Springs School in East Hampton sparking creativity at an early age

An East End school is using the power of opera to help spark creativity at an early age.

Springs School in East Hampton has presented an annual opera for the past 18 years that is entirely delivered by fourth-graders — from writing to composing to set design. The productions have featured more than 850 kids since the school initiated the tradition in 1997.

This year's opera, titled "Bound for Gardiner's Island," was based on the legend of Captain Kidd, who is said to have buried treasure there in 1699.

It featured 76 students and 21 original songs — both of which are records for Springs' operas.

"We've become known as the school that does the opera, and it's become a source of community pride," said the school's opera coordinator Sue Ellen O'Connor, who has assisted in all 18 operas along with art director Colleen McGowan and arranger Kyril Bromley. They were inspired by the Metropolitan Opera Guild's "Creating Original Opera" program.

The opera process begins each spring, O'Connor said, when students submit applications to appear in the following school year's production.

Auditions are held the first week of school, followed by the writing team devising the opera's topic and script and the composing team crafting melodies and songs with help from adults.

This year's group worked four days a week after school to prepare the roughly one-hour production. Southampton artist Paton Miller also assisted the kids in creating a mural backdrop and a life-size boat prop.

The opera's four performances took place at Guild Hall in East Hampton Jan. 14-16.

ROCKY POINT: CANCER AMBASSADOR

Rocky Point High School senior Rachel Magnuson has been named an ambassador to the Side-Out Foundation, a nonprofit designed to raise funds and breast cancer awareness. She is among only 18 students nationwide selected based on their commitment to the cause.

The school is a large supporter of Side-Out's Dig Pink fundraisers in which athletes wear pink uniforms during a home game in an effort to raise funds.

Rocky Point has raised more than $50,000 through Dig Pink over the past eight years — including $6,000 raised this fall.

SUFFOLK COUNTY: 'PARTNERS FOR THE FUTURE'

Five Suffolk County students are among 13 across Long Island conducting real medical research this school year through the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's 2014-15 "Partners for the Future" Program.

The students are Luke Antolin of Cold Spring Harbor High School, Noah Davis of Earl L. Vandermeulen High School in Port Jefferson, Chi Ying "Jillian" Ho of The Stony Brook School, Hannah Johnston of Harborfields High School in Greenlawn and Shreeya Panigrahi of Sayville High School.

High school seniors are nominated for the program by their school science chair, with semifinalists interviewed by lab scientists.

Winners spend at least 10 hours a week from September through March performing original research alongside a scientist mentor and then give oral presentations at the conclusion of the program.

ISLANDWIDE: 'RECYCLE RUSH'

More than 800 Long Island students gathered at Stony Brook University last month for a kickoff event to learn the theme of the 2015 Long Island Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, scheduled March 26 to 28 at Hofstra University. This year's theme will be "Recycle Rush."

Three-team alliances will battle for points by stacking totes on platforms, capping stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of pool noodles that will represent litter. Teams also received kits containing a mix of automation components and will have six weeks to build their robots.

The competition is sponsored by the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island.