke, Sommer Dougherty and Kelsey Jones of Cold Spring Harbor High School; Lynbrook: Daniyal Jamal of Waverly Park Elementary School; Plainview: Annie Krekel and Chris Butigian of Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School; Syosset: Alex Herenstein and Naiym Park of Syosset High School.

ISLANDWIDE

Siemens semifinalists

Thirty-nine Long Island students were among 312 semifinalists named last month in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, a research contest administered by the College Board that awards college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 in individual and team categories. Eight other students advanced to the regional finals. The 27 Nassau County semifinalists were:

Cedarhurst: Abraham Killanin and Samuel Sussman of Lawrence High School; Rebecca Klahr and Jeremy Sacks of Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns & Rockaway; Glen Head: Charles Sharkey of North Shore High School; Great Neck: Haebin Lim and Sage Mandel of Great Neck South High School; Jericho: Michael Zhou of Jericho High School; Manhasset: Shaunak Bakshi of Manhasset High School; Merrick: Jenny Wu of Calhoun High School; New Hyde Park: Akhil Sharma and Shyam Venkateswaran of Herricks High School; Old Westbury: Arjun Balakumar, Lambert Chu, Alan Czemerinski, Sean Oh and Tom Wang of The Wheatley School; Plainview: Kevin Chon, Anisha Khemlani, Lina Lin and Ari Turkiewicz of Plainview-Old Bethpage High School; Port Washington: Jai Sajnani of Paul D. Schreiber High School; Rockville Centre: Kelsey McKenna of South Side High School; Roslyn Heights: Brian Do, Scott Gladstone and Evan Schneider of Roslyn High School; Syosset: Karan Sikka of Syosset High School.