The district’s Board of Education took time out during its February meeting to honor several students and staff members for myriad superlative actions.
Setauket Elementary School sixth grader Lily Rosengard and her classmates were honored for their efforts to aid animals in Australia. After learning about the effects the wildfires were having on orphaned kangaroos, koalas and other marsupials, Lily and members of the student council helped to raise funds, collect materials and sew joey pouches to help nurture the animals.
After experiencing a collective winning season, several Ward Melville High School student athletes and staff members were individually honored for their athletic talents.
Senior football player Kieran McGinley was honored for earning the Golden 11 Award from the National Football Foundation. This award is given to the top 11 football scholar-athletes in Suffolk County.
Caila Low was honored for earning the Exceptional Senior Award from the Suffolk County Volleyball Coaches Association. This award is given to the single top scholar-athlete in Suffolk County.
Junior varsity girls volleyball coach Leah Jantzen and varsity coach Haley Blunt were celebrated for receiving Coach of the Year awards from the Suffolk County Volleyball Coaches Association.
Students Kira Kronenberg and Jade Eggleston were honored as state qualifiers in tennis, and girls varsity swim team members Jessica Chen, Kaitlyn Ehlers, Riley Gavigan, Hannah Lin and Isabel Xu were honored as state qualifiers.
Girls varsity cross-country coach Tom Youngs was honored for winning Cross-Country Coach of the Year not only by the Cross-Country Coaches Association but also by Newsday. Additionally, seven runners – Abigail Dimaculangan, Oliva Ebenstein, Briana Grant, Victoria Laguerre, Amanda Probst, Emma Rathburn and Julia Stafford – were honored for qualifying for the New York State championship and placing sixth in the entire state.
Lastly, several Ward Melville High School students – Nicole De Lucia (first place), Benjamin Dombroff (first place), Mia Schoolman (second place) and Elyas Masrour (third place) – were celebrated for being named winners in the Sidewalks for Safety video contest.