Senator John Brooks visited Copiague Middle School on May 31 to present a proclamation to a sixth-grade student who is making a difference in her community. 

“I wanted to recognize this young lady in front of her whole class so you can really understand what she is doing in her community and the initiative she is taking on her own,” Sen. Brooks said.
 
For almost a year, student Lydia Pacheco has spent her Sunday mornings helping to feed the homeless both in her neighborhood and beyond. Pacheco started by using the money she received for her birthday and allowance to buy food at local fast-food restaurants. Now, the sixth-grader’s movement has grown to include family, friends and members of her church community who travel with her or on their own for weekly deliveries. 

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people I see every week and they look forward to seeing me and my dad,” Pacheco said. “It brings me a real feeling of joy to know that I am helping someone.”

Copiague School District administrators and Board of Education members recognized the faculty and staff members who will be retiring at the end of the 2016-2017 school year and also acknowledged teachers who were granted tenure during the June 5 board of education meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Bannon, board of education members, district administrators and department chairs offered their congratulations to the five retirees, who have close to 150 years of combined service to the district. Retiring at the end of the school year are Stacy Bach, Rose Marie Bell, Lynne Cook, Deirdre Whiston and Rosette Verriotto. 

Four teachers ¬– Karen Kazlaukas, Michael Olsen, Danielle Russo and Ioanna Spyris – who were recently granted tenure, were also celebrated prior to the board of education meeting.  

Six Copiague Middle School students were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society during a ceremony held at the school on June 1.

Advisers Paul Harvey and Francesa Walker welcomed the board of education members, administrators, family and community members to the ceremony. In order to qualify for membership, seventh- and eighth-grade students must possess a cumulative grade point average of 92 or above and receive faculty recommendations. The National Junior Honor Society officers spoke about the qualities of scholarship, character, service and leadership that members must demonstrate in order to qualify. 

Principal Andrew Lagnado led the oath for newest inductees to the National Junior High Society: Adam Antosiak, Arlin Alvarez Almonte, Adela Guifarro Soto, Sofia Lounici, Marcela Torres and Emmeli Vizcaino. 

The Suffolk Zone of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance sponsored the annual Physical Education Student Leadership Awards Ceremony at Longwood High School on May 3. Students who qualify for the award are recognized for their achievements in physical education, leadership, character and academics.

Honored at the ceremony was Copiague Middle School eighth-graders Sarah Manzanarez and Kenneth Tejada; Deauville Gardens East Elementary School fifth-graders Ava Reichelt and Zachary Rosenzweig; Deauville Gardens West Elementary School fifth-graders Stanley Buissereth and Stefana Lipari; Susan E. Wiley Elementary School fifth-grade students Brian Gonzalez and Jordana Jagnarine; and Great Neck Road Elementary School fifth-grade students Nicole Araujo and Kamar Birthwright.

The Copiague Middle School chamber choir participated in the New York State School Music Association’s Music Festival on May 30 and received the highest possible rating of “Gold with Distinction.” A Gold rating is awarded to organizations that demonstrate an outstanding level of technical and artistic skill in tone, intonation, balance, technique, diction, accuracy/execution, interpretation, discipline and appropriate choice of music. A Gold with Distinction rating is awarded only to those choirs that achieve a standard of performance deemed exceptional in all of the three selections performed for the NYSSMA judges.

National School Boards Association President Kevin Ciak, along with district administrators and Copiague School District Board of Education members, spent the afternoon of May 31 touring the many academic offerings of the Copiague School District.

Ciak, who was on Long Island for a speaking engagement at the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association’s annual dinner, connected with the Copiague School District through Copiague Board of Education President Brian Sales, who also serves as president of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.

“We are very proud of Copiague School District and the things we accomplish here and we are honored to be able to share that on a national level,” Sales said.

The tour of the district included classroom visits at an elementary school, middle school and high school. “From the minute I walked in, I felt very much at home in this district,” Ciak said. “I was very impressed with all of the 21st century learning going on in the classrooms. Students were fully emerged in learning and using high-level analysis.”

At the elementary level, the visit showed the district’s use of technology with its 1:1 computing class and students using the zSpace virtual reality, 3-D computers. Copiague Middle School students demonstrated their earth science and English language arts skills, while science research students at Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School presented some of their recent studies.

“In the visit I conducted, I was able to see exactly what public education was built for: addressing the needs of all of its students,” Ciak said. “This district is building its student body up from when they enter kindergarten. That type of planning and culture starts from above with a Board of Education and administration that knows what their students need to be successful.”

Ten students from the Copiague School District were recognized by the Town of Babylon for placing among the top students who entered the Babylon Covantage EcoTech Scholarship Contest during an awards presentation at Babylon Town Hall on May 6.

Under the advisement of High School Science Chairperson Renee Locker and Middle School Science Chairperson Dr. Daniel Leccese, students submitted an energy or environmental-based science project, through which they carried out an experiment and wrote a detailed scientific paper explaining their procedure and conclusion.

Brittany Faustin placed first among all entrants and earned a $1,000 scholarship for her project “The Effectiveness of the Antibacterial Activity Utilizing Silver Nanoparticles on the Growth of Aspergillus niger.” Other winners from Walter G O’Connell Copiague High School included: Brayan Pena and Osazuwa Eghafona, who received a $625 scholarship for their project “Doped Magnesium Aluminate as a Viable Basis for Production of Inorganic, Long Lasting, Non-Toxic, Pigments;” Sofie Wilson and Jade Dickenson, who won fourth place and a $250 scholarship for their project “A novel investigation surrounding Geukensia demissa as a probable control mechanism for the invasive species Phragmites australis;” Erhumwunse Eghafona received a $250 scholarship for his project “Falling Temperature on a Species of Tree;” and Claudia Motley took home a $125 scholarship for her study on “Cultural Orientation and its Effects on Secondary Education in Japanese and American Students.”

The three Copiague Middle School students each took home $125 scholarships for their projects. Dylan Bedell project was to show how drones can be used to monitor coastal erosion. He used his drone to fly over a shoreline of the Great South Bay and looked at evidence that showed decreasing levels of coast. Olivia Healy examined how different insulating materials help keeps a home warm in the winter. DaVeyah Williams studied nanosilver and how nanosilver affects pond life. Nanosilver is called colloidal silver and is found in many consumer products with the purpose of killing bacteria. Her project studied how greater amounts of nanosilver decreased the population of daphnia (microscopic pond organism).  

Open to students in grades eighth to 12th throughout the Town of Babylon, the Covantage EcoTech Scholarship Contest awards scholarships annually to students who create the top-ranking science projects with eco-tech themes. Through this program, students are encouraged to explore concepts related to sustainability and environmental solutions.

“Covanta and Babylon have been exceptional in not only encouraging STEM among our students, but offering an incentive for pursuing science discovery and excellence. Even more noteworthy and distinctive by Covanta is the endorsement of environmental science as an area of focus,” said Ms. Locker.

Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School hosted the seventh annual Urban & Walsh Memorial Invitational on May 15. Organized by Copiague track coaches George Schroeder and John Sack, the annual event is held to honor Christopher Urban and Brittney Walsh.

Hosting 28 teams from across Long Island, the invitational featured 18 events including girls and boys shot put, boys and girls disc, long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault, the 2,000/3,000 steeplechase, 100/110 high hurdles, high jump and more. In addition to the standard track and field events, fifth-graders from the four elementary schools – Deauville Gardens East, Deauville Gardens West, Great Neck Road and Susan E. Wiley – participated in a special boys and girls 4x100 relay.

For the Copiague boys, David Lawrence placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 0:11.74, took third place in the long jump with 21 feet, 7.5 inches and placed second in the triple jump with 43 feet, 2.5 feet. Antoine Moore Jr. placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 0:50.82. Jackson Bright, Aryes Garrett and Brenton Bennett took fifth, sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the high jump.

For the Copiague girls, Halle Moore took first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 60.66, while Akajia Atkins placed third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 0:13.25. The girls 4x400 meter relay team placed second with a time of 4:36.29, and high jumper Lyndsey Wilson secured third place with a jump of 4 feet, 10 inches. Akajia Atkins placed first in the long jump with a 17 foot, 3-inch jump, and Kyria Moore took fifth in the shot put with a toss of 32 feet, 6.75 inches.

Three teams of Copiague Middle School students have been named national finalists in the second annual Bright Schools Competition. The competition is a collaborative effort of the National Sleep Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association that encourages students in grades 6-8 to explore the correlation between light and sleep and how it influences a student’s health and performance.

The winning students from Copiague Middle School are Qbar Velasquez, Roman Burrus and Adam Antonsiak, who investigated “How Do Different Color Lights Affect Sleep?”; Tyler Rosario, Semaya Robinson and Asiatul Hoque, who studied the “Impact of Blue Light on Sleep;” and Elizabeth Garrovillas, Olivia Healy and Lauren David, who submitted research on “How Does Asthma Affect Sleep?”

Under the mentorship of Middle School science chair Dr. Daniel Leccese, the team identified, investigated, and researched an issue related to light and sleep as it pertains to their community and/or young adolescents. Teams develop a prototype, create an awareness campaign or write a research proposal for the competition. Each team then submits a written report detailing their project along with a three-minute video showcasing their investigation. Projects are evaluated on the basis of several criteria, including scientific accuracy, innovativeness and potential impact.

The three Middle School teams were chosen among 50 national finalist teams of nearly 500 students from 53 schools. National winning teams will be announced in early May.

The Copiague Middle School’s Builders Club recently held a Pennies for Patients fundraiser. Via penny banks in each homeroom class, the club collected $1,425 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Builders Club raffled off different spring-themed baskets for those who donated.