The high school’s girls cross-country team won its first Babylon Bowl since 2006 on Senior Day. The Falcons took down powerhouse West Babylon by a slim margin and are now currently ranked 24th in New York State, their highest ranking ever.

Deer Park was led by Gianna Marquez, who finished third with a personal best 19:07 on the 5K course. Natalia Lee bested her previous time with19:47, finishing fifth overall. The scoring was rounded out by Kylie Kuhn at 20:23, Arianna Araujo at 20:47 and Robert Frost Middle School eighth grader Kaliyah Hull at 20:47.5. For Senior Day, the team said goodbye to Araujo and captain Amanda Poggioli.  

More than 300 freshmen recently participated in the high school’s annual Career Day event, designed to introduce them to possible jobs and set them on a career path.

“The idea is that perhaps if a student saw an accountant whose career the student found interesting, then perhaps that student would take elective courses throughout high school in that area such as our accounting class, investments class and personal finance class,” said business department teacher Jill Perry-Eising, who coordinates the event. “Hopefully by the time that student was a senior, they would know what they want to major in since they’ve been on a career path throughout high school.”

The morning began with a keynote presentation by a panel of speakers, including five executives from Broadridge Financial Solutions in Deer Park – Vice Presidents Christine Allers and Stacy DeNoyior, Quality Assurance Director Michelle Minelli, project manager Christine Dougherty and business analyst Holly Eringis – and Richard Loeb, an apprenticeship administrator from Local One Elevator Constructors Union. The panel presented a job interview workshop and called up several student volunteers from the audience to participate in a mock interview.  Using wifi access, the entire freshman class signed into the Mentimeter website, answering poll questions about the interview process and which volunteer candidate they would hire. As the audience voted, their responses were shown in real time on the screen on the stage.

“I was told by many that because the presentation was so interactive, this was our best keynote yet,” Perry-Eising said. “The students loved being able to participate via their phones and have their responses broadcasted in real time.”

The freshmen then rotated through mini career presentations by 55 volunteer guests, with each student meeting approximately 10 different professionals including lawyers, financial and banking experts, marketing experts, police officers, firefighters, physician’s assistants, physical therapists, nurses, dental hygienists, deejays, geologists, forensic scientists, psychologists and speech pathologists.

Career Day came to a close with a presentation by Jay Murphy, the district’s new administrator for instructional technology, regarding the effects that social media can have on someone’s employment.

The high school’s boys cross-country team recently won the Town of Babylon 5K championship race at Belmont State Park. It was the first time the Falcons had won this trophy since 2005.

Leading Deer Park’s standout performances was senior and team captain Anthony Vassallo, who was overall runner up in the event, taking second place with an impressive time of 17:03. Aidan Neilson finished in fourth place overall, Dan Catano in sixth, Daniel Thomas in eighth and Manny Valenzuela in 10th. In total, eight Deer Park runners medaled.

“It was an impressive race overall and served as a big boost heading into the division and county championship meets,” said coach Thomas Brouillard.

The high school’s top 10 ranked seniors of the Class of 2020 were announced on Oct. 18 at the school’s traditional breakfast ceremony held in the library, with proud parents, families and administrators on hand.

Sameer Riaz, the upcoming valedictorian, was ranked first, with future salutatorian Zubaer Mohiuddin ranking second. Rounding out the top 10 were Tasfia Shaikh (ranked third), Matthew Rosati (fourth), Alisha Suhail (fifth), Alexander Glancy (sixth), Sabrina Felipe (seventh), Angela D’Antonio (eighth), Gavin Thomas (ninth) and Jessica Siford (10th).

“Use this as a motivating factor as you go forward,” Principal Charles Cobb told the students after praising their dedication and perseverance. “Continue to push the envelope in whatever you do – academically, socially and professionally – throughout the remainder of your Deer Park High School career and for whatever you are going to do next year and the years beyond that as well, whether it’s college, a career, the military. Whatever you choose to do, put in that extra effort as you’ve done here, and you’ll continue to reap the rewards and benefits for it.”