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April 18 - 24, 2018
Vol. 1, No.1
INSIDE THIS WEEK:
FEATURE Old Westbury Gardens
An Anton Media Group Publication
Light It Up Blue
Launches WW1 Exhibit page 7A
EVENTS
Aggressively Delightful page 6A
BY JENNIFER FAUCI
jfauci@antonmediagroup.com
F
or the past eight years, General Douglas MacArthur High School has turned into a sea of blue during the month of April. During Autism Awareness month, students, staff and administration rally together to raise recognition of the disorder and help to educate the community on what it means to “Light It Up Blue.” Vin Causeman is a Social Studies teacher and head of the school’s Autism Awareness Committee. His passion for the cause goes beyond a few weeks out of the year. “In 2011, myself and another staff member decided that we wanted to do something for Autism. I have two children that are on the spectrum and she has a nephew on the spectrum,” said Causeman of the development of the campaign. “Autism has been something that, even when my children were diagnosed, I didn’t know much about and we thought it would be a good idea to get information out there.” The first year of the initiative began with a couple of T-shirts for staff members, while students dressed in blue for a day or two. What started out with 50 people at MacArthur has now blossomed into a districtwide campaign, where every school in Levittown does something for autism awareness. “Now, we have thousands of students, staff and community members that buy our staple T-shirts that we make every year,” said Causeman, adding that activities to raise awareness extend to softball, baseball and lacrosse games, a tennis clinic and walks. “The way it has grown has been amazing. We want a society where people with autism, not just kids, are treated like everyone else and it’s a lofty goal, but what has been accomplished over these eight years not only in MacArthur but
SPORTS
Tackling The Youth Football Problem page 34A See our ad on page 5
The Tradition begins NOW!!! LNSPORTS.org
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See LIGHT IT UP BLUE on page 4A