School Days

Greenport Union Free School District
Greenport School says its community school garden is thriving and that in late May, it received four additional garden beds by donation that will be used for watermelon and zinnias. The school’s elementary students in grades pre-K to sixth started seedlings in the Grow Lab with Mr. Wilkins during STEAM class back in March and will soon have fresh spinach, tomatoes, kale, carrots, string beans, garlic, and beets that will be used to feed students in the school cafeteria.

Greenport High School announces Lena Wolf as 2018 valedictorian and Jenna Loper as 2018 salutatorian.

Wolf will be attending Purdue University in the fall for civil engineering. She is vice president of the DECA Club, president of the Drama Club, and president of Interact and National Honor Society. Wolf is also on the varsity field hockey team, runs track and field, and is a member of the Model UN.

Loper is a member of the National Honor Society and has received Academic Excellence awards. She will be attending Suffolk County Community College for liberal arts after graduation.

Hampton Bays School District

Hampton Bays Middle School students were awarded Amazon Fire tablets after entering a book review challenge with author Jerome Mark Antil, who visited the school on May 22.
For the challenge, the students wrote book reviews based on their readings of Antil’s books The Pompey Hollow Book Club and Hemingway, Three Angels, and Me. The Hampton Bays School District extends its congratulations to the following winners: sixth graders Emma Halsey, Elizabeth Lin, and Maya Sanabria; and eighth graders Stephen Sutton and Julia Romero Sanchez.

Riverhead Central School District

Juliette Lehman has been named Riverhead High School’s valedictorian. She is president of the school’s National Honor Society chapter and its math club and is captain of the Latin Club. In addition, Lehman is a member of the Women in Science and Engineering program and the Latin Honor Society. In the fall, she is slated to attend Webb Institute, where she plans to study naval architecture.

Olivia Dickerson is Riverhead’s salutatorian and is a member of the French Honor Society, the National Honor Society, Robotics Club, Math Club, and Key Club. She is also a member of the Women in Science and Engineering program and captain of the varsity volleyball team. Dickerson is still deciding where to attend college.

Riverhead High School students learned about the dangers of drinking and driving under the influence when Drunk Buggies, a Suffolk County Sheriff’s program, was presented at the school recently.

Through the hands-on program, students attempted to navigate a drivable buggy through an obstacle course while wearing goggles that simulated intoxication. They also tried to walk through the course wearing the goggles.

The program was led by Deputy Sheriff Thomas Indence, who also spoke to the students about good decision making and the risks associated with alcohol.

Tuckahoe common school District
The Tuckahoe Common School District celebrated its 2018-19 National Junior Honor Society inductees on Tuesday, June 5. They include: Hailey Cameron, Giulia Campaiola, Emma Cervone, Mallory Corwith, Angel DeRosas, Cadie Hancock, Luz Hernandez, Maria Hill, Charley LaMere, Stella Lima, Logan O’Neill, Brandon Perez, Vanessa Reyes, Thayer Schwartz, and Joshua Taraku. These students demonstrate criteria the NJHS holds in high regard, including service, leadership, scholarship, citizenship, and character.

Westhampton Beach School District

As part of a science lesson on the life cycle of a chicken, second graders in Stella Boscia’s class at Westhampton Beach Elementary School hatched four chicken eggs.
While waiting for their chicks to hatch, the students learned vocabulary related to the life cycle of a chicken, drew a diagram of the inside of an unfertilized egg, and took a field trip to the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center in Yaphank for a special lesson on chicken embryology.

After nestling their eggs in a classroom incubator for nine days, the students candled the eggs to observe the embryos. Several days later, they witnessed the chicks use their “egg tooth” to peck the first holes in their shells.

The students cared for the newborn chicks for one week before the hatchlings were sent to their forever homes. Some lucky students took chicks home after writing a required letter to their teacher and obtaining parental permission.

In other school district news, high school juniors and seniors in Dianna Gobler’s class observed a live three-hour kidney transplant on May 22.

This is the second time the biotech students were given the opportunity to witness a surgery using videoconferencing technology. In the fall, they viewed a surgical procedure on the brainstem and spinal cord of a patient. The surgeries, which are hosted by the Liberty Science Center of New Jersey, are conducted in partnership with local hospitals and arranged through Eastern-Suffolk BOCES.
During the videoconference, doctors and nurses in the operating room offer insight into the procedure they are performing and answer students’ questions.

Prior to viewing the kidney transplant, students researched and presented findings about diseases related to kidney failure. They also dissected a sheep kidney and learned more about organ donations.