Robert Frost Middle School eighth-grade student Christy Jourdain received the gift of life with a heart transplant last year, and during this challenging time, used her creativity to fuel her strength. Throughout Christy's heart transplant journey, which included long stays in the hospital and myriad tests, she wrote a series of poems about colors, titled “I Need Colors, Colors Mean Life!” which described the emotions each shade evoked at that time.

Christy’s sister Saraya, a seventh-grader, was inspired by her sister’s fortitude and bravery and decided to pay homage to Christy’s literary works by bringing them to life. Led by art teachers Danielle Menig and Maria Giglio, students honored Christy’s vision by taking each of her poems and creating original acrylic paintings to illustrate her words.

Christy’s written words, included the passage, “Aqua Green is the courage to keep going, Nothing is going to stop me moving forward it would be fire that gets bigger and never stops and always keeps light up like the fire in my heart that never goes out.”

The High School SADD Club, led by adviser Janet Werner, works year-round to support the local community and those far away who are in need. To spread some warmth to the devastated town of Newtown, Conn., the club created an inspirational quilt for the Sandy Hook School. The quilt is decorated with words to motivate the students and staff and fabric hearts to represent the lives lost. The center panel reads, “From Our Hearts to Yours.” SADD members and staff personalized their design, signing their names to the back of the quilt, and sent a club photo displaying the project.   

In recognition of their tireless efforts, the SADD Club recently received a donation from the Suffolk County Police Explorers Post 1st Precinct. A number of Deer Park students – all members of the Explorers team – volunteered their time to wrap books at Borders. A portion of the proceeds was given to SADD in recognition of their community work.

The students also attended a “Compassion Without Borders” conference held at Brentwood High School. The program stressed compassion and forgiveness in the face of life’s difficult situations.

Robert Frost Middle School hosted the New York State Science and Engineering Fair, where more than 350 middle and high school students from across Long Island and New York City presented their research projects to a panel of judges. The collaborative event was a platform for discussion on a variety of topics and provided students with the opportunity to display their work and educate their peers and teachers on their extensive studies.

Seven Robert Frost Middle School students qualified for this prestigious competition and tackled projects including Testing Lead in Local Soil, Supercooling Water and Snap Freezing, and Oily Aquatic Plants.  

Congratulations to Carli Fonseca, Chris Martinez, Michael Mieses, Alima Hossain, Jade Wilson, Gustano Giffone and Badar Zaman for representing Deer Park in this prestigious event.

The thespians of Deer Park High School recently presented “The Drowsy Chaperone” as the district’s featured spring production. The dynamic parody of a 1920s American musical comedy focuses on a musical theater fan as he plays the record of his favorite musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone.” In this unique show-within-a-show setting, the story came to life onstage as the "Man in Chair” commented on the vibrant scenes, lively actors and musical ensembles.  

Student actors took on the roles of these versatile characters, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone, the debonair groom, the dizzy chorine, the Latin lover and a pair of gangsters who double as pastry chefs.

John Quincy Adams Elementary School hosted a night of numbers with its annual Family Math Night. More than 20 district teachers volunteered their time to share math concepts with students and their parents.

A collaborative learning experience, families visited classrooms equipped with interactive stations that featured math problems, games and puzzles. Students and parents worked together to complete estimating and graphing activities and discuss with teachers grade-specific educational tools and resources.    

The professional musicians of Project Trio returned to Deer Park to facilitate master classes for district student-musicians. Project Trio worked with students one-on-one and through group ensembles to prepare for a live community concert, featuring the first performance by Deer Park’s newest musical group, the Didgeridoo Club.

Music students in grades 5-12 – including the string, band and didgeridoo ensembles and flute, cello and bass players – participated in these interactive workshops, during which they learned unique techniques and fine-tuned their theatrical performance pieces.

Each spring, the high school transforms into a forum for educational advancement during the district’s annual College Fair. More than 100 colleges, universities and academic institutions were represented at the event, which is now in its eighth successful year. Students and parents were also able to connect with SAT/ACT test prep centers and financial aid organizations, all critical resources when making educational plans.
 
The district’s goal is to expose students of all ages to the options higher education holds and instill the message that it’s never too early or too late to start the college process. To meet students’ diverse needs, a variety of representatives were available to students from top-tier universities, vocational training schools and military service academies.  

The student government at John F. Kennedy Intermediate School hosted a sophisticated and educational event, A Night at the Wax Museum. Each representative in the club selected a celebrity, historian or athletic figure that inspires them and conducted research through literary, video and photo resources.

At the exhibit, students got into character by dressing up as their figures and positioned themselves in display showcases. Guests toured the hallways, visiting the live student attractions, and read the informative presentations, which served as the backdrop for the museum.  

The members of the district’s athletic teams are well-rounded student-athletes who excel in the classroom and work hard on the playing field. As a result of this commitment, six varsity squads, including girls basketball, swimming and diving, girls track, boys track, cheerleading and kickline, were named New York State Scholar-Athlete teams. To achieve this honor, students had to maintain a cumulative GPA of 90 or better throughout the season.

Demonstrating outstanding character, the varsity wrestling, junior varsity wrestling and eighth-grade boys basketball teams received the Sportsmanship Award. This award is designated for teams who, based on the recommendations of officials and opposing teams, stand out for their fair play and good sportsmanship on the field of competition.

In addition, teams also advanced to postseason play, defeating their competition in tournament playoffs. Boys varsity basketball claimed the League IV championship and were led by coach John McCaffrey, who was named the League IV Coach of the Year. More success on the court was achieved by the girls varsity basketball team, who qualified for the Class AA playoffs.

Robert Frost Middle School students committed to a "greener" world and spread the word to their peers to think about the positive impact they could have on the earth by repurposing items. Prompted by this initiative to become more eco-friendly and eco-conscious, they made posters featuring tips on clean living and created mini-books with the message of reduce, reuse and recycle.

Throughout the month of April, students brought in plastics, take-out containers, egg cartons, broken costume jewelry and toys, frames, bottles, glassware and assorted bric-a-brac. The unwanted items received a second life as they were transformed into useful and beautiful products in the "Trash to Treasure" recycling project.

Students were challenged to use their resourcefulness to design, plan and create useful products using the discarded materials. Older students assisted younger students, and all were encouraged to develop their problem-solving skills, working outside the box to accomplish their "green" goals and do their part to improve the environment.

The result was a variety of innovative items, including a vinyl record clock; a "green footprint" shoe organizer; iPod holders; an automatic plant-watering system; hand-sewn grocery shopping bags made from discarded Capri-Sun drink pouches; a purse made from old library books, bamboo and burlap; and leather jewelry made from old softballs. Students learned that transforming old trash into a new product rather than buying a brand-new packaged item saves energy and money and reduces air and water pollution.

May Moore Elementary students in Pamela Arcuri’s class made an Earth Day pledge to support the sloth. After reading “A Little Book of Sloth” by Lucy Cooke, students were inspired to help these tree-dwelling mammals.   

The elementary schoolers researched the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica, a facility that advocates the protection and rehabilitation of sloths in recovery, and then brainstormed ways they could raise funds for this organization. Students got active, completing earth-friendly chores around the house and writing informative and persuasive essays seeking donations for the Sloth Sanctuary. Their efforts continue as they learn more about the sloth through books and interactive videos. 

At John Quincy Adams Elementary School, students in Lisa Stallone’s class honored Earth Day by learning how used items can be transformed into beautiful and useful products. Students collected cans, plastic, paper and wood and used their imaginations to reinvent these materials to create robots, toys, clocks, birdhouses, accessories and stationery supplies. Through careful engineering, students took old water bottles and other used plastic containers to plant seeds and grow plants, demonstrating how something old can be reused to create something new.   

In addition, students studied the process of recycling and how to keep our environment clean through books, poems and songs.    

John F. Kennedy Intermediate students represented the district at the Suffolk County Art Leaders Association Children’s Show. Nine talented student-artists in grades 3 -5 had their artwork selected for display at Babylon Town Hall.

This is the first year the school participated in this prestigious event, in partnership with the Babylon Citizens Council on the Arts. Students and their families had the opportunity to visit Town Hall to view the entire exhibit and were honored at a special reception.

Pictured at right, students from John F. Kennedy Intermediate School (back row, l-r) Isabella Coon, Jonathan Petrizzo, Giavanna Pitagno, Gianna Candelaria, Evan Loyola, (front row) Michelle Xuan, Rumeysa Camlica, Huda Nawaz and Jade Reyes had their artwork featured at the Suffolk County Art Leaders Association Children’s Show at Babylon Town Hall.