LI schools raise funds for Haiti earthquake relief

From dressing down to skipping snacks, students across Long Island have pitched in to collect monetary donations for the relief effort to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Students and staff at Jack Abrams Intermediate School in Huntington Station are participating in a Hats for Haiti initiative, paying $1 each to wear a hat to school - an act that is typically against school policy.

"No matter how small a donation it is, it's something that will impact people," said Edward Escobar, Mineola High School principal. "It's important for kids to know they can make a difference."

He said the Student Services Center, Student Government and Red Cross Club teamed up to host a pancake breakfast last weekend for $3 a person. The district advertised the event on its Web site and sent invitations home to parents. The students raised $12,000.

In Miller Place, North Country Road Middle School students are donating $5 each to wear red and blue for Haiti's flag and to benefit the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders.

West Babylon Junior High students are forgoing snacks and depositing the unused money in jugs set up in the cafeteria to benefit the nonprofit Friends of the Orphans. "One student put in a $10 bill as soon as the collection jugs went out," said guidance counselor Lorraine Zemba.

In Seaford, Maria Regina School raised $2,000 by encouraging students to wear jeans instead of their usual uniforms in exchange for a donation of $1 to Catholic Relief Services, an international humanitarian agency.

COPIAGUE

College planning

Copiague public schools gave students a preview of life after high school earlier this month through the district's first-ever K-12 College Day.

The program included alumni speakers and an exhibit of mock dorm rooms set up at Walter G. O'Connell High School and Copiague Middle School. At night, parents attended a college fair and lectures on topics ranging from financial planning to transitional services for students with disabilities.

"Research is clear: Children who aspire to college perform better academically," said Superintendent Charles Leunig.

MANORVILLE

DWI realities for teens

Eastport-South Manor Junior-Senior High School's criminal justice and business law classes recently learned about the social and legal repercussions of a DWI arrest during a visit from officials of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department.

As part of the project, teens attempted to complete a variety of sobriety tests - such as walking a straight line - while wearing "simulation goggles" that allowed them to experience how alcohol can distort vision. They also learned how arrests can hurt their ability to obtain jobs.

MASTIC BEACH

Prom price break?

William Floyd High School seniors have sold more than 300 T-shirts this winter to lower the price of this year's prom tickets in the sluggish economy.

The shirts, which cost $5 for students and $10 for adults, bear slogans that reflect a new district policy barring a student from attending the prom if more than 18 absences are accumulated. Slogans include, "We dig attendance" and "Let's go to class . . . all the cool kids are doing it."

MILLER PLACE

Wheelchair basketball

Miller Place High School students learned about the challenges of being physically disabled earlier this month during a visit from Jason Soricelli of Selden, a player in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. As part of the program, Soricelli brought 10 wheelchairs for teens to practice navigating in and to play in a game of five-on-five wheelchair basketball.

Soricelli was injured in a dirt-bike accident six years ago that left him unable to walk.

NORTHPORT

Interim principal

Josephine Imwalle, 60, has been named interim principal of Fifth Avenue Elementary School. She replaces Joan Baltman, 56, who died in late December after battling cancer.

Before joining Fifth Avenue in 1998, Baltman served as principal of Public School 255 in Queens. Imwalle previously served as the district's community services director.

COUNTYWIDE

DECA competition