Friday, March 22, 2019
Vol. 79, No. 12
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Hicksville group wins competition with anti-vaping project
BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR ALL
BY GARY SIMEONE
Supervisor Saladino commended Birthday Wishes of Long Island Director Jamie Rapfogel (second from left) and presented her with a citation. Jamie was joined by Long Island Coordinator Susan Gold (left) and a few of the incredible volunteers who make this all possible. Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino honored Birthday Wishes of Long Island which
is an innovative and unique organization serving thousands of homeless families allowing chil-
dren, regardless of their living situation, to celebrate their birthSee page 13
Restaurant’s proceeds benefit autism school BY GARY SIMEONE
It was a special day at the Miller’s Ale House in Levittown last Thursday, as the restaurant donated 15% of its sales for the day to the ELIJA (Empowering Long Island Journey through Autism) School. This was the second year in a row that two establishments worked in conjunction with one another. “We gave back 15% of our total food sales for the day to the ELIJA School, when any of our custom-
ers mentioned the school while ordering,” said Lance Wolff, aassistant GM at Miller’s. “Our staff is very welcoming and supportive of the school and we even have some of their students come help us out once in awhile.” Wolff added that throughout the years, the restaurant has put together similar give-back events to help support the school. Monica Howard, associate executive director at the ELIJA School, said that she was very grateful for the support that the
restaurant has given the school over the years. “This is a great thing, not only from a financial standpoint, but it also gives our students the opportunity to learn vocational skills,” said Howard. “I know Miller’s has hosted other fundraising opportunities in the past and we are thankful for The ELIJA School opened in 2006 in Bethpage before moving to its current location in Levittown See page 13
“How to stop vaping in schools” was the topic that a group of five freshman girls at Hickville High School had to work with in this year’s Medical Marvels Competition. The girls, Maeryam Nasari, Sarah Chavez, Kaitlyn Verdugo, Roxy Dias and Bisma Omer, took home first place in the competition, which was held at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset earlier this month. 38 schools from Nassau, Suffolk and Queens competed in the event, where students had to present their projects in front of a panel of judges. The Medical Marvels Competition was developed to encourage Long Island high school students in 9th and 10th grade to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, (STEM) field. “This is a unique type of competition which is geared towards freshman and sophomores and helps them in areas like gaining speaking experience, helps them to write a paper and answering questions from audience members.” said Stephanie Piscitelli, a social science research teacher at the school. “We’ve been participating in this competition for the last five years, and this is the first time we’ve come away with the first prize.” This year’s competition presented a hypothetical challenge where a high school principal is tasked with coming up with multiple solutions to remedy a growing vaping problem in their school district. The girls, playing the role of the principal, put their heads together to come up with two long-term solutions and a short-term solution to help solve the vaping scourge among students. The students put together a 15-page research proposal, entitled, “A Cloud Over Your Mind,” and presented their work for a total of two minutes in front of the panel of judges. “One of our main long-term solutions was to adjust technology on the vape pen, in this case, the access code, to make it harder for the buyer to purchase the pen without proper identification,” said Dias. “The seller of the pen, most likely an adult, would create this access number and would be the only one able to unlock it successfully.” She added that most young people get vaping devices from See page 13
Students’ art work on display at IKEA PAGE 7 Hicksville HS plays “Guys and Dolls” PAGE 10