Friday, January 4, 2019
Vol. 95, No.15
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Tiffany window PAGE 18 n Winterfest PAGE 10
Foundation donates half million dollars to hospital GC High School student’s
science research project benefits Village BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Bobby Menges is pictured with Dr. S. Robert Rozbruch and Carl Menges An indomitable spirit. An inquisitive mind. And a most compassionate heart. Bobby Menges of Garden City possessed intelligence and maturity far beyond his years and left a lasting impression on almost everyone he met. Friendly and outgoing, he was the kind of kid who went over and sat with the shy student eating alone at lunchtime. A diagnosis of cancer, originally at age 5, and other health problems didn’t stop him from living life to the fullest. Despite the treatments, and despite multiple surgeries, a profound capacity for empathy compelled him to look outside of himself,
and he sought to help others, according to Elizabeth Menges, Bobby’s mother. He devoted much of his life to community service and fundraising, hosting charity events and blood drives. Although Bobby passed away last year at age 19, his legacy lives on in a foundation that his family created in his memory. The “I’m Not Done Yet” Foundation, based in Garden City, helps adolescent patients with serious, long-term, and chronic illnesses transition from pediatrics to adulthood. As part of its mission, the foundation has pledged a fiveyear, $500,000 grant to Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City to conduct research to
establish best practices to meet the changing needs of young patients as they become teenagers and young adults in the health care system. At HSS, a specialty hospital dedicated to orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation, doctors often follow patients from a very young age through young adulthood. The patient population includes babies born with musculoskeletal conditions such as cerebral palsy and young people with chronic rheumatologic diseases who are treated from the time they are children. Bobby recognized the need See page 34
For the second straight year, a Garden City High School student’s involvement with the village’s Environmental Advisory Board has led to a science project which provided information for residents and village officials to consider. Ian Bailey, one of three new Garden City High School student members of the Environmental Advisory Board, has begun his school-year science research project on pesticides and fertilizers used in Garden City and in neighboring areas. “The big question in starting this research is determining what products exactly are the ones we want (the village) to use. There is a wide spectrum of fertilizers and types of application they come in -- a pellet or liquids. We consider fertilizers on some grounds and/or pesticides on the same places. We’ll also need to look at organic versus inorganic products and their impacts. The next step for me is the parameters that need to be set, to determine what to get out of the research,” he explained at the EAB’s last meeting. Bailey enters the second half of his sophomore year at Garden City High School this month. Last summer, he conducted work at Molloy College and has also participated in regional/local science competitions. For this year’s science research course, organized with guidance from GCHS science research teacher Dr. Steven Gordon, Bailey considered how he can have a proactive approach to help both Garden City as a municipality as well as him and his fellow students of science at the high school. In the 2017-2018 school year, Dr. Gordon worked with students Thomas Grlic and Aidan Pfaff, who ultimately presented results of their research on gas-powered leaf blower noise and pollution in front of the EAB (reported in The Garden City News on December 22, 2017 and February 2, 2018). Originally Bailey’s science research project was to look into the environmental effects of modern fertilizers as a whole. Then his new civic role and collaboration with the EAB this school year, confirmed at the Board of Trustees’ November 1 meeting along with GCHS junior Adam Baksh and Aidan Pfaff, now a GCHS senior, led to expanding his project’s concept to include the village-owned and maintained recreational grounds. On November 28, the trio of GCHS students attended the Environmental Advisory Board and Rec. Commission’s joint meeting on the use of pesticides on village athletic fields. That See page 35
Online registration begins for 'Parent University' PAGE 3 Calling all Garden City HS basketball alumni PAGE 40