(Newsday)
NOTEBOOK / Freeport H.S. Celebrates Diversity
Mary Ellen Pereira
The Human Relations Club at Freeport High School recently
hosted a Human Rights Day program "Cultural Unity: A Celebration of Diversity."
The entire student body attended an assembly featuring an African-Brazilian
carnival, in addition to a variety of programs, lectures and workshops on
cultural diversity and human rights issues such as understanding homophobia,
surviving the Holocaust, Islamic perspectives, the Korean and Vietnam Wars,
Irish immigration, and music and dance of Mexico, South and Central America and
the Caribbean Islands.
Teens acting as student ambassadors introduced the programs and were
prepared to lead discussions. The students were: ninth-graders Antoinette
Bradley, Luke Dorfman and Bianca Lamar; 10th-graders Nancy Domenech, Maggie
Hidalgo, Mia Jackson, Samantha Knapp, Kaitlin Leonard, Ariana Prophete and
Samantha Sepulveda; 11th-graders Gloria Arriaza, Ondre Baronette, Lisa Colonna,
Sarita Gualbance, Nakeisha Hackshaw, Kristen Jones, Ryan Kurtz, Erica Lamar,
Latonya Louison, Raina Micciulli, Marquise Moore, Paul Rodriguez, Jessica
Rullo, Chris Seifert, Viviana Smith, Ashleigh Staton and Thomas Wisnowski, and
12th-graders Sherien Abauzahra, Quinay Baker, Karine Brisson, Renee Brown,
Yolanda Brown, George Brown, Marela Calidonio, Marie Cerritos, Eugene Cox,
Lauren Edwards, Devin Ellerbe, Jeron Fikes, Dana Fischer, Heather Grey, Qasiym
Guilliam, Dexter Hedgepeth, Jill Isadore, Tamisha Kershaw, Sandy Lashley,
Leonard Lashley, Maryam Muhammad, Allison Muller, Kristen Muller, Joanna
Naughton, Chemezie Okobi, Nadjari Prophete, Quatisha Porter, Charles Rawley,
Karen Reese, Jessica Rivera, Aisha Rochester, Dorane Smith, Chelsea Termini,
Michelle Tobin, Claudia Torres, Tatiana Tucker, Deasia Williams and Leonard
Young.
EAST MEADOW
INTERNATIONAL FAIR. The eighth-graders in Kimberly Orofino's social studies
class at W. Tresper Clarke Middle School recently hosted an International Fair
for family and community members complete with homemade food reflecting their
ethnicity. On display were models and murals, created by the students,
representing immigration to New York City in the late 1800s. In addition, the
students performed an original play, read samples of their poetry, and held a
mock forum debating the issues of the era.
HERRICKS
TACK PROGRAM. At Herricks Middle School the TACK (Tolerance, Acceptance,
Caring and Kindness) Program is in full swing. The more than 100 eighth-grade
members of the TACK squad sport a large TACK button and are available to help
the younger students and to foster positive behavior. They meet monthly in
small groups with adult TACK volunteers to organize activities to promote TACK
objectives such as discussions about teasing and bullying.
LEVITTOWN
FINGERPRINTING. Students in Peggy Siegrist's Advanced Placement Biology
class at Gen. Douglas MacArthur High School studied DNA fingerprinting recently
at the DNA Learning Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In addition to
examining DNA polymorphisms (the different forms with distinct structures), the
teens had the opportunity to prepare samples of their own DNA using a saline
mouthwash. The students studied their 16th chromosome to determine whether they
had a centralized national background or a more dispersed heritage.
UNIONDALE
EDUCATOR AWARD. Terri Mangum, principal of California Avenue Elementary
School for 10 years, has been awarded the Elementary Administrator of the Year
by the Nassau Music Educators' Association. She was honored for her dedication
to music education at the NMEA Administrators' Night dinner celebration at
Westbury Manor. As coordinator for cultural arts for the district, Mangum has
exposed the students to a variety of programs. "I always felt the arts make a
well-rounded student," Mangum said. A graduate of City College of New York with
a degree in sociology, Mangum holds a master's degree in elementary education
from New York University and a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from
Fordham University. "Dr. Mangum created an academic environment in which the
arts hold equal importance with the other subject areas," said Laura Sanchez,
music director at California Avenue School.
WANTAGH
SCHOOL NEWSPAPER AWARDS. Courtney Allison and Megan Barry, co-editors in
chief of Wantagh High School's newspaper, The Warrior, captured gold awards,
among 12 awards won schoolwide, at the annual Empire State Scholastic Press
Association Conference in Syracuse recently. Courtney won two gold awards, one
for writing about injustice in the murder of a Texas teenager last year, and
another for a piece co-written with Megan.
WESTBURY
RAILROAD SAFETY. Representatives from the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority Police Department and the Long Island Rail Road recently visited the
students at Drexel Avenue School to present the program T.R.A.C.K.S. (Together
Railroads And Communities Keeping Safe). The students learned basic train
safety such as staying off the railroad tracks, when and where it is safe to
cross the tracks, platform safety, and the danger of the third rail.
ISLANDWIDE
LONG ISLAND CHALLENGE. Seaford High School and North Shore High School,
Glen Head, beat St. Dominic High School, Oyster Bay, and Hempstead High School
respectively for a place in Round Two of the "Long Island Challenge."
Round One continues with a match between Centereach and Bayport-Bluepoint
High Schools on Saturday, Feb. 24; Locust Valley High School facing off against
John F. Kennedy High School, Bellmore, on Sunday, Feb. 25, and West Hempstead
High School competing against Wellington C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, on
Saturday, March 3.
Teams of four students from 64 high schools across Long Island are testing
their knowledge and competing in a "Jeopardy"-style game show for $25,000 in
prizes. "The Long Island Challenge," an academic quiz show, airs on News 12
each Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. through April.
The program, in its fourth season, s produced b Cablevision in partnership
with Newsday and News 12.
YOUNG WRITERS CONTEST. Students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 6
are eligible to enter the fourth annual Young Writer's Contest sponsored by
Hewlett-Packard. Entrants must write an imaginative story based on a situation
for their grade level. Thousands of prizes will be awarded such as HP computers
and printers, and lots of educational software. For further information, visit
the Web site at www.hpstudentce
nter.com or call Kathleen Conway at 212-445-8108. Deadline for submission
is March 31.
OPEN HOUSE. St. Joseph's College, 155 West Roe Blvd., Patchogue, is hosting
an open house in the auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21. For
further information, call 631-447-3216.
Mary Ellen Pereira, NOTEBOOK
/ Freeport H.S. Celebrates Diversity. , Newsday, 02-23-2001, pp G19.