Manhasset Board Of Education Presents Awards To Three Exceptional Individuals

The Manhasset Public Schools Board of Education held its meeting on Jan. 17 in the Manhasset/Great Neck EOC Center. It was a special evening as one Manhasset student, administrator and teacher were honored with awards for their commitment to excellence and for making profound contributions to the Manhasset school community.

The first award that was presented was the William A. Shine Award, created to acknowledge Dr. William Shine’s legacy. Dr. Shine was a former interim superintendent in the Manhasset Public Schools and made a positive impact in the district through his leadership. It was awarded to Rashaun Gardner, a senior at Manhasset Secondary School and Laurie Marshall-Lauria, district coordinator of World Languages, ENL and student activities. The board of education praised both recipients by reading positive remarks from teachers, colleagues and more about their many contributions to the Manhasset community.

Gardner was described as a true gentleman who is charismatic, empathetic, hard-working, kind, motivated, responsible and more. Academically, he challenges himself in the classroom and has made a difference in the school’s broadcast journalism program. Here, he plays a strong role as the creative and technical director of the Manhasset Broadcasting Company where he is responsible for the morning announcements. Gardner is also the editor-in-chief of the high school yearbook and is a member of the running crew in the school’s theatre program. Aside from his service in school, Gardner works at the EOC as a teacher’s assistant in the after-school program.

The board also presented the William A. Shine Award to Lauria for her outstanding contributions to the district. Lauria joined the district in 2010 where she was appointed as the district coordinator of world language. She later became the leader of the department for English language learners and the coordinator of student activities. Lauria has held many leadership roles such as being on the executive board of the Foreign Language Association of Long Island and the New York State Association of World Language Administrators. She has also developed a variety of successful initiatives and programs to support Manhasset’s English language learners and their families.

The last award of the evening was the Maggie Grundman Award, which was presented to Adriana Marquez, English as a New Language teacher at Munsey Park Elementary School. “The Maggie Award” was named after a longtime Manhasset educator who was the “driving force” behind the Manhasset/Great Neck Adventures in Learning Program and served Manhasset youth through after school and summer programs. The board praised Marquez for her dedication to helping others. A two-time tenure teacher, she began her career in Manhasset as a Spanish teacher and then as an ENL teacher where she was pivotal in developing the district’s program for ENL. Marquez was described as an exceptionally effective ENL teacher and an advocate for Hispanic parents and children. The board commended her for her generosity and her humanitarian work such organizing a group of people during the pandemic to aid Spanish-speaking residents who had fallen ill with COVID-19 and had nowhere to turn for basic needs like food and clothing.

Each award recipient received a plaque from Board President Patricia Aitken and were congratulated by members of the board and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gaurav Passi. In addition, Gardner and Lauria were added to a plaque of William A. Shine Award recipients and Marquez was added to a plaque of Maggie Grundman Award recipients. These plaques are proudly hanging in the district office. The Manhasset Public Schools congratulates Gardner, Lauria and Marquez on their well-deserved awards.

—Submitted by Manhasset Public Schools

Manhasset Students Unite To Honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Munsey Park fifth-graders in Caryn

Levine’s class and kindergartners in Barbara Krugman’s class from the Manhasset Public Schools recently came together to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The kindergarten and fifth grade students are buddies throughout the school year and take part in different lessons and projects together.

Prior to the meetup, the classes learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and how to be a peacemaker. Kindergarten students read the book “Martin Luther King Jr. Day” on Epic Books and discussed what they could each do to help keep things peaceful. Students offered ideas such as donating clothes and toys, cleaning up their rooms and picking up garbage. The fifth graders watched a Brainpop to highlight the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr.

Following their lessons, the classes joined to participate in a collaborative peacemaker project. Each kindergarten student completed the sentence, “I can be a peacemaker…” and worked with their fifth grade buddy to decorate their paper with peace signs. The students used construction paper, glitter, glue, magazine cutouts and wallpaper to make their peace signs unique. The fifth-graders assisted by sounding out words and decorating. The project was a great way for the students to work together and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

—Submitted by Manhasset Public Schools

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When Helen Diamant died in her Jesup, Georgia home of 18 years on June 4, 2016, it was less than 24 hours after the death of Muhammad Ali. While “Miss Diamant’s” obituary appeared in her local Jesup newspaper (the Press-Sentinel) Ali’s life and death were reported on thousands of front pages, and read by millions of people around the world. Ali’s fame had begun when, as a 22-year-old boxer named Cassius Clay, he defeated the 7-1 favorite, heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. I would argue that my tiny mother-in-law, in her own quiet way, had previously defeated an even more formidable foe than Liston ever was: namely Adolf Hitler! And here is the rest of that story:

When Helen Diamant herself was 22-year-old Chella Wildenberg in 1939 Poland, Hitler invaded her country at the beginning of World War II. By the time Cassius Clay was born in 1942, Helen (then,

Letter To The Editor

the Polish “Chella”) had already been suffering at the hands of Hitler’s Nazis for several years. There came a day when she learned that all the workers in the labor camp where she was imprisoned would soon be sent to the infamous Treblinka concentration camp to be murdered in its gas chambers, but she somehow managed to escape. She was also able to rescue her younger brother from another work camp. After weeks of running, hiding, freezing and starving, he finally told her he wanted them to give themselves up---knowing they would be shot to death, but also that their fear, hunger and suffering would finally come to an end. He believed that their continuing survival was an impossibility, but Helen told him “No, I won’t do that. I HAVE TO SEE THE END OF HITLER, and I just know he’s going to have a bad end.” She later said that belief was part of what “kept me going.”

Noah Alexander Rubin Added To President’s List At Elon University

Noah Alexander Rubin has been named to the President’s List for the 2022 fall semester at Elon University. The President’s List is composed of students with no grade below an A-minus in a minimum of 12 semester hours.The parents are Mr. Adam J. Rubin and Ms. Laura M. Dilimetin of Manhasset, NY.

Elon University has built a national reputation as the premier student-centered environment for experiential learning, with an emphasis on strong personal relationships between students and their faculty and staff mentors. Elon’s 6,337 undergraduate and 786 graduate students come from 49 states and 51 other countries. Elon’s rigorous curriculum is grounded in the arts and sciences and complemented by nationally accredited professional programs.

—Submitted by Laura Dilimetin

Unfortunately, she and her brother eventually got separated, and before the end of the war he, their older brother and sister, their parents, and two dozen other relatives all were killed. Except Helen, who had kept her promise to herself to “live to see the end of Hitler”.

When Hitler ignominiously killed himself at age 56 in 1945, Helen, who had eventually escaped to relative safety in---of all places---Germany, was working as a maid. She was then 28-years-old, only half of Hitler’s age, but she was to live on long past his 56 years on earth. She lived until the age of 99, having graced the earth for 43 years MORE than the 56 years Hitler defiled it. She lived into 2016, surviving past his 1945 death by 71 long and fruitful years. When Hitler killed himself inside his underground bunker, he died in defeat, surrounded mainly by people who feared him. When “Miss Helen” died inside her Jesup home in 2016, she died with dignity, surrounded by people who loved her.

Just the year after Hitler’s 1945 death, Helen and her husband Howard were blessed with the birth of their daughter Laura. They then had 3 sons, and Helen continues to live on today through Laura and two of her brothers : “Dr. Bob” Diamant and “Dr. Mike” Diamant, Wayne Memorial Hospital’s chief anesthesiologists these past two decades.

Helen Diamant has often been called a Holocaust “survivor”, but she has also been both a “striver” and a “thriver.” The dictionary entries for “striver” (“one who exerts much energy and effort, one who struggles

Veteran Eli Levine Celebrates 100th Birthday

On February 1, Eli Levine celebrated his 100th birthday at e American Air Power Museum in East Farmingdale with friends and family. More than 100 people attended the festivities. ere were numerous speakers including a volunteer docent from the museum who spoke about some of the aircraft. omas McLaughlin, Senior Advisor to NYS Senator Mario Mattera, presented Eli with a proclamation. In addition, Jewish War Veteran New York State Commander Gary Glick and Jewish

War Veterans Post 652 Commander Eric Spinner also spoke during the event.

Eli Edward Levine was born on January 31, 1923. He attended school in Brooklyn and graduated Boys High School in1941. He then attended City College, and at the same time, attended the School of Mechanical Optics.

Enlisting in the Army in 1943, he participated in campaigns in Northern France, England, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Battle of the

Bulge. He received the American Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the Certi cate of Merit. Eli was promoted to Tech Sergeant and was honorably discharged on January 7, 1946.

—Submitted by Ed Freeberg

Dari Rosalina(granddaughter),Debbie Siegfried(daughter) Marc Levine( grandson) and Sharon Stein (daughter) with Eli Levine (center) (Photo by Steven Friedman)