On Oct. 26, 175 students from High School East and High School West attended a Lunch and Learn about the STEAM Careers program, organized by the district’s Industry Advisory Board STEAM Committee. The event was sponsored by LIU Post, Microsoft and the Robotics Booster Club.

Twenty-five companies and 12 colleges/post-secondary schools participated in the event. Students traveled around the library of Smithtown High School West, learning about the vast variety of careers in the science, technology, engineering, art/design and mathematics field.  

Microsoft, Disney Live Streaming, IBM, FAA, BAE Systems, D’Addario and many other companies demonstrated their goods and services and spoke to the Smithtown students about future career opportunities. Hofstra University, Adelphi University, St. Joseph’s College, Suffolk County Community College, LIU Post, the Aviation Academy, Hunter Business School and several other post-secondary institutions spoke to students about different majors and programs related to STEAM occupations.

Smithtown’s varsity girls swim and dive team participated in the fourth annual Breaststroke for Breast Cancer meet on Oct. 19. Joining together with other Suffolk County swim teams, the event raised $1,338.30 for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for breast cancer research and treatment.

The Smithtown boys cross-country team won the overall Suffolk county team championship at Sunken Meadow on Oct. 23. The team average of 16:48.10 is the fastest Smithtown team ever to run at Sunken Meadow. Nick DeFelice led the charge with a fast 16:20.75. His time is the Smithtown High School West record and the second fastest time ever for a Smithtown athlete. Kevin Cawley followed closely behind for fourth overall in 16:34. Mike Danzi (16:50), David Cabello (16:58) and John Cuff (17:16) were the scoring five. Nick Muellers (17:40) and Brayden Vassilas (17:41) rounded out the team points.

The High School East Drama Club will present “The Dining Room” from Nov. 8-10 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of High School East. The play is set in a titular dining room, where families have assembled for generations to celebrate special occasions and mark the rituals of everyday life. Twenty-seven actors play more than 55 characters, embodying grandfathers, children and teenagers, wealthy women and housemaids. The stories build a portrait of a particular class of people in America in the last century. The play is directed by Kim Sundberg and co-produced by Sundberg and Matthew Hennings. Tickets will be available at the door for $10. 

On Oct. 5, High School West field hockey took on High School East field hockey for the Diane Corey Memorial game. Corey was a three-sport athlete and enjoyed all sports during her time in the Smithtown Central School District. She was a true competitor who loved field hockey. Diane’s family established a scholarship in her memory, which is awarded annually to seniors on the East and West girls field hockey teams based on their talents on the field, contributions to the community and to their team.

High School East student Skylar Baez has been recognized as a 2018-2019 Scholar for the National Hispanic Recognition Program. This honor is given to students who score in the top 2.5 percent among Hispanic and Latino PSAT/NMSQT test takers in the region. Baez is pictured with High School East Principal Dr. Kevin Simmons. 

Seventeen students from High School East and High School West have been recognized as Commended Students in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program.

From High School East, the following students were honored:  
Jordyn Christophides, Sandeepna Eranki, Brianna Foster, Ryland Douglas, Alexa Hickey, Thomas Fanning and Alexis McCauley-Pearl. From High School West, the following students were recognized: Michael Alessio, Gretchen Burmeister, David Cabello, Anthony De Mayo, Rebecca Farrell, Nicholas Muellers, Jaden O’Brien, James Rogers, Dante Sasso and Matthew Schuchman.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2019 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2019 competition by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

During the weekend of Sept. 29, the robotics team – the Mechanical Bulls – competed in the seventh annual Half Hollow Hills Invitational. This was their first competition since March, and it provided a great opportunity to introduce new members to competition and test out new drivers. 

Together with Team 871, the West Islip Robotechs, Team 2875, the Cold Spring Harbor Cyberhawks, and Team 6423, the Ward Melville Iron Patriots, they were able to make the finals and win the invitational. 

The team is now beginning their global build and competition season where they receive a game challenge and six weeks to design, fabricate, wire, program and test a new robot from scratch to compete in regional events.

High School East research students recently worked on a hands-on, collaborative research study at Short Beach in Nissequogue, led by High School East research coordinator Maria Zeitlin. Short Beach was selected for its relevance to High School East students as citizen science is inspired when students look into their own backyards.

“This collaborative ecosystem monitoring project is designed to celebrate the river and estuary ecosystems and educate participants on the uniqueness of Long Island’s wild and scenic rivers,” said Ms. Zeitlin. “On a single day, environmental education partners and students all along the Nissequogue river simultaneously collected scientific information, analyzed it and shared it to portray the status of the river and estuary ecosystem.”

Students use hands-on field techniques to perform scientific data collection to assess the health of this part of the river. They sample fish populations using seine nets, perform chemical analysis of water samples including phosphate, nitrate, and oxygen levels. They inventory site descriptions by drawing pictures and using photography. Students examine the physical attributes of the site with data collection relating to wind speed and direction, current flow, as well as sedimentation and turbidity of the water. Upon return to school, data was uploaded to a central website for comparison and analysis with the nine other districts that collaborated on the study.

Twenty-eight 11th and 12th grade students from the district have been selected to represent their schools in the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education All-County Festival. In addition, 10 of those students have also been chosen for the New York State School Music Association’s All-State Ensembles.

Anthony D’Amore (alto saxophone) from High School East was selected by the National Association for Music Education for the All-National Ensembles from Nov. 25-28 in Orlando, Florida.

As a result of high solo scores at the NYSSMA All-State solo festival last year, these musicians will be performing with the best musicians in all of Suffolk County Nov. 16 at Hauppauge High School. All-State student-musicians will perform in Rochester during Nov. 29-Dec. 2. 

The eight seniors who were among 16,000 students across the county who were named semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program were recognized at the board of education meeting on Oct. 9. 

Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Grossane and Board of Education President Jeremy Thode presented certificates to the following students: Rileigh Dowling, Catherine Eng, Emily Eng, Michael Fischetti, Justin McArdle, Matthew Mullahy, Dylan Ross and Ian Winkeler. These winners have the opportunity to compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million, which will be announced in the spring.

Members of High School East’s Future Community and Career Leaders of America Club participated in a “Go Gold” campaign for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The club sold gold laces to students and staff as well as gold hearts, which were displayed in the commons area. They also had a “Go Gold” day where staff and students wore gold. The club raised $813, which will be donated to two charities – Lace It Up for Cancer and Whip Pediatric Cancer.  

High School East celebrated its homecoming on Sept. 29 with a day full of activities. Kicking off the celebration was a parade that began at St. James Elementary School and ended on the track of High School East.

Led by the marching band and High School East Principal Dr. Kevin Simmons, the homecoming parade featured class floats in addition to members of the HSE, Great Hollow Middle School and Nesaquake Middle School sports teams and clubs.

East’s offense came in ready to play, picking up 17 points in the first half. Newfield countered with 3 points, leaving the score at 17-3 going into the half. The offense for Smithtown East continued to do well in the second half, scoring another 21 points to put the game away. The beat the Wolverines by a score of 38-24. 

The East cheerleaders, joined on the track by Great Hollow and Nesaquake’s squads, entertained the crowd throughout the game. The halftime show featured performances by the varsity cheerleaders, award-winning Whisperettes and the Dynamic baton twirlers. Following the show, members of the homecoming court were called onto the field to name this year’s king and queen. Jimmy Burns and Elizabeth Lebci were crowned king and queen.