Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School students Marvin Lobo and Nicole Hernandez were honored at the NYSAHPERD Suffolk Zone Awards dinner. The pair were selected by their physical education teachers as representatives of this award. They were among 110 other high school seniors throughout Suffolk County to receive this award. Criteria for the award included physical education and health achievement, scholastically sound, outstanding character, physical education and health leader, schoolwide leader and a student role model.

The second graders at Deauville Gardens West Elementary School are learning all about water cycles and the different states of matter this December. 

Students in Ms. Orlando’s class conducted a science experiment, filling a clear bag with water taped on the window. Each day, they observe the changes in the water line.

Students in Ms. Bennett’s class built structures using different blocks to represent the different particles that make up matter. Another group worked with mystery bags, using their senses to hypothesize what was in each bag. 

In Ms. McCormack’s class, students worked on their Chromebooks to study different stages of matter. They also created diagrams using dots to represent the way the atoms look in a solid, liquid and gas.

Copiague Middle School students are hard at work in their math lessons this December. Sixth graders in Mr. Kounadis’ class are using the online program GoMath and Chromebooks to apply ratios and rates.

Eighth grade math students in Mr. Radziewicz and Mrs. Jones’ class are also working with online programs. They are graphing equations using GeoGebra, a program where they enter linear equations that are graphed online. The students then have to convert the equations to solve the problem using algebra. 

Seventh grade students in Mrs. Horigan’s class and Mrs. Ramirez’s class are practicing two-step equations. As a mini review of their lessons, the students did a scavenger hunt around the classroom to match up the equations with the answers.

The annual science fair at the Copiague Middle School showcased the many talents of the rising student-scientists at the school. This year, 27 seventh and eighth grade students’ projects were chosen for submission. Students enrolled in a science or science research class conducted experiments, either alone or with a partner, and explained and displayed their results on a poster board.

“I am very proud of the projects that the students presented,” said Copiague Middle School science chairperson Dr. Dan Leccese. “Their hard work and diligence is truly reflected in the projects and represents the best in quality and methodology among our top research students at the middle school.”

This year’s judges included Copiague School District Board of Education members, Copiague Chamber of Commerce members, Town of Babylon employees, Vanderbilt Museum representatives, Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School and Copiague Middle School science teachers, Copiague School District administrators, Copiague alumni and Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School science research students. Students presented their findings and spoke about their research as the judges walked the cafeteria.

Awards were presented on Jan. 3 to the participants. First place and a laptop was awarded to eighth grader Shawn Smaldon for his project “Which Method of Oil Spill Cleanup Is Best for the Environment?” Second place and $50 gift cards were presented to Rosangel Peralta Plasencia for “Don’t Clam Up” and Nolan Curto for “Smoking vs. Vaping” projects. Third place and $20 gift cards were presented to Joshua Osofsky for “Gliding Plan for Aircraft Safety;” Alyson Tenebro for “Fogged Up;” Chloe Allen-Jackson for “Which Salt Mets Ice the Fastest;” and Rhianna Coleman for “How Can You Control Bamboo.”