Tying into their English language arts curriculum, sixth graders at Great Hollow Middle School had a special visit from two furry friends. The students spent the last month learning about how dogs impact the life of humans, reading and writing reaction pieces about the effect of canines on people. 
Representatives from America's VetDogs, a sister organization of the Guide Dog Foundation, located in Smithtown, visited with students to teach them about the role of the canines, how they are trained and how they help those in need.

America’s VetDogs is a nonprofit organization that provides disabled veterans and first responders with service dogs to offer independence, enhanced mobility and companionship. VetDogs assist veterans or first responders with physical disabilities and those with hearing or vision loss. The Guide Dog Foundation provides services for those with vision and/or hearing loss. The Great Hollow students collected toys and food to donate to the organization, which they presented following the assembly.

The district has named its 2019 Torch Award recipients. The Torch Award is presented to Smithtown teachers who have significantly contributed to the growth and professional development of their teacher colleagues. The Smithtown Teacher Center hosted a reception to honor all Torch Award recipients and nominees. The 2019 Torch Award recipients are, from left, Tracy McAlvin, Christa Braunreuther, Jonathan Ferrante, Christina Cone, Jeanmarie Wilson, James Schiraldi and Barbara DiSalvo.

On May 4, Great Hollow’s girls track team competed at the Elks Invitational Meet against teams throughout Suffolk and Nassau counties. Morgan Lee, Makayla Lee, Casey Kuhner, Anna DiTucci, and Julia Ryba took home medals in multiple running and field events.

Seventh and eighth grade foreign language students from Great Hollow Middle School recently competed in the 34th annual poetry competition at SUNY Old Westbury. The events are hosted by the American Association of Teachers of Italian, and Great Hollow world language teachers Josephine Nuccio and Grace Vella accompanied the students.

Great Hollow Middle School students participants included: Natalie Boeri, Nicole Caputo, Connor Catania, Gia Cellucci, Michael Chavez, Francesca Covino, Caileigh Harrigan, Kristin Krause, Juliana Maloney, Jayden Mayer, Jillian Mayer, Luis Pop and Thomas Rorick. In Gara di Canto 2019, which was part of the singing portion of the competition, Gia Cellucci placed third for her rendition of “Sebben Crudele.”

All students received participation certificates for their Italian poetry readings. Students were required to memorize and recite an Italian poem of 12-30 lines before a panel of judges and were evaluated on poise, intonation, pronunciation and interpretation. More than 200 students from 20 districts competed this year. 

Eighth-grade scientists at Great Hollow Middle School recently participated in a hands-on experiment when representatives from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory visited the school on March 29. The students genetically engineered bacteria with the green fluorescent protein gene for bioluminescence normally found in the Pacific jellyfish, Aequoria victoria. Students learned about and utilized some of the same techniques that are employed by pharmaceutical companies to produce human insulin. The students successfully created genetically modified bacteria and were able to see them glow.

Great Hollow Middle School recently announced the three winners of its World Language Poster Contest for March 2019. Congratulations to Juliana DePasquale, Jessica Sucharski and Michael Struzinski.

The Young Engineers Club of the Great Hollow Middle School technology department attended the 2019 MAGLEV Competition on March 20 at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. Magnetic levitation vehicles are used in transportation around the world. The students competed with several schools from the area. This was the first time the Young Engineers Club designed, built and competed in a MAGLEV Competition  The team’s next competition is at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York, in June.

Student-artists in Kristen Dean’s class at Great Hollow Middle School recently completed wire sculptures depicting some of their favorite action poses. Some students showed off their athletic poses, while others chose to create action figures and superheroes. 

The district’s elementary and middle schools have been selected as Project Lead the Way Distinguished Schools for 2018-2019 school year.

For a second consecutive year, all seven of the district’s elementary schools have been designated as Distinguished Launch Schools based on their PLTW Launch implementation and participation in the 2017-2018 school year. Smithtown’s elementary schools represent seven of the 11 schools identified in New York State, and seven of the 216 Launch schools being recognized nationally.  

All three of the district’s middle schools have been designated as Distinguished Gateway Schools based on their Gateway implementation and participation in the 2017-2018 school year. Smithtown represents the only three schools in New York State, and three of the 148 Gateway schools being recognized nationally.  

“This recognition is certainly representative of all of the hard work that has gone into our successful implementation on the part of the many staff and faculty members involved,” said Paul Strader, executive director of curriculum. 

Seventh-graders in Mrs. D’Angelo’s science class at Great Hollow Middle School recently completed a lab experiment to determine the solubility of M&Ms. Students hypothesized about what would happen to the different colors of the M&Ms when placed in water. They predicted how soluble the various colors would be and recorded their findings after they were soaked in the water.

Students in Ms. Dicpinigaitis’ science class at Great Hollow Middle School recently completed a lesson on matter. Students hypothesized about whether or not the air in the classroom is considered matter. After weighing a small sample of water on a beam scale, the students added an Alka-Seltzer tablet to the water to determine if matter can be created or destroyed during a chemical reaction. The students re-weighed the water after the tablet dissolved and recorded their results.