Fourth-graders in Kelly Lambert’s class at Susan E. Wiley Elementary School recently expressed their creativity when they designed their own longhouses. The longhouses could be constructed of any items; some designs featured tree bark, popsicle sticks, straws or branches. The lesson was a culminating activity to their English Language Arts module on the Iroquois.

The students learned about how the men and women worked together to build the longhouses and how some of the houses could be hundreds of feet in length to hold different members of their clan. The fourth-graders showed off their knowledge of the Iroquois and their architectural creations during a visit with the third-grade classes. 

The Copiague Board of Education hosted their biannual Student Recognition Awards ceremony to honor the outstanding accomplishments of its students on Jan. 28 in the Copiague Middle School auditorium.

The event is a way for the board of education to recognize excellence and the successes of students throughout the district. During the ceremony, board members read a list of accolades and accomplishments that students achieved this school year. 

Each of the 17 student-honorees was presented with a framed certificate presented by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Bannon. The district congratulates the following students: Deauville Gardens East: Amelia Bright and Darlene Herrera; Deauville Gardens West: Kieran Erickson and Ny’Shawn Legette; Great Neck Road: Hunter Nicholas Natoli and Hailey Wendel; Susan E. Wiley: Kaitlyn Caldwell and Jonathan Marine Suarez; Copiague Middle School: Iran Sophia Gonzalez, Vaiva Kean, Andrew James O’Connell and Neisy Rivera Garcia; Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School: Ajhani Carroll, Wilson Murcia, Arelee Ramirez, Brenda Reyes and Kyree Scott.

Thirty-one student-musicians will represent the Copiague School District at the 2019 Suffolk County Music Educators’ Association All-County Music Festival in March. Each of these students received outstanding scores on their performance at the NYSSMA solo and ensemble evaluation festivals last May.

Selection to the All-County band and chorus is the highest honor a student of music in grades 5-10 can attain. The district congratulates the following students:

SCMEA All-County I West Band
Esmeralda Claros Sanchez (flute)
Eve Estevez-Rivera (baritone/euph)
Alyson Tenebro (flute)
Rhianna Coleman (Bb clarinet)
Andrew Wagner (Bb clarinet)
Ismael Garcia (trumpet/cornet)
Raisaun Gibson (trombone)
Analiz Rosario (alto sax)
Dyson Brown (alto sax)
Hannah Alara (Bb clarinet)

SCMEA All-County II West Band
Shenn Barredo (flute)
Philip Popielarz (baritone/euph)
Sadia Velasquez (Bb clarinet)

SCMEA All-County II West Orchestra
Alice Sztabinski (flute)

SCMEA All-County III West Band
Ryan Bott (tenor sax)
Zuri Milliner (baritone/euph)

SCMEA All-County I West Chorus
Daniella Jiminez
Mykelle Moore
Linda Paiz Romero

SCMEA All-County II West Chorus
Sydney Forbes
Adam Guglielmelli
Ava Reichelt
Dominique Tetlak
Anthony Woods

SCMEA All-County III West Chorus
Jessica Chochorek
Jaheim Garcia
Shannon Greenlee
Denison Rosa
Ariana Tirino
Morgan Weeks
Oktay Yildiz

Students throughout the Copiague School District showed they are doing their part to be college and career ready during a districtwide College Day on Jan. 11.

While faculty and staff showed off their alma maters by wearing their college shirts, the district’s youngest students dressed for success, either in business attire or the uniform of their career choice. At Great Neck Road Elementary School, students became video game designers and created their own video games. Kindergarten students interviewed one of their school’s security guards about her career choice. Fourth-graders listened to a presentation from a military servicemen who spoke about the benefits of joining the military. 

Second-grade students at Deauville Gardens West Elementary School focused on academic clubs in college and how they compete against different colleges. Each classroom learned about mascots, pennants and college academic clubs. At Susan E. Wiley and Deauville Gardens East elementary schools, students explored different colleges by taking online virtual tours of the campuses and discussing college and career options. 

Middle school students also centered their day around different college and career path lessons, while students at Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School has recent high school graduates and current college freshmen come back to the school to discuss some of the experiences, highlights and struggles of college life. 

Second-graders in Maureen Gaertner’s class and third-graders in Diana Daniels’ class at Susan E. Wiley Elementary School created crafty snowflake ornaments together for a good cause. Using popsicle sticks, the students painted and added glitter to their wooden snowflakes, which they are donating to the Susan E. Wiley Parent Teacher Association for its Candy Cane Lane Holiday Shop. The proceeds from the craft will be used to help support the PTA.

Third-graders in Jeanne Daly’s art class at Susan E. Wiley Elementary School participated in an art workshop with Joyce Raimondo from the Pollack-Krasner House in East Hampton. Themed “Express Yourself,” Raimondo presented a slideshow on expressing yourself through art and the third-grade students created their own works of art using Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner as inspiration.