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With a little help from visiting parents and grandparents, first-graders at East Islip’s Connetquot Elementary School had seasonal fun for the second year in a row, building and decorating gingerbread houses on Dec. 18 and 19.

"It was great to see the kids having so much fun decorating their houses," said Principal Nicholas Bilotti. "Not only was it delicious, but they also learned about STEAM topics of science and math, and used art and design ideas. It was also great to see the parents have a friendly competition for who could build the 'best' house. Most importantly, everyone went home happy....and full!"

A day after performing Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” at their Dec. 10 winter concert, East Islip High School musicians from the school’s honors symphony orchestra caught a performance of “The Nutcracker” ballet at New York City’s Lincoln Center. The field trip allowed the students to hear the music that they had studied, performed by professionals in a beautiful theater.

“It was such a wonderful opportunity for our students to make connections in meaningful ways and allowed them to authenticate their work as musicians and performers,” said Dr. Robert J. Wottawa II, East Islip’s director of art, ENL, music and world languages.

High school students in James Connell’s robotics and computer-aided drafting classes recently visited the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, which serves to honor the area’s aerospace heritage by preserving and displaying Long Island’s contribution to air and space travel. During the field trip, the students viewed an IMAX film on the solar system, took a half-hour class on the history of space travel and toured the museum’s exhibits. The museum docents – including retired engineers, pilots or former military members – provided the students with a wealth of information about every exhibit as well as personal knowledge about the field of engineering.  

“Many of my robotics and CAD students are aspiring engineers and I wanted to provide them with an opportunity to celebrate the deep history of engineering and aerospace design that was done here on Long Island,” Connell said.

“Visiting the Cradle of Aviation was a lot of fun, and it was quite informative,” said senior Sophia Bates. “As an aspiring engineer, getting to walk around and see the exhibits and airplanes was an awesome experience.”

“Over the summer, I visited Washington, DC and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum,” said sophomore James Mendolia. “However, I feel that my experience at the Cradle of Aviation was far better and more informative because the docents where able to have a conversation with me and talk about the history of these planes on a deeper level. Most were pilots or engineers who flew or built the planes, so they had a more extensive knowledge, making this trip an even more amazing experience.”

Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ fourth graders Zachary Duryee and Zoe Nolan were recognized at the district’s Dec. 12 Board of Education meeting for winning the Knights of Columbus Soccer Challenge. They were congratulated by Board President William Carpluk, Superintendent John Dolan and visiting Knights of Columbus members.

Designed to demonstrate the most important skill in soccer, shooting accuracy on the penalty kick, the Soccer Challenge provides an athletic outlet for the community’s students from ages 9 to 14 and serves to encourage the values of sportsmanship and healthy competition.

The boys varsity volleyball team celebrated a terrific year at the Suffolk County Boys Volleyball Coaches Association’s annual awards dinner on Dec. 9, with seven players receiving recognition. Gregory DeGeorge and Evan Kane were named All-County; Brandon Keaney was named All-Division; Jack Deehan, Yama Dorastin and Benjamin Hutter earned All-Division Honorable Mention; and Deehan, Josh Isacksen and Keaney received All-County Academic recognition. 

“Congratulations to these seven athletes and to the entire team for its great success,” said Coach Laura O’Donnell.

In advance of Computer Science Education Week, RCK’s library recently received a $300 mini grant from the American Library Association to run the Code Your Hero activity using Google’s CS First Hour of Code. Honoring the everyday heroes in students’ lives and communities, Code Your Hero gives students a powerful opportunity to use their imaginations to turn those real-life heroes into superheroes using code.  

High school students enjoyed holiday traditions at local landmark Brookwood Hall during the first week of December, connecting to the community and setting an ideal seasonal mood.

The Interact Club participated in the Brookwood Hall Restoration Committee and Islip Arts Council’s sixth annual Festival of Trees on Dec. 4. Holiday trees were purchased by the Rotary Club and Albrecht, Bruno & O’Shea Funeral Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ for students to decorate alongside more than 50 other local community groups and service organizations. Proceeds will benefit the Islip Arts Council, which has its headquarters at the mansion.  

“This event gives students the opportunity to participate in a fun and meaningful service project that is a tradition in the East Islip community,” said club adviser Lisa Rapiejko.

On Dec. 7, the school’s chamber orchestra performed carols at Brookwood’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, for the fourth consecutive year. During the event, community members are invited to tour the mansion, observe art and hear holiday sounds.

“We always look forward to the opportunity to bring music to the community,” said Orchestra Director Giovanna Ruggiero.

During the second week of December, middle schoolers participated in the PTA-hosted “Tis the Season to Be Reading” fundraiser in the school’s library. Students attend a book fair during their ELA classes, and receive a raffle ticket with any purchase. At the end of each day, three tickets are selected and those students are awarded a book of their selection under $10. The money raised helps fund PTA-run programs and events for the students throughout the year.

The East Islip Chamber of Commerce recently recognized East Islip High School junior Kaili Sperling as a November Student of the Month. Sperling, who volunteers at November’s Business of the Month, All Friends Veterinary Hospital, was presented with her award by East Islip Superintendent John Dolan and Town Councilman Jim O’Connor.

Also honored as another November Student of the Month was RCK fourth grader Dakota Ruber, recognized for being one of three Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department “Start With Hello” contest grand-prize winners.

High school seniors Alexa Fusco and Christian Harty were named recipients of this year’s Suffolk Zone awards. Both students were honored at the annual Suffolk Zone Awards dinner, held on Dec. 3 at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook.

The Suffolk Zone Chapter of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance presents these awards to one male and one female senior student in Suffolk County who contribute to the overall positive outcomes of their physical education and health classes as well as their school. These students make an outstanding effort to be cooperative, honest, poised, self-confident, attentive, industrious and enthusiastic regarding all classroom activities.

“Alexa and Christian are always working to support the instructional efforts of the class, and are very deserving of this prestigious award,” said Stephen Restivo, East Islip’s director of health, physical education and athletics.

In the spirit of giving, East Islip High School’s boys and girls bowling teams, and coaches Harold Cooley and Judith Fischer, decided to help North Babylon bowling coach Sonny Casale, who recently lost his home to a house fire several weeks ago. 

EI’s bowling community hosted a fundraising event on Dec. 8 at East Islip Lanes which included bowling and a large basket raffle. The two local teams donated a gift basket with $100 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets, which was raffled off as one of the grand prizes, and collected $400 in donations from students for a gift card for Casale, which was presented to him by East Islip team captains Natalie Mavrich and Sonny Pico.

“Coach Cooley and I are very proud of how the kids eagerly responded to help another coach and give so generously of their time and money,” said Fischer.

As his high school’s winner of the 2019-2020 Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Award, sophomore Johnathan Yankus will represent East Islip at this year’s three-day HOBY New York Metro Leadership Seminar conference. It will be held from June 5-7 at Adelphi University in Garden City. The award honors exceptional leadership and community service.

HOBY is an annual leadership seminar open to sophomore students across America, providing more than 12,000 students the opportunity to spend an exciting weekend at various locations engaging in leadership development activities and seminars. Yankus will attend thanks to a donation from the Lions Club of the Islips, whose representatives Dennis Busch and Eugene Petraitis visited the school to present the student with a check and their congratulations.

For the second consecutive year, East Islip High School’s girls gymnastics team won the Suffolk County Sportsmanship Award. Additionally, seventh-grade student-athlete Juliana Banville earned All-County honors.

Senior boys lacrosse players Nick Agresta, Anthony Carroll, Robert Kreush and Colby Rogers signed national letters of intent on Dec. 5 to continue their sports careers in college next fall.

Agresta, a defenseman and four-year varsity player for East Islip, signed with Wingate University in North Carolina. He plans to major in education.

“Wingate is an overall great fit for me,” Agresta said.

Carroll, who plays defense and long stick midfielder, will play for Hofstra University, where he will major in sports medicine. A member of the varsity lacrosse team since eighth grade, he served as captain and earned All-County status his last two years. A two-sport athlete, he also was named captain and All-County for football in his senior year.

“I liked the practice environment and campus,” Carroll said of Hofstra.

Kreush, a midfielder, signed with SUNY Binghamton, where he plans to study science. A Scholar-Athlete, he earned All-County status in football and All-County honorable mention in lacrosse.

“I liked the high academic standards at Binghamton,” Kreush said.

Rogers, who will play face-off for Jacksonville University, plans to major in nursing.

“I chose Jacksonville for the coaches and the great environment,” he said.

Led by student Taylor Capozzoli’s outstanding pitch contest performance, the high school’s virtual enterprise class recently participated in the sixth annual Virtual Enterprises International Business and Entrepreneurship Leadership Conference, held at LIU Post in Brookville.

Following a powerful keynote address, the students attended breakout sessions of their choice led by prominent business professionals in several career pathways. A total of 86 VE firms from 55 Long Island high schools competed at the conference. Each firm developed an elevator pitch for a potential investor for their startup business idea. One student from each firm delivered this pitch in front of a panel of business leaders who served as judges. The pitches were evaluated on how compelling and informative they were, as well as on the speaker’s delivery.

Capozzoli delivered a flawless pitch in both rounds for the firm HEMPire, earning second place overall, and teacher Ray Babinsky’s class was awarded a $500 prize.

“Taylor is a natural, and demonstrated incredible confidence,” Babinsky said. “Some of these pitch presentations were incredibly professional and well-conceived, so Taylor’s recognition is quite the accomplishment for the entire class.”

Prior to Thanksgiving break, students in Patricia Bush and Diane Wahrenburg’s physical education classes at Timber Point learned how to set a Thanksgiving table. They rode scooters and set their places, then added cans of food, which were later donated to a local establishment for a veterans’ Thanksgiving dinner. Superintendent John Dolan and Assistant Superintendents Dr. Lisa Belz and Paul Manzo were in attendance at the event.

“We hope our students were helpful at home setting their own Thanksgiving tables,” said Wahrenburg.

The middle school’s Leaders Club recently held its annual UNICEF Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½room Bagel Breakfast fundraising contest, raising $830. The winning class was awarded a bagel breakfast prize. UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfill their potential from early childhood through adolescence.

At the friendly competition’s beginning, UNICEF boxes were distributed to students, who were encouraged to bring in spare change. Throughout the two weeks of the contest, students brought back their full boxes and club members weighed, recorded and tallied each homeroom’s coinage. The homeroom with the greatest weight at the end of the two-week period won the completion and breakfast. 

“This year, Mrs. Avella’s period 1A class won with a whopping 24 pounds, beating out the second-place class by 8 pounds,” said adviser Laura O’Donnell.