On Oct. 27, students from Great Hollow Middle School and Dogwood Elementary School joined forces to help fight hunger. Members of the schools’ Peanut Butter Gang community service clubs visited Hospitality, Too soup kitchen in Brentwood. They made peanut butter sandwiches for distribution at various locations on Long Island and in New York City, and also helped serve a hot lunch to soup kitchen guests. In addition, the students distributed Halloween costumes that were collected at drives held in both buildings.

Eighth-graders in Katerina Skandalakis’ science class at Great Hollow Middle School tested Newton’s First Law of Motion – an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force – during a hands-on station demonstration lab on Oct. 4.

With more than a dozen different stations, students rotated around the room and recorded their findings about how the different laws of motion worked. Some of the many hands-on activities included trying to catch a penny off their elbows, stacking bowls and getting them to drop together, spinning an egg, simulating a car accident using toy cars, pulling a tablecloth out from under a stack of dishes and trying to get a Lego figure to drop into a beaker. 

Both on and off the athletic fields, Great Hollow Middle School’s students, faculty, coaches and spectators joined together in the fight against cancer. The school held its seventh annual Coaches vs. Cancer event on Oct. 3.

Throughout the day, students and faculty dressed in yellow to show their awareness of childhood cancer. As part of the fundraising event, students purchased a wristband for an entrance on one of several games taking place that afternoon. The field hockey, football, and boys and girls soccer took to the field to support the cause. Great Hollow’s kickline and cheerleaders performed during halftime. The school and community raised about $3,000 and donated the money raised to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 

Seventh-grade student-scientists in Jessica D’Angelo’s class at Great Hollow Middle School are learning about diffusion and osmosis by experimenting on eggs.

During the course of three days, the students performed procedures to see how water molecules diffuse across an egg’s membrane in different solutions. The students started by placing an egg in a beaker and covering it in vinegar for 24 hours. After recording how the shell of the egg dissolved, the students put the eggs in either a mixture of Karo syrup and water or colored water for another 24 hours. Lastly, the students swapped their eggs with another lab group for the final 24 hours. The students observed and recorded their findings about the process of osmosis. 

Prior to the start of the 2018-2019 school year, Smithtown Central School District’s three middle schools – Accompsett, Great Hollow and Nesaquake – held orientations for their incoming sixth-grade class.

During the last week of August, all of the schools welcomed students to the buildings for orientation to meet with their teachers and explore their new surroundings. Administrators and faculty members were on hand to answer questions and help ease the transition to their new school. After a brief presentation, students were given their schedules and locker information. 

Following the orientations, students were able to walk through their schedule, find their lockers, meet their new classmates and reconnect with friends.