Deer Park High School juniors Kayla Cruz and Ava Sacarin were named first place winners in the Medicine/Health category at the American Chemical Society’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Chemagination Competition, held on May 31 at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Chemagination challenges high school students to imagine that they are living 25 years in the future and have been invited to write an article describing a breakthrough or innovation in chemistry that has improved the quality of people's lives from 2025 to the year 2050. Cruz and Sacarin had previously won the local Chemagination contest on March 7 at St. John’s University in Queens. Their project focused on contact lenses designed to detect glucose levels in tears and monitor the health of the wearers.

Date Added: 6/18/2025

Deer Park High School held its annual senior awards on June 3, with high school administrators and district directors presenting numerous departmental awards – business, English language arts and reading, family and consumer science, fine arts, performing arts, health and physical education, mathematics, science and technology education, social studies, world language and English as a new language, and guidance and counseling – to 103 well-deserving recipients from the schools Class of 2025.

Principal Charles Cobb welcomed the seniors and their families, and lovely music was provided by the school’s string quintet.

Date Added: 6/17/2025

Deer Park High School’s varsity girls track team competed in the Suffolk 2A County Championships on May 27, crowning five individual county champions. 

After winning the league championship earlier in May, the Falcons came into this meet as a top contender. In a hard-fought battle that came down to the last race, Deer Park just missed out on the runner-up trophy, losing by three points to rival Bellport. This was the closest any Deer Park girls track team has come to a county championship or runner-up, and the Falcons finished with 81 points, their all-time highest point in the county championships.  

In individual efforts, freshman Riley Girard won the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, becoming the third high jump county champion in Deer Park history. Sophomore Nadia Elsergany won the shot put with a personal best throw of 36 feet, 3.5 inches. She also finished second in the county in the discus with a throw of 105 feet, 11 inches.  Junior Vanessa Cayea was Deer Park’s first-ever girls winner in the pentathlon, which consists of the long jump, high jump, shot put, 100-meter hurdles and 800-meter run.  Finally, sophomore Chelsea Cornelia won the 2,000-meter steeplechase and the 800-meter run with a time of 7:12 and 2:16, respectively, becoming only the third Deer Park girl ever to win the former and the first to win the latter.

The team went on to compete in the state qualifier meet on June 5-6 at Comsewogue High School, where a dozen athletes represented Deer Park across seven events. Cornelia won the 800-meter run and 2,000-meter steeplechase, achieving All-Section status. Cayea competed in the pentathlon, breaking the school record with 2,400 points and also earning All-Section recognition. Ama Asare finished fifth overall in the 400-meter race; Cassidy Kelly made the finals in the 100-meter dash, Elsergany and Jessica Jones finished in the top 10 in discus and shot put; Bailey Corcoran ran in her first-ever state qualifier as a junior in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, finishing in the top 20; and the 4x100 relay team of Asare, Chloe Biggers, Kelly and Madison Soltau finished in the top 10. Girard finished in the top 5 in the high jump and is the county’s top freshman high jumper. She will participate in the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia on June 20. 

Cornelia, who was named team MVP for the season, and Cayea were both recently honored at the Section XI dinner for their amazing accomplishments.

Date Added: 6/17/2025

The district held its annual Music Awards Night on June 2, celebrating the talent and dedication of its student musicians. The evening included recognition of Long Island String Festival, NYSCAME All-State, NYSSMA All-County and SCMEA All-County awards, as well as performances by Deer Park High School’s jazz ensemble, orchestra and Phoenix Club vocal ensemble and Robert Frost Middle School’s chamber orchestra and chamber choir, and a solo piano performance by student Nicholas Nappo. 

“Tonight was a powerful reminder of what music can do,” Director of Fine and Performing Arts Bradley Murphy said. “It brings people together, it inspires and it gives our students a voice. The level of talent and heart on that stage was incredible. I am so proud of our young musicians and deeply thankful for the teachers who nurture their creativity every day. This celebration truly shows how strong and vibrant music education is here in Deer Park.”

Date Added: 6/11/2025

At Deer Park High School’s annual spring varsity sports awards night on June 3, hosted by Athletic Director Dominick Fontana, the achievements of student-athletes were recognized. Members of 13 spring Falcons teams – Unified basketball, Unified bowling, boys varsity badminton, girls varsity badminton, boys varsity lacrosse, girls varsity lacrosse, girls varsity golf, varsity baseball, boys varsity tennis, girls varsity flag football, varsity softball, boys varsity spring track and girls varsity spring track – were presented along with certificates and plaques recognizing Most Valuable Player awards, Coaches Awards, Spirit Awards and Scholar-Athlete awards.

Date Added: 6/11/2025