Deer Park High School seniors Aimen Khan and Charles Offiah recently attended the 2026 Long Island Regional Student Forum, held at St Joseph’s University in Patchogue. The pair were among students from over 53 Long Island school districts participating in the annual event, discussing four different issues – mental health, academic pressure, school environments and career planning – with their peers.

“I think it was good to meet with kids from other schools, and see how their schools compare to ours,” Offiah said. “It felt very informative to learn how we could adopt things that they have in their schools that we don’t.”

“I agree and really enjoyed talking to other students and exploring those differences,” Khan said. “It made it seem like Deer Park is very open to a lot of different things compared to other schools, especially regarding mental health and academic pressure.”

At the conclusion of the event, students made presentations about their ideas on the four topics.

“This provided the teachers and staff in attendance a sense of what students’ ideas are, and it really gave us a voice to talk about things we believe should be acknowledged,” Khan said.

“From a teacher’s perspective, it was beneficial to hear what students need more of, and what we need to pay more attention to,” teacher Teresa Greco said.

Date Added: 3/9/2026