USMC vets bring war history to LI kids

Veterans are helping some Long Island schools give kids a unique kind of history lesson.

About a dozen volunteers from the Marine Corps League Huntington Detachment 792 have been visiting local schools in recent years to educate students about their experiences in wars, spanning from World War II to Operation Enduring Freedom, also known as the war in Afghanistan.

The Huntington vets visited Hauppauge High School last week and are slated to visit Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School this week in honor of Veterans Day on Friday.

"We talk about our personal experiences -- some were drafted, some volunteered," said the detachment's commandant, William Ober, who served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a stint in Guantánamo Bay during the Cuban missile crisis. "The biggest surprise to kids is to see a common thread among all veterans. It doesn't matter what age they [veterans] are; they all went through similar experiences."

Ober said the idea for visiting local schools stemmed from a class on the Vietnam War that he taught at Locust Valley High School after he came off active duty. The class became one of the school's most popular classes at the time, he said, largely due to the in-class visits he arranged with local veterans.

Today, the detachment's volunteers also periodically visit Syosset High School to partake in one-on-one on-camera interviews with students that later are stored at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

"They ask questions like was the veteran drafted and what was basic training like," Lynn Ortlieb, a library media specialist at the school, said of the Veterans History Project. "I think students are surprised at how young some veterans are."

Other high schools visited by the vets in recent years were Commack, Half Hollow Hills West in Dix Hills, Huntington, Locust Valley and Northport.

EAST HAMPTON

Adding Mandarin

Ross School, a private school for pre-kindergarten through grade 12, has launched an initiative that requires Mandarin language lessons as a part of the core curriculum. In addition, China will be the destination this year for the school's study-abroad trips.

"Emphasizing and enhancing Chinese language and culture . . . reflects what we discern will be valuable and necessary in the future," said the school's founder, Courtney Sale Ross.

RIVERHEAD

Aiding the homeless

Riverhead High School's Key Club recently shed light on the plight of local homeless people with a "Be Homeless Night." Dozens of students solicited donations and slept overnight in boxes outside the school's courtyard to aid Maureen's Haven, a local homeless outreach program.

"They [students] understand how easy it is, or could be, to become homeless or without many things people take for granted," said Louise Wilkinson, the school's Key Club adviser.

COUNTYWIDE

Breast cancer benefits

Dozens of Suffolk County schools raised funds for breast cancer research last month through activities held in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In Bohemia, Connetquot High School's varsity volleyball team raised $2,200 with a Dig Pink Challenge to benefit the Side-Out Foundation, which issues grants to organizations that support breast cancer patients. To raise funds students sold bracelets, cake and T-shirts during a home game against Sachem North High School.

In Commack, the high school's varsity tennis team held a teacher-player doubles tournament in which each girl invited a teacher to form a doubles team. Sixty local businesses donated raffle items, and all funds raised benefited the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Eastern Suffolk BOCES cosmetology students at four separate buildings sold pink hair extensions for $5 a piece over a monthlong period to benefit the American Cancer Society.

ISLANDWIDE

Video with 'Addams' cast

Middle school classes from three Long Island school districts -- Massapequa, Smithtown and William Floyd in Mastic Beach -- were among dozens nationwide to participate last month in a 25-minute live video broadcast with four cast members of "The Addams Family" musical on Broadway in conjunction with National Bullying Prevention Month.

During the session, actors Jackie Hoffman, Zachary James, Brad Oscar and Adam Riegler discussed how their show teaches people not to make quick judgments about people, and they led students in a pledge in which they vowed to be respectful people.

The broadcast also included an overview of STEM to STEAM, a campaign to bring art and design into science, technology, engineering and math education and research.