Hundreds of Three Village students were praised for their charitable actions and presented with the Presidential Volunteer Service Award this past June. The national award is given to individuals in honor of service hours accumulated during a 12-month period. According to the official criteria, the awards are offered in multiple levels and are designed to recognize each milestone of service. Levels include bronze, silver, gold and the highest honor, the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, for those who contribute more than 4,000 hours of service in their lifetime.

Moving-Up Day Class of 2019 - Congratulations and Best Wishes to Arrowhead's 6th Graders!

Arrowhead students and staff celebrated their yearlong collection of acts of kindness. Links of Kindness, earned throughout the year, are attached to form one continuous chain. This anti-bullying initiative, under the direction of School Social Worker Judy Forgione, recognizes students and staff for their kind acts and kind words as part of Rachel's Challenge and PBIS programs. During this yearend celebration, the complete chain of Links of Kindness is unveiled to the students and its length is measured.

Arrowhead Drama Club Students wow audiences with their performance of Arrowhead Celebrates Disney in June 2019.

Click here to view a slideshow of photos. 

Congratulations to these members of the Girls Varsity Track team: Vicky Laguerre, Julia Bell, Briana Grant and Emma Rathburn! This past weekend the students competed in the 4x800m relay at the New Balance Outdoor National Track and Field Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. They finished in 6th place with a time of 9:05.89 which is the second fastest time in Ward Melville history! With their 6th place finish, they also earned All American status. Great job!!

STEM student Olivia S. from Ms. Herrmann's third-grade class was inspired during Ms. Rovegno's STEM lesson to use recycled materials to create a guitar. The class learned about children's efforts in Paraguay to form the Landfill Orchestra using recycled materials to create musical instruments.

Sixth graders from Arrowhead honored our armed forces during their 5th Annual Walk 4 Warriors. The students invite family members who are actively serving or veterans of the armed forces to walk with them. The walk raises money to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Each year, students create flyers to encourage people to donate to the cause. Students also sell WWP bracelets, car magnets and stickers during Field Day. During the walk, students display stars they created for family members who are/were part of the military and who could not attend or who are no longer with us. The walk raised just under $3,000 this year and about $23,000 since its inception.

Ward Melville High School gymnasium was blanketed with pride in late spring, as the athletic and academic accomplishments of 47 seniors were celebrated during a special college commitment ceremony. 

The seniors, who proudly wore apparel from their future schools, were individually announced and commended for their unwavering dedication both on and off the athletic field, arena and aquatic centers. These student-athletes were noted as being an integral part of helping to elevate Ward Melville’s already elite programs to new levels during their competition seasons and were thanked for serving as great role models for future generations of Patriots. 

The Three Village Central School District congratulates the following students and wishes them the best of luck on the next part of their academic and athletic journey. 

Arthur Berry – Football, Stony Brook University
Jillian Bove – Field Hockey and Track, Union College
Jacob Brittman – Lacrosse, Eastern Connecticut State University
Catherine Cao – Fencing, Pennsylvania State University
Courtney Carollo – Lacrosse, Syracuse University
Kate Cochran – Cross-Country and Track, SUNY Oneonta
Sabrina Corpac – Cheerleading, Stony Brook University
Mark Corrie – Lacrosse, St. Joseph’s College
Nicole D’Angelo – Cheerleading, Sacred Heart University
Nicholas DeBlanco – Lacrosse, Nassau Community College 
Nicolette DePaul – Cheerleading, High Point University
Brandon DiFede – Lacrosse, Emmerson College
John Patrick Dillon – Swimming, Binghamton University
Brady Doran – Baseball, Saint Anselm College
Ian Dyson – Track and Field, Susquehanna University
Abigail Emig – Softball, Fredonia State University
Ethan Farino – Baseball, Marist College
Ian Gironda – Lacrosse, Western Connecticut State University
Zoe Gliganic – Diving, SUNY Potsdam
Hannah Goldhaber – Diving, Montclair State University
Raymond Grabowski – Basketball, SUNY Geneseo
Lauren Hansen – Basketball, Auburn University
Darby Kent – Gymnastics, Cornell University
Kylie Kramer – Swimming, Scranton University
JJ Laap – Football, SUNY Cortland
Denise Lai – Tennis, University of Connecticut
Meghan Lorenzen – Lacrosse, Western Connecticut State University
Kristina Maggiacomo – Softball, SUNY Plattsburgh
Matthew Maurer – Baseball, Post University
Hunter McSweeney – Football, Catholic University
Max Nielsen – Baseball, University of Connecticut
Dylan Pallonetti – Lacrosse, University of Maryland
Morgan Persky – Volleyball, Williams College
Bryan Radzinsky – Baseball, Immaculata University
Alexis Reinhardt – Lacrosse, Cornell University
Benjamin Rogak – Fencing, Brandeis University
Caleb Rosenthal – Soccer and Lacrosse, Clark University
Patrick Schriffen – Baseball, College of Old Westbury
Robert Soto – Basketball, Hunter College
Samantha Tarpey – Lacrosse, Hofstra University
William Treder – Football, Western New England University
Nicholas Troy – Lacrosse, University of Michigan
Marcus Velez – Football, Stony Brook University
Noelle Walker – Soccer, Scranton University
Alisa Walsh – Softball, SUNY Purchase
Brianna Wilson – Cheerleading, University of South Florida
Ivanna Zavala-Arbaelaez – Fencing, Brandeis University

Ward Melville High School senior and vice president of the National Art Honor Society Hannah Wiederman initiated a community service project designed to put her and her peer’s artistic talents to the test while benefiting the residents at Jefferson’s Ferry.

Working with art teacher Kristen Dietz, Hannah and art honor society president Natasha Bartley met with Jefferson’s Ferry residents after school to photograph them. While Hannah and Natasha photographed them, they asked the residents questions that might help the artists to create custom renderings of them using the photos as a base. After they were edited, the photographs were distributed to art honor society students, who created the drawings, paintings or digital renderings. The goal of this project was to connect with the Three Village community and give back to those who help to make Three Village a great place to live and learn.

On Tuesday, May 21st,  the National Art Honor Society advisor Kristen Dietz and officers, Komal Grewal, Natasha Bartley and Hannah Wiederman  presented the residents of Jefferson’s Ferry with their portraits.

Ward Melville High School’s varsity girls spring track team earned state honors as they were named the girls 4x800-meter Loucks Games champions. The team, comprised of Julia Bell, Briana Grant, Victoria Leguerre and Emma Rathburn, ran the event with a time of 9:12.54. This was the best time in New York State this season. 
 

W.S. Mount Elementary School third grade students helped to demonstrate the familiar saying of “one man’s trash is another person’s treasure” when they invented creative projects using recycled materials.

From paper towel rolls, plastic water bottles, discarded wood and a multitude of other materials, the students created such items as a piggy bank out of milk jugs, a basketball net out of a plant container and even a mailbox using a detergent container. 

The classes proudly displayed their completed projects in a hallway museum and wrote a descriptive overview of their project to explain their piece. 

The Arrowhead Elementary School Drama Club performed a series of Disney favorites for this year’s school musical, “Arrowhead Celebrates Disney.”

The show featured classic songs from Disney’s “The Lion King” and “Moana,” as well as special narrations from several student-actors. The students worked for weeks with the help of teachers Melissa Anderson, Deborah Kiriluk and Paul Mueller to perfect this year’s performance before taking to the stage for two in-school shows and an evening show for family and friends. 

W.S. Mount and Nassakeag Elementary School sixth grade students had the honor of learning about one of the world’s darkest times when Ms. Ruth Minsky Sender shared her story of being a Holocaust survivor. 

Ms. Minsky Sender described how the dreams she had for her future came to a halt following the German invasion of Poland, where she was born. The heartwrenching stories she shared – from the loss of her family to the day her oldest friend became a Nazi soldier – painted a clear picture of this devastating part of the history that the students had been studying in class. Additionally, she reflected on many of the stories documented in her memoirs, one of which many of the students had read. 

The students in both schools had read Ms. Minsky Sender’s memoir prior to her visit.  

In its first year as an official Ward Melville High School club, the school’s Red Cross team has taken great strides in raising awareness and funds for numerous humanitarian projects both inside and outside of the school district. 

In their most recent project, the Red Cross members created the “Healthcare in Danger” campaign, which aimed to raise awareness for doctors and medical workers who are injured and killed while assisting others in the Middle East, Ecuador and other developing nations. Along with hosting trivia days and events, the club has created a video highlighting the need for intervention and continued awareness.

To see their video, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_BY0s04mtw&feature=youtu.be 
 

Ward Melville High School’s Advanced Graphic Design class has developed a reputation for producing artistically talented students, a reputation that earned the attention of the couture fashion industry’s own Salvatore Tramuto.

During an in-class design workshop, the class was invited to create a logo/identity for Mr. Tramuto’s new business Retailineering, a retail fashion advisory business in New York City. The class competed to create designs embracing the company’s vision and, after reviewing all designs, Mr. Tramuto selected one winner. 

“I cannot begin to say how impressed I am with the student designs,” Mr. Tramuto said. “The results are beyond what I expected.” 

Senior Danielle Wenzler’s design was chosen as the winner, and Danielle was presented with a $250 scholarship and a T-shirt with her logo on it. Danielle’s logo will be used on all marketing and branding material for the company, and she will receive full credit as the designer of the graphic logo on the website.

Members of the Three Village Central School District middle and high school coaching staff recently completed a pilot training program that put them on the front line of defense against substance use and abuse by student-athletes. 

The program, which was created by Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn, included a 75-minute course that had been developed in collaboration with Stony Brook University’s Center for Prevention and Outreach and LICADD. The initiative provided coaches with the tools to recognize the warning signs of opioid, alcohol, marijuana and liquid nicotine abuse. Using role-playing scenarios and dialogue, the coaches learned different ways to recognize if an athlete has a problem and provided information on the resources available to assistant those in need. 

Based on the success of the program, Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone, announced at a press conference at Ward Melville High School that the program will now be expanded to the coaches at all Suffolk middle and high schools. 

Ward Melville High School’s Student Government, along with advisers Virginia Edgar, Allison Kane and Dianne Kraemer, explored Washington, D.C., as part of the group’s Leadership Development initiative.

With the help of Congressman Lee Zeldin, the students were given a tour of the U.S. Capitol building before visiting the Air Force, FDR, Jefferson, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr.,  Korean War, Vietnam War, WWII and 9/11 memorials. The group also passed a somber and reflective moment at Arlington National Cemetery, where they watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They also had a chance to visit the Newseum, seeing firsthand historical pieces like a section of the Berlin Wall with a guard tower looming behind it.

“It was a great trip for our students as they were able to experience government in action and have become excited for so many opportunities in the future,” Ms. Kraemer said. 

Ward Melville High School student Luke Randall was honored by the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University as the first-place award winner in the 11th grade division in the 2019 North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad and with a fourth place award among Long Island students overall.

The Olympiad fosters the development of scientific and analytical thinking about language and holds an annual linguistic puzzle solving contest. Students utilize logic skills to learn about 21st-century language processing, its consistency and its diversity. 

P.J. Gelinas Junior High School students in the Exploratory Music class learned about the world of puppetry during a recent theater workshop with ThinkBIG Theater Arts of Patchogue. 

Every month the classes are visited by members of a different aspect of the arts, from band, orchestra, chorus and beyond. The workshops help to celebrate the music and performing arts and allow students to experience their myriad aspects in a hands-on way. Music teacher Robert DePersio hopes to collaborate with the Exploratory Arts classes in the near future to expand on the lessons that the students learned during the puppet workshop.

Ward Melville High School’s DECA team had eight members qualify and attend the 2019 International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. 

More than 22,000 high school DECA members from Canada, China, the District of Columbia, Germany, Guam, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain and the United States participated in this competition. During the event, Ward Melville students fiercely competed in various business topics, including written tests and multiple role-plays, in which three Ward Melville members won international medals. Jade Eggleston and Jessica Guo had a top 10 placement in Buying and Merchandising Team Decision-Making within the final round of top 20 teams, and Ashley Zhang had a top 20 placement in Hotel and Lodging Individual Series.

Minnesauke Elementary School fourth and fifth grade students competed in the third annual Suffolk Zone Fit Club competition, hosted at Lincoln Avenue Elementary School in the Sayville School District.

Students were carefully selected based on their physical fitness level, leadership skills, sportsmanship and positive attitude. They competed in two fitness events during the competition. The first was a timed relay that included 40 situps, 30 shoulder taps, 15 agility jumps over a hurdle and a bear crawl. The second was a relay where students had 10 minutes to do as many reps as possible of certain exercises, including box jumps, tire flips, jump roping and crab walking. 

Minnesauke was one of 31 teams to compete in the event. 

“The students did a great job supporting and encouraging one another, while competing at their highest level of fitness,” said physical education teacher Stephanie Shay, who helped to support the students throughout the competition. 

Setauket Elementary School fourth grade classes learned about the masters of poetry during a special visit from New York State Education Department Regent Roger Tilles. 

Visiting each of the classes individually, Mr. Tilles spoke about how he developed a love for poetry at a young age and enjoyed sharing poems with his children when they were growing up. Among the poems that he shared were some of the famous pieces written by Shel Silverstein, and he taught the students a special poem to share with their families. 

May 2019 - Students' cheers warmly welcomed ALS fighter Chris Pendergast and other members of the Ride for Life team. The team was touched by the encouraging signs handmade and displayed by the students. Students in Mrs. Schwarz's fourth-grade class were inspired to "do more" for ALS after attending an assembly with Mr. Pendergast, founder of the Ride for Life, earlier this year. Students and faculty coordinated a school-wide, weeklong event designed to raise awareness of ALS and to raise donations for the debilitating disease. The week culminated with a visit from the Ride for Life team who gratuitously added Arrowhead as a stop on their journey.

In conjunction, Student Council members, under the leadership of Teachers Mr. Walsh and Mrs. Kiriluk, organized a Ride for Ride fundraiser. This fundraiser encouraged students to ride for 30 minutes on a bike, scooter or skateboard and get sponsors/donations for their ride. In addition, fifth-grade students and teachers organized a Dimes for Dollars fundraiser. With all three fundraisers, Arrowhead raised a total of $1,261.

After a thorough interview and search process, the Three Village Central School District is pleased to announce that Nancy Pickford has been selected as the new principal of Minnesauke Elementary School, effective July 1. Ms. Pickford will succeed Dr. Brian Biscari, who will become the new principal at R.C. Murphy Junior High School. 

Ms. Pickford is a familiar face in the district, having worked as the assistant principal at Nassakeag Elementary School and the coordinator of the district’s pre-K program since 2016. A well-versed educator, Ms. Pickford spent 12 years of her career as a general education and special education classroom teacher before transitioning to leadership roles with Long Island University and St. Joseph’s College. 

During its May meeting, the Three Village Central School District took time to honor the members of R.C. Murphy Junior High School’s Science Olympiad team for a successful competition season. 

This year’s team earned second place at the regional Science Olympiad competitions, which earned them a bid to compete at the state level. During that contest, the team placed fifth among the best of the best in all New York State Science Olympiad teams.  

During the meeting, each student was presented with a commemorative certificate of recognition. 
 

Several schools across Three Village helped to support a worthy cause this May, as they raised funds and organized pep rallies to support the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)Ride for Life.

At Arrowhead Elementary School, students and staff made signs to support the ride’s journey to Washington, D.C., which they displayed outside around the bus circle as the ride visited the building on its way to New York City.   

Earlier this year, Ride for Life founder Chris Pendergast visited Arrowhead to present information about ALS and the Ride for Life. Following the moving assembly, the student body vowed to organize several fundraisers to support the cause. 

The student council organized a fundraiser called “Ride for the Ride.” Students gained sponsors to donate funds in exchange for the students riding their bike, scooter or skateboard for 30 minutes. Gina Schwartz’s fourth grade class organized an ALS spirit week leading up to the day of the Ride for Life arrival and collected donations at lunchtime. Fifth grade students organized a Dimes for Dollars fundraiser. Collaboratively, the school collected $1,261 to support the cause. 

Each May, in honor of ALS Awareness Month, the ALS Ride for Life travels across Long Island over the course of several days. Patients and supporters ride in electric wheelchairs and scooters to spread awareness, information and raise funds for ALS. 

Setauket Elementary School students were inspired to become lifelong readers when members of Stony Brook University’s athletic programs visited to share some of their favorite stories. 

As part of the Seawolves Reading Program, athletes from various teams visited a number of classes as part of the outreach program. 

Ward Melville High School’s boys and girls badminton teams have qualified to participate in county playoffs, in only its second year as a program! The boys team is playing May 16 at Miller Place and the girls team is playing at Half Hollow Hills East. Go Patriots!

The Ward Melville High School boys varsity lacrosse coaches earned their 100th win during this year’s competition season, a remarkable accomplishment for the two-time New York State championship coaching staff.

“I am truly blessed to be part of such a wonderful community and school district that supports the goals of its student athletes and coaches,” head coach Jay Negus said. “I would like to thank all the players that have helped us as a program reach this prestigious milestone. It has been a true team effort from the coaches and the players that are so proud to be Ward Melville Patriots!”

The district congratulates the current and past team members for helping to reach this milestone and coaches Murphy, Muscarella and Negus for their leadership and dedication. 

Three Village Central School District’s All-District Chorus took to the national stage, as they performed the national anthem at Citi Field before a Mets game this spring. 

The group, which was under the direction of Karen Voli, was comprised of 120 sixth graders from all five elementary schools. In addition, the performers were supported by more than 500 district parents and friends during the event. 

“The students performed magnificently and had a great time at the game following their performance,” said Anthony Pollera, district director of music.