The dozen second graders on the student council at John Quincy Adams Primary School – Farouk Adejumobi, Kylie Bennett, Anthony Ferrante, Reagan Henry, Alana Hossain, Dorothy King, Emanuel Marquez Crespin, Abbey Ortlieb, Brianna Thai, Yursa Tursonzadah, Julianna Velasquez Hinton and Kendrick West – were recognized for their leadership at the Board of Education’s Nov. 28 meeting. The students had recently led a guided tour of the school buildings for Superintendent James Cummings and members of the Board.

“They were so mature and excited to show us around,” Cummings said. “What impressed me was their ability to make eye contact, have a conversation and enunciate their words. They were really proud of their school. It was a special day because we got to see young kids leading adults.”

“This is our second year of having a student council at JQA with our second graders,” Associate Principal Lynn Coyle said. “Our council members are learning how to take on leadership roles within our school building and community. They have visited our local assisted living center, they greet all of our students each morning at the front door to wish them a great day and they will be assisting in giving tours throughout the building to JQA alumni for our upcoming 60th anniversary celebration.”

Date Added: 12/1/2023

The Deer Park High School Chamber Orchestra recently had the rare opportunity to work with Bradley Bosenbeck and Bernard Tamosaitis. The former assistant conductor of “Phantom of the Opera,” Bosenbeck is an accomplished Broadway musician, arranger and composer. Tamosaitis, an accomplished cellist and Juilliard graduate, serves as principal cellist of the Bellas Artes orchestra of Mexico City.

Students attended master classes on music from “Phantom of the Opera” which will be performed at the school’s winter concerts in December. Directed by Bosenbeck and Tamosaitis, they also rehearsed as a group, learning about the opera and how to musically connect with the audience.

Date Added: 11/28/2023

As a team, the second-grade student council at Deer Park’s John Quincy Adams Primary School recently decided to visit the Sunrise of Dix Hills assisted living center as a way to give back to the community and spread holiday cheer. Each grade level was asked to create cards for the council members to bring to make the residents smile and brighten their day. Students assisted the residents in creating a Thanksgiving craft and enjoyed having conversations about their school day.

“Our student council members understand the importance of giving back to their community and how it makes everyone feel good to do something for others,” Associate Principal Lynn Coyle said. “This visit brought joy to the residents and will leave a lasting impact on our students by teaching them the value of empathy, kindness and the importance of reaching out to others in our community.”

Date Added: 11/28/2023

Deer Park High School held its annual fall Breakfast for Champions on Nov. 15, welcoming the winning students, their parents, and school administrators and teachers to the library for a morning of recognition of student achievements, hard work and determination to overcome obstacles.

Students were honored in the 15 school department categories of athletics (Kaliyah Hull), business (Lucas Di-Vanna), English (Alyssa Cortes), English as a new language (Josue Ramires Del Cid), family and consumer science (Anthony Schiaffo), fine arts (Sara Zirpola), guidance (Zamani Simon), health (Gloria Min), mathematics (James DeGrange), performing arts (Meghan Brown), physical education (Tyler Romero), science (Vincent Vitolo), social studies (Leila Hastie), technology (Sanaya Archer) and world languages (Alexis Lazarte), as well as the Principal’s Award (Cliff Valtrin) and Teacher’s Award (Alexander Torre).

The breakfast was accompanied by classical music performed by the talented high school string sextet of Jayme Lipiec (viola), Eadie Liu (violin), Liana Luc (violin), Gloria Min (violin), Lorelai Silverstein (bass) and John Susana-Mendez (cello).

Date Added: 11/27/2023