School Notebook: 15 winning robotic teams

Fifteen Long Island school teams were winners in various categories last month at the 12th annual Long Island FIRST Regional Robotics Competition held at Hofstra University.

The competition required student teams to build and program 120-pound robots in a six-week period that could perform a series of tasks ranging from grasping and hanging inflatable tubes on pegs to deploying a "mini-bot" that climbed a metal pole.

Varying numbers of points were issued based on each task's level of difficulty.

Patchogue-Medford and Malverne high schools won the top two awards by taking home the Chairman's Award and the Engineering Inspiration Award, respectively.

They are eligible to compete this weekend at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in St. Louis.

"I'm so proud at how this team came together," said Chuck Vessalico, coach of the Malverne 33-student robotics team. "We designed more of an offensive robot this year using wheels that allow the robot to move in any direction without actually turning."

Other Nassau County high schools to win awards were: Hicksville, which won the General Motors Industrial Design Award; Plainview-Old Bethpage, which won the Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award, and Great Neck, which won the Underwriters Lab Industrial Safety Award.

To win the Engineering Inspiration Award, Malverne team members were interviewed by judges on their robot and evaluated on their understanding of its science and technology. The award also earned the team a $3,000 grant from NASA to help pay for the championship.

About 1,200 students from 50 metropolitan area schools -- including 43 from Long Island -- competed in alliances on a 27-by-54-foot floor in two-minute, 15-second sessions. The competition was sponsored by the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island.

LEVITTOWN

Ethics essay winners

Two students at Gen. Douglas MacArthur High School were winners of the 17th Annual Ethics Essay Contest sponsored by the Williams Institute for Ethics and Management, an Arizona-based nonprofit. The contest was designed to encourage ethical thinking among youngsters and required students to address the topic: "Sustainability, Ethics and You." The students, Rebecca Hopkins and Katelyn Jonny, were each awarded a $500 college scholarship.

LOCUST VALLEY

'Great' sculptures

Three students from the Portledge School were first-place winners in the "Create Something Great" recycled sculpture contest hosted by the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center in Oyster Bay. The contest required students to build sculptures made out of recyclable materials designed around the theme of animals, insects and reptiles.

Winners were students John Piszczatowski in the grades K-1 division, Mia Verrochi in grades 2-3, and Joshua Yoder in grades 4-6. They each received a $100 gift card for art supplies.

COUNTYWIDE

Business leaders

Twenty-three Nassau County students were top winners in various categories last month at the Future Business Leaders of America's 2011 New York State Leadership Conference in Rochester and are eligible to compete at the national level in June. At the state level more than 450 students competed in fields such as public speaking, accounting and entrepreneurship. The winning students are:

Bellmore: Arian Maiberg of John F. Kennedy High School; Elmont: Sarah Arjun, Matt Cataneo, Shanell Charles, Uma Jagnarine, Regina King, Renee King, Krystal Nwaogbe and Funlola Otukoya of Elmont Memorial High School; Floral Park: Janice Lee, Brian Moore and Courtney Sokol of Floral Park Memorial High School; Kieran O'Reilly and Rory O'Reilly of Sewanhaka High School; Franklin Square: Louis Cona, Adrianna Gatt, Athena Loizos, Stephanie Melgarejo and Chris Rodriguez of H. Frank Carey High School; Jericho: Ari Freedman, Reggie Kronstadt and Jake Mandel of Jericho High School; Valley Stream: Anna Okolo of Valley Stream Central High School.

ISLANDWIDE

Tobacco-free kids

Dozens of Long Island schools recently educated students on the dangers of tobacco use as part of Kick Butts Day, a national initiative of the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

In Amityville, Park Avenue Elementary School displayed a giant model of a cigarette to help illustrate its poisonous ingredients. In Holtsville at Sequoya Middle School, kids signed their names to a "wall of pledges" to commit to being tobacco-free and encouraging loved ones to quit smoking. In Glen Cove, Landing Elementary School students played a "tobacco tag" game that incorporated trivia questions about tobacco.