The fifth graders at St. James Elementary School held a wax museum for their classmates and families. After researching a historical figure of their choice, the students dressed the role and became part of the living museum. They portrayed famous historical people, sports stars and entertainment legends. When someone “buzzed” them, the figures came to life and were able to animate themselves and give a biographical history of their character. 

The robotics teams from Smithtown’s three middle schools recently competed in a regional qualifier at William Floyd High School. The teams were to design, build, test a working robot to perform a variety of tasks while also researching a solution to a chosen problem regarding living in a city and the logistics of keeping a city running as well as the issues that may come with it.

Great Hollow Middle School’s teams (the Electronic Brick Breakers and the Electronic Bulls) worked together showing amazing teamwork and cooperation while their robots scored more than 100 points each.  After the successful day, an Alliance round is made where a team is randomly paired with another team at the competition so they can work together and score as many points as possible with their robots. The Electronic Brick Breakers worked together with their paired team well enough to score first place in the Alliance Round, taking home a trophy that interlocks with the other team.

Nesquake Middle School’s Quake robotics team received the robot award for mechanical design. This award recognizes a team that designs and develops a mechanically sound robot that is durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions. The Quakebotz team received the robot design award for strategy and innovation. This award recognizes a team that uses solid engineering practices and a well-developed strategy to design and build an innovative, high performing robot.