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.

The Builders Club members at Copiague Middle School have been busy with their community service activities these past few months. For the holidays, the students sold ornaments and raised $675 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Suffolk County. In January, the club held a book drive for Tanner Park Free Library. Builders Club members also collected donations for Good Samaritan Hospital to help new moms who needed assistance with newborn essentials.

 

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

 

Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer and Councilman Tony Martinez visited the Copiague School District Board of Education meeting in January to present members of the Humanities (SOUL) Club with certificates of appreciation. The students were recognized, along with adviser Joe Mannix, for their cleanup efforts this fall on the Santapogue Creek and around Dixon Avenue. The students are pictured with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Bannon (second from left) and Board of Education President Laura Gavey (left). 

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. 

Budding scientists from Copiague Middle School displayed their research skills during the school’s annual science fair. This year, 30 projects completed by 40 seventh- and eighth-grade students 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.

This year’s judges included Copiague School District Board of Education members, Copiague Chamber of Commerce members, SUNY Farmingdale faculty, 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.

Science fair participants gathered in the library for a special awards ceremony and recognition. Copiague Middle School Science Chairperson Dr. Daniel Lecesse and Copiague Middle School Principal Andrew Lagnado distributed trophies, certificates, monetary awards and a laptop to the winners, donated by the Copiague Chamber of Commerce.

First place was awarded to seventh-grader Aliyanna Fernandez for her project on “Ants N Sweets.” Second-place honors went to Shenn Barredo and Giselle Peralta for their project “Regular vs Sterile Soil” and Theresa Soraire “Which Material Insulates the Best?”

The National Junior Honor Society students from Copiague Middle School visited the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park and volunteered their time to bake goods for the families staying there. The students baked five dozen sugar cookies and four dozen brownies. They also made gift bags for the children staying in the hospital. Each gift bag contained a professionally made snowflake cookie, a festive snow globe, candy and candy canes.  

Seventh- and eighth-grade students at Copiague Middle School are learning about the engineering and design process during their technology classes. The students are designing their own bridges, which will then be tested to see how much weight they can withstand. The students researched different types of bridges online before selecting their design. After sketching their designs, the students spent several weeks building their bridges, cutting the wood pieces and gluing the parts together. As the culminating activity, the bridges will be tested to see which is the strongest.