Fourth graders in Debra Wasp and Marie Tortorici’s class at JFK recently learned engineering principles, designing carrying devices to hold 20 marble “coconuts” using a small number of materials.

Second graders in Susan Steinman’s class at May Moore recently researching Adelie penguins. The students then Skyped with scientists studying penguins at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and observed the birds live in their natural habitat.

John Heeg, a social studies teacher at Robert Frost, researched the life and service of Sgt. Neil Evans Wheeler of Oswego, who died in combat in World War I, as part of National History Day’s Memorializing the Fallen program, sponsored by the World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Foundation.

Heeg, currently deployed in Kuwait, was one of only 17 teacher applicants nationwide who was accepted into the Memorializing the Fallen program, in which he was tasked with selecting and researching a “Silent Hero,” a WWI service member who never returned home. Last June, he spent 12 days in Europe, conducting research and visiting cemeteries, battle sites and monuments.

“Since I was a hospital corpsman for the Marines, I selected Sgt. Wheeler, who was killed at the Battle of Belleau Wood,” Heeg said. “What caught my attention about this Marine is that he was killed on June 17, 1918.  June 17 happens to be my birthday and my son’s. Sgt. Wheeler and I also enlisted in the military at the same age, 26.”

Heeg’s eulogy and profile of Sgt. Wheeler was published at NHDSilentHeroes.org. A lesson plan inspired by the Silent Hero research was featured on the WWI page of National History Day’s website and in the upcoming publication “Great War, Flawed Peace, and the Lasting Legacy of World War I.”

High school freshman Jimmy Jiang and Robert Frost eighth grader Adithan Omprakash were among only 84 students named Long Island Young Scholars of Mathematics by the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students at SUNY Old Westbury. Their selection recognizes that they are in the top one-tenth of one percent of Long Island math students in their grade level.

In December, Robert Frost’s Cabaret actors put on a sensational production of “Seussical,” a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty based on the beloved stories of Dr. Seuss. Directed by Lauren Stein and Lori Sullivan, with colorful set design and costumes by Joyce Carmen, it was the students’ third show as the Robert Frost Cabaret and their first as an official club.

The dedicated cast included Abigail Siegel as the Cat in the Hat; Xavier Edmond as Horton; Eve Valentine as JoJo; Stephanie Sheeler as Gertrude McFuzz; Cassidy Boltz as Mayzie La Bird; Julia Silva as Sour Kangaroo; Hayden Snyder as Young Kangaroo; Frankie Alfieri as Mr. Mayor; Kayleigh Pelicano as Mrs. Mayor; Bryana Aguilar, Dilon Jefferies, Jeremy Theroux and Sara Zirpola as the Wickersham Brothers; Caiden Boltz, Maddalena Galina, Arielle Salgado and Sophia Sheeler as the Bird Girls; Jeremy Theroux as Judge Yertle the Turtle; Elizabeth Howe as the Grinch; Lili Maxwell as Vlad Vladikoff; Alexis Borowski, Tamia Floyd, Aubrey Goetz, Veronica Moser, Ashleigh Rauch, Brooke Rivela and Katelyn Sanchez as the Who’s; and Baileigh Braithwaite, Aliyah Daniels Hannah Ferguson, Liliana Maxwell, Nathaly Rivera, Jaidyn Schabe and Jeremy Theroux as the Jungle Citizens.

"At the start of every show, we are just a bunch of actors, and by the end, we are one big family that can make each other laugh and create a comfortable place to be ourselves,” said eighth grader Silva. “I had a really good time participating in our musical, which taught me that being different is awesome and that dreams come true if you put your mind to them. I made so many new friends and memories with our cast this year.”