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At the annual “Writing and Art” celebration, third-graders at Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ displayed artwork and creative compositions they completed over the course of the school year, as well as special zoology research projects.

Under the direction of librarian Melanie Ash, the students had conducted research using Google Classroom and Chromebooks. Each student selected an animal of interest, and Ash provided instruction on how to navigate to different websites to gather facts on the animals. The students then spoke about what they learned while working on the project.

East Islip held a three-day Challenge Day event this year at both the high school and middle school, opening the hearts and minds of the students and adult volunteers who took part in the programs for an hour each day. Each day, 100 students and 25 adults were divided into groups of four students and one adult, joining in activities, sharing their stories and learning to be less judgmental.

“The program was a huge success, and after experiencing it, the consensus from everyone present was that Challenge Day did more for people in our schools than any assembly or event ever had,” said Guidance Director Israel Malinowitzer. “The event allowed people to feel free to express themselves in such a short amount of time, and once the participants felt good about each other’s company, that’s when we were able to get our stories out to each other and get to the realization that we all have a story, we all have common needs in life, we have all faced adversity, and none of us need to hide behind that anymore because there is someone in the school that is here to listen to us without judgement. I would love to see Challenge Day return every year, and I think if we can make a habit of having our community open their eyes to the experiences of others, then the schools will be safer, kinder, happier places that are free of judgement, ridicule and bullying.”

ES BOCES Enrichment Programs (child care) registration dates are as follows: August 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 - 8 am to 12:00 noon and August 20 from 6-8 pm. Registration will be held at the East Islip School District Admin. Building, Board Room on Floor 2, 1 Craig B. Gariepy Ave., Islip Terrace, NY 11752. Registration forms can be found under the parent drop down menu. Please call Mrs. Stephanie Parker if you have any questions at (631) 224-2041. Thank you.

High school students in technology education teacher James Connell’s college computer aided drafting course had the opportunity to intern this year at local company MEP Engineering, a firm that specializes in the three major engineering fields of mechanical, electrical and plumbing.

Staff members from MEP visited the school in September to discuss the opportunity, and several of the CAD students signed on for the experience. The apprenticeship was offered to numerous schools, and less than a dozen students were ultimately selected. In order to gain a spot, each student had to be interviewed by head engineer German Chaikin. Once accepted, the apprentices went through basic CAD training and various exercises on how to perform everyday jobs at MEP.

“The apprenticeship provided experience for students interested in becoming engineers,” said Connell. “There are many different aspects of being an engineer and my students had the opportunity to discover most of them at MEP.”

Fifth-graders at Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ and RCK celebrated the end of their elementary education at a PTA-sponsored fifth-grade mixer in June.

“It was wonderful to see the community united, and to see how much fun everyone had together,” said Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ Principal Deborah Smith. “The entertaining DJ even encouraged the future East Islip Class of 2025 to show off their dance moves.  It was a great afternoon to meet old friends and to make new acquaintances, and what a fabulous way to begin the students’ time in the middle school.”

Four of RCK band teacher Lynda Maniscalco’s students – Lucas Aparicio, Taha Canan, Kiersten Galli and Christian Martinez – performed the “The Star-Spangled Banner” over the morning announcements to kick off the school’s Field Day event.

First-graders at Connetquot and Timber Point recently participated in the Suffolk County “Be Pool Smart” poster contest in the form of an art lesson, with Connetquot student Anna Humann earning the top prize.

The intention of the contest was to showcase ways to be safe while swimming in the pool this summer. The students brainstormed safety concepts, then came up with ideas of what they could draw and how they could design their posters. Each student drew two practice sketches, deciding what to draw and showcase, how to color, and which colors to use, then chose their best idea for the final version. 

Each Suffolk County legislative district chose one contender from their submissions, and a final judging of those posters by the Suffolk County Legislature’s budget review office selected Humann as the overall winner. Her design will become the cover of this year’s “Be Pool Smart” countywide safety brochure.

Accompanied by her parents, sister, grandmother and art teacher Christina Spera, Humann was presented with a proclamation by Legislator Tom Cilmi.

“This is such an accomplishment for Anna to have her design chosen,” said Spera. “She worked so hard in art class and I am so proud and excited for her. Congratulations to Anna and all of my first-grade students who participated.”

“For many reasons, art is an important component of a child’s education and learning about pool safety saves lives,” said Cilmi. “My congratulations go out to Anna and all of the students who participated, and I especially want to thank Mrs. Spera for inspiring such enthusiasm and creativity among her students.”

Our district embraces a shared decision-making approach which involves all constituencies, parents, staff and administrators in discussing matters that will have an impact on our students and our district, now and in the future. We encourage parents and community members to avail themselves of the opportunity to be selected to participate on the districtwide committees we established throughout the school year.

If interested, please complete the application to serve on such committees and submit it to the district office to the attention of Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Personnel Paul E. Manzo. (For your convenience, this form may be emailed to dburns@eischools.org.)

The application and a list of districtwide committees can be found on the Committees page under the District tab.

The deadline for receipt of these applications will be Friday, Oct. 12, 2018.

The middle school’s Tri-M Honor Society’s main objective is community service. In the past, the Honor Society has adopted families during the holidays, collected hygiene products for women’s shelters, collected socks for the homeless, ran food drives and gift drives for children’s hospitals, and this year, with the help of the For the Kids organization, helped install a beautiful memorial garden in front of the school.

Tri-M members participate annually in the Long Island Cares-Harry Chapin Food Bank Practice-a-Thon, with all proceeds going to local food banks. This year, Tri-M raised a new high of $2,004.

“The Practice-a-Thon is a wonderful way to strengthen students’ practice habits while encouraging empathy and empowering them to make a difference in their community,” said adviser Concetta Stevens.

The 1,000 Book Project, a voluntary, read-aloud program which was offered to students in kindergarten in its initial year, has been an amazing success. The heart of the project is to foster a lifelong love of reading, beginning at an early age. To achieve this, Connetqout Elementary School and Timber Point Elementary School both have 100 tote bags with an assortment of 10 books in each bag. At Connetquot, the students who participated read almost 10,000 books, and at Timber Point, the students read over 11,000 books. 

This project would not have been possible without a generous donation from the For the Kids Foundation. Thanks to their continued support, we are purchasing an additional 50 book bags for each of the K-2 buildings and opening the program to our first-grade students. Once again, FTK has committed to promoting academic success for all children in the East Islip School District.  

We would like to highlight the top students from each kindergarten class who read the most books this year. Congratulations to the following:

Connetquot:
Abigail Aloisi
John Carlos Benitez
Jayda Demaio
Matthew Kurshuk
Luke Rochford
Matthew Rosand

Timber Point:
Gregory Cavalone
Wesley Fugit
Colby Gravano
Riley Lewis
Olivia Sandberg
Shaine Wood

High school junior Kenneth Terwilliger was named the winner of this year’s Rensselaer Medal, which honors academic achievement and inspires students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology.

The Rensselaer Medal, first awarded 102 years ago, guarantees a scholarship of $15,000 per year for four years, if the recipient applies, is accepted and chooses to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

“This is a wonderful and exciting opportunity to have a scholarship to a top school,” said Terwilliger, a member of East Islip’s Boys Leaders Club as well as the varsity soccer and tennis teams He plans to study electrical engineering in college.

“I was thrilled to hear that Kenny was selected for this honor,” said his counselor, Jessica Pignataro. “He is an outstanding student, and he has consistently chosen to enroll in rigorous, AP and honors-level courses. I'm so proud of him, and I look forward to seeing what his senior year will bring.”

Christopher Zachry was chosen as the president of the East Islip Board of Education for the 2018-2019 school year, and William Carpluk as vice president, during the Board’s annual reorganization meeting on July 5. They replace Jessica Carney and Philip Montuori Sr., respectively, who both remain as trustees.

Zachry and Carpluk, both first elected as trustees in 2014, previously served in the same roles as respective president and vice president during 2016-2017.

The high school has been fortunate over the past decade to have earned several nominations for the Teeny Awards, the Islip Arts Council’s theater recognition program for high school students. At this year’s 10th anniversary awards, held on June 3 at Bay Shore High School, East Islip’s talented theater students earned a record number of Teeny nominations and several wins for their performances in March’s production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”

Tori Tiernan was named the winner for Best Actress in a Musical, the school’s ensemble won Best Ensemble Performance of a Musical, East Islip’s pit orchestra was rewarded for its high-caliber playing with a win for Best Performance by a Student Pit Orchestra, Michael Silva was selected for the Director’s Choice award and Kyle Westgate-Addessi earned a scholarship from the Islip Arts Council.

Also nominated were Karina Gallagher for Best Actress in a Musical, Katie Spina for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Andrew Timmins and Westgate-Addessi for Best Actor in a Musical, and Kieran Tohill for Outstanding Male Cameo Actor in a Musical.

“It was an incredible honor for East Islip to receive so many nominations, and the members of the high school music staff are extremely proud,” said Bethany Affelt, the high school’s choral and theater director. “The combination of our students’ hard work, dedication and love for the theater; coupled with our strong production team proved to be a winning combination, and we are so excited for next year’s production.”

Superintendent John Dolan recognized the outstanding accomplishments of numerous students and community members during the June 14 Board of Education meeting, including the middle school's Tri-M Music Honor Society, athletic honorees, local veterans, the “If You See Something, Say Something” award winners, and the students and local businesses in the career development program.

Fifth-graders at RCK shared in the pride of moving up and moving on to middle school during the school’s June 20 ceremony, held at the high school auditorium.

RCK marked its 50th anniversary this year, leading up to a special celebration on June 7. The school opened in September 1967, named in honor of pioneering East Islip educator Ruth C. Kinney, who served the district as a teacher and principal from 1929 to 1966.

At the event, current Principal Hillary Bromberg was joined by former principals Danielle Naccarato (2004-2015), Alise-Becker Santa (2001-2004) and Christian Lavoie (1985-1997), and visiting families and alumni enjoyed a gallery walk through the decades, displayed on the first-floor walls. Professional musician and 2004 RCK graduate Victoria Bouton, the author of the school song, “Learning Is the Way at RCK,” traveled from her current home in Texas to perform her composition “Intergalactic Jellyfish.”

“Over the past three years, I have experienced the amazing place that is RCK,” said Bromberg. “It is filled with special students and staff and visited by a special school community. RCK has an amazing family feel and has become a second home to many.”