Students in Deer Park’s summer school program, facilitated by district teachers, administrators and student volunteers, enjoyed their seventh annual Luau event in July, held in the JFK gym. At the Luau, teachers plan out educational activities such as building volcanoes and circuits, creating fun books, and working on math and writing activities, complemented by games like fishing and a sweet treat of Italian ices.

“Our students come off the bus on the first day of summer school all excited about the Luau and counting down the days to this exciting event,” said teacher Phyllis Senia, who organizes the program.  

“Mrs. Senia creates an environment to learn in a fun way and is truly dedicated to these students,” said volunteer Debbie Leon, who has worked with the program since its inception. “It has been my honor and pleasure year after year to watch these children’s experience a summer education, maintaining and enhancing their skills acquired during the school year through fun with education and inclusion in the community.”

The SEPFC recently sponsored a Paint Night for district students, held in the high school cafeteria. Participating students had the opportunity to create beautiful portraits on canvases, showcasing their creative skills and abilities.

Heather Buksa’s life skills class was put in charge of running the school store at JFK this past school year. Aided by members of JFK’s Student Government Club, Buksa’s students decorated and ordered items for the store while working on their functional math skills and practicing role playing in the classroom. The students earned “Buksa Bucks” for their efforts, which they could save to purchase items at the “Buksa Boutique” in the classroom.

In preparation for attending Robert Frost in the fall, the 335 fifth graders of JFK celebrated with a moving up ceremony on June 21. The ceremony marked a farewell to retiring principal Susan Bonner, a longtime fixture and acclaimed leader of the school.

The event kicked off with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Alexis Borowski and Addison Costanza, followed by the entire class performing the National Anthem, directed by Kristen Lombardo.

Touching on happy memories, speeches followed by Bonner, fifth-grade Student Government President Pasquale DeGregorio, fifth-grade Student Government Vice President Adison Patrick and Robert Frost Principal Eliana Levey. The new graduates sang “High Hopes” to symbolize their excitement at the new challenge of sixth grade.

 

At Deer Park’s June 18 Board of Education meeting, the district honored numerous impressive student achievements and said farewell to longtime Superintendent Eva Demyen, who is retiring.

The evening began with a performance of a song by Robert Frost students from Rachel Burkel and Stephanie O’Connell’s classes and the Friends of Frost Social Club, which was dedicated to Demyen, along with the screening of a film on Frost’s BandAid Project and the presentation of a certificate to Frost student Stephanie Sheeler.

Next up was recognition of JFK’s Math Olympiad winners by adviser Lisa Baker. The 21 students honored were Danny Alvarado-Valle, Vincent Cacciola, Arianna Chowdhury, Emily Dong, Katherine Flores, Adam Hassanin, Adan Herrera, Ethan Nelson, Cristian Miller, Gianna Montes, Nobin Nath, Dave Osorio Lara, Mollie Pellicano, Frankie Pisano, Jaidyn Schabe, Jayna Singh, Allessandra Tejero, Arib Uddin, Hailey Weisse, Eshan Zaman and Ali Zorakhsh.

Ashley Rosenberg, the district administrator for ENL and world languages, then presented the winners of the 2019 Grand Concours National French Contest, an annual competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Middle school honorees included bronze medalist Anabelle Thelisma and honorable mention winners Emily Kleiber, Alexis Lazarte, Eadie Liu, Adithan Omprakash, Ayesha Shaukat and Anthony Vasquez; while high school honorees were gold medalist Saima Hoque, silver medalists Victoria Egan and Bartlett Polster, bronze medalists Kristin D’Souza, Sameer Riaz, Naomi Sauveur and Diondra Talleyrand, and honorable mention winners Rebecca Fox and Esteysy Yanes Amaya.  

Business-minded high schoolers participating in the DECA club were then presented with certificates by adviser Gregory Menig.

Closing out the evening and the moving tribute to Demyen’s remarkable career, Town of Babylon Supervisor Rich Schaffer presented her with a proclamation presentation.