From the Heart - Fall 2020

FALL 2020

From the Heart Mount Pleasant — The Heart of Westchester County

School During a Pandemic

How are students coping with the “new normal”?

The Mount Pleasant Central School District Newsletter

Volume 20, Issue 1

to be there for all of our students.”

When asked, most high school students agree that even though it can feel stressful trying to cover so much more material during the in-person lessons since they are meeting less frequently, having the day at home has been one of the few benefits. It gives them time to get organized, get their work done and have a little more down time. However, ninth grader Jackie Nuccio emphasizes that even though they are not in class, it is not a day off. “It might not seem to the teacher like they are posting a lot of work, but some assignments take a long time to complete and then you have multiple classes so it can sometimes take the full day to get through everything.

The extra time at home still doesn’t make up for what they feel they are missing out on. Sitting six feet apart from each other in a very quiet cafeteria during lunch, seniors Alyssa Fink, Angelica Alvarez, and Sara Blizzard admit that school feels a little lonely and empty with only half

reduce the number of people in the building to allow for adequate social distancing in the classrooms and the hallways.

To accomplish this, students were divided into two cohorts with each cohort coming in two to three days per week, depending on the week. On the days when students don’t physically come into school, teachers post lessons to their Google Classroom for students to complete on their own. Senior Elementary students eat lunch in their classrooms at school. Phoebe Barnes says that it makes her realize how much she Wearing a mask all day. Not having the can accomplish without having to same schedule as friends. Cancelation of be in the classroom. “I like having the day traditional events. Going to school during a off in between classes because it gives me pandemic has been challenging to say the time to do work. It prepares you for college least. But while this “new normal” isn’t what in a way where you would go to anyone imagined, students, teachers and class a couple times per week parents alike have been resilient and are and then have to manage your somehow making it work. schedule on your own.”

During the summer, while many She acknowledges that it people were still working remotely, the is probably more difficult for administrative teams in the district were the teachers to manage than back in their offices, hard at work, coming the students.

One teacher up with plans for how to safely reopen confirms that it has been schools if and when the state gave approval. challenging juggling the rotating Committees made up of the superintendent, schedules in addition to all the principals, teachers, custodial staff, medical new regulations. “With multiple experts, and parents brainstormed together classes and only seeing a for ways to give students a meaningful student in school every other experience while also following protocols day, it’s hard to keep track of AP Physics students take advantage of nice weather to work to keep transmission rates of the Covid-19 where you left off in the last outside while their teacher, Mary Newell, looks on. virus in check. While there were many lesson. Dealing with the day differing opinions, eventually a solid plan to day minutia, such as who can go to the their classmates in the building. They was created. bathroom when, adds an extra layer of are especially disappointed to not have A significant part of that plan was to complications, but we are working nonstop experienced the senior traditions that they had looked forward to for four years such as Spirit Week and open campus for lunch.

Younger students agree that it’s hard Download the SchoolMessenger App from either Apple’s App Store or Android’s not seeing all their friends every day. At Google Play page to receive all your school-related emails, texts and calls in one Columbus and Hawthorne, students stay at place. You can then: their desks, which are situated at least six feet apart, to eat their lunch. One student • View the records associated with your account in Tom Lisa’s fourth grade class says she • Review the last 30 days of broadcast messages for all your would “much rather be in the cafeteria at associated records. lunch because we cannot see our friends • View your contact information and configure how you would who are in different classes.” While they like to receive notifications. have the opportunity to go outside and enjoy recess, even that is not the same.

Another fourth grader lamented that in the

Never Miss a Message!

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FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020

And the Band Plays On It takes more than losing a few teachers and strict Covid regulations to turn down the volume on Mount Pleasant’s robust music program.

Creativity, passion and dedicated teachers have kept the department humming along despite the many challenges faced this year.

The end of the 2020 school year saw the departure of four beloved music teachers in the district, all who left mighty shoes to fill. On top of that, music education has had strict restrictions in place over and above the requirements of reduced capacity, masking and six feet of separation. No singing or playing of instruments was allowed inside classrooms for fear that these activities could potentially spread the virus faster. It certainly makes it more difficult to keep on track this year.

Fortunately, three veteran teachers, Carlo Capano, Dr. Nancy Engel and Erin Sica, with multiple decades of experience between them, have been able to carry on, albeit with some pretty major adjustments.

Students are doing a lot of listening and responding to music and completing music appreciation projects based on their favorite artists and songs. They focus on music theory and rhythm, which will benefit the groups when they are able to rehearse routinely again. These teachers all serve as mentors to their three new enthusiastic colleagues: Austin Alianiello, Jillian Kaplan and Zander Meisner.

It is always difficult to come into a new district and learn the ropes, but this year has been especially challenging. Mr. Alianiello

and Ms. Kaplan hit the ground running at the elementary level, taking over band instruction and general music respectively.

Both are working out of Columbus, but Ms. Kaplan, a 2013 Westlake grad, meets virtually with Hawthorne students every day. Until the day comes when she can meet her students live and encourage them to sing to their heart’s content, she focuses on music history, culture and fundamentals, incorporating lots of movement without singing. Older elementary kids are writing soundtracks for film using their chromebooks and a free online software called Music Lab. Ms. Kaplan has been really impressed with the quality of their work.

Mr. Alianiello shares the excitement, “I feel really fortunate to be in this district where people are so gung-ho for band and it’s part of the culture.” He sees his students two times per week. In person instruction includes reading rhythms, fingering, and cleaning instruments. On the days they are home, they meet in groups of five to six and play virtually. It’s actually been going better than expected and he is proud of the fact that fourth graders have been able to take up playing an instrument in the midst of such upheaval.

At the high school level, Mr. Meisner teaches chorus, music theory and keyboarding. Additionally, he has taken over as the drama teacher. As a performer himself, with over 15 years experience performing in Broadway musicals and doing national tours, he is well qualified

for the role. The good news is that high school students are now able to meet in small groups in the auditorium spaced twelve feet apart to practice their singing.

“Though we can’t sing close to one another, there are great opportunities to challenge our high school singer-musicians with these unusual circumstances.” Mr Meisner says.

For the students interested in drama, he’s very excited to have approval to work on a series of small scenes with two to three kids in each scene. Each group will be able to rehearse separately so there will be plenty of space to be socially distant while perfecting their art. He is hopeful they will be able to perform sometime in late winter either to a small, socially distanced crowd or virtually.

While everyone is desperately hoping for some semblance of a normal spring where concerts can be on the schedule again, many of the teachers are investing their time learning the technology to create virtual concerts. Mrs. Sica’s middle school band is working toward creating virtual chamber music where the kids can create tracks of themselves performing and then edit them together. The Columbus teachers are hoping to do the same.

In a time when nothing is normal and it is difficult to make future plans, these teachers, old and new, are doing everything in their power to continue to foster a love of music in their young students.

Left: Dr. Nancy Engel uses Google Meet to rehearse with the middle school singing group, The Meistersingers.

Right: Austin Alianiello greets his clarinet students at the beginning of their lesson.

New faces in our schools and classrooms 2

Austin Alianiello

Francesca Chiodi

Jillian Kaplan

Melissa Mancini

Jacklyn Marcello

Alexander Meisner

CES Music

HES Teacher

CES/HES Music

WMS Art

WHS Speech

WHS Music

I hope that this newsletter finds all of our families healthy and well. There has never been a time when I would believe that any of us could value our health more than we do now. I urge everyone to use proper precautions to keep yourself safe. I urge everyone to also stay connected. As we are not able to enjoy in person gatherings and socialization, it is important that we still reach out to one another, offering encouragement to our friends and family so that we can work together as we continue to find our Kurtis Kotes way through the end of this pandemic.

Ed. D. I would like to offer a great debt of gratitude to our Superintendent administrators, teachers, and support staff for all of their work to reopen school for the 2020-2021 school year. While we all look forward to a return to normalcy, it was a massive undertaking to plan for and implement all of the new health and safety protocols which needed to be in place for students and staff to return to school.

We continue to work each and every day towards a sound education for all students even through these challenging circumstances. Please know that the district is committed to constantly working together to sustain and improve our practices throughout the year for the students of the community.

Most importantly, I am so proud of all of our students.

They have stayed focused and committed to learning.

It has been so fulfilling to walk through the buildings and see them work safely with their teachers and peers. I also have had the opportunity to view some of the online learning that is occurring. Our teachers and students are effectively leveraging online learning to the best of their abilities. It is wonderful to see teachers and students learning together.

There have undoubtedly been hurdles and obstacles in this process, but the positive attitude of all of our students has paved the way for the best year possible!

The tradition and legacy of success and achievement has continued in our classrooms and on our fields even during the pandemic. Westlake High School

was proud to announce two National Merit Scholar Semi Finalists, Olivia Cartano and Pranav Vadapali and one National Merit Commended Student, Evan O’Brien. These students are to be commended for their incredible efforts and for the pride they bring to our district. We are also proud of the community service of our Westlake Middle School students Ava Raguso, Gian Marco Miglia, Gabriel McCabe, Caleigh Finck, Molly Verna and Joseph Palamara which continued even through the lockdowns during the height of the pandemic! Their focus on serving the community is a model for all of us to follow.

We were so excited to see our varsity athletic teams have an opportunity to take the field and compete this fall. They battled through difficult conditions, learning to play with masks. Every team finished the season on a high note. It was a pleasure to be able to invite parents to Senior Day to celebrate the hard work and dedication of our senior athletes. Thank you to our players, coaches, our Athletic Trainer Hillary Piccoli and our Athletic Director Donna Pirro for being patient and working so hard to facilitate this special season.

I commend all of our artists and musicians for their perseverance and work to continue to shine. We were proud to recognize Pranav Vadapalli for being named an alternate to All State Jazz Band and Stephanie Rosenberg for being awarded a medal of achievement in the 2020 National Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.

While we continue to work our way out of this difficult healthcare crisis, the achievements of our students remind us of the strength of our schools and our community. It helps all of us to stay grounded in our mission and helps us to stay focused on doing everything we can to provide them with the best tools possible to be successful.

I wish all of our families continued good health and a wonderful Holiday Season!

Meet Me at the Rainbow Bench In front of Hawthorne School, just under the flagpole, sits a colorful bench beckoning visitors to stop for a moment and have a rest. On it, a heartfelt message is inscribed in memory of Lucille Catalano, who passed away this spring after working nearly 30 years in the district. A group of young students, all members of Brownie Troop 2700 led by Wendy Tadesco and Hilary Clark, spent several weeks updating the original “Buddy Bench” and turned it into a memorial for the woman who was known as the “Face of Hawthorne”.

The girls were working toward a “Change Your World” badge and earned some valuable skills in the process. Mrs. Tadesco explains, “We have talked about recycling and repurposing and decided together that

this would be a great new use for the bench. It also helped give closure to the kids and was a way for them to say goodbye.” So, while Ms. Lucille is no longer at the front desk greeting visitors on a daily basis, the rainbow colored bench serves as a greeting in her honor to all those that come to Hawthorne.

FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020

Succeeding Together

School (cont. from page 1)

beginning they were not allowed to use any equipment, including the playground or any balls, so sometimes it got a little “boring”, however, those rules have eased somewhat.

Even with all the restrictions in the name of health and safety, one elementary student voiced the sentiment that most others agreed with, “School would be better without masks, but we can deal with it. I’d rather be in school than logging in from home.”

Columbus friends hanging out at recess.

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FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020

Building a 21st Century Scrapbook

This 3rd grader used his tech skills to pay homage to his favorite team Paying homage to a favorite team is nothing new. Generations of sports fans have collected ticket stubs, score cards and other paraphernalia to create memory books dedicated to their athletic heroes, but one savvy third grader has taken his love of the Yankees high tech.

Last year as a second grader at Hawthorne, Gianluca Gentile was having trouble thinking of a topic to write about during class. His teacher, Gina Carmody, suggested he think of a topic he was passionate about.

Immediately, he knew he wanted to focus on his favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees. Once he started writing, he realized he had a lot of information to share with his friends and family so he decided to take his project one step further.

Sensing his excitement, Ms. Carmody and Gianluca’s mother worked together to teach Gianluca the basics of Google Sites through numerous one on one Google Meets.

Google Sites, part of the Google Suite for Education used in the district,

is a platform that allows anyone to create simple web sites that support collaboration between different editors.

Gianluca continued to work hard over the summer to get more familiar with the software and build a site dedicated to all things Yankees. He spent about a month researching famous players, team records, the history of the stadium and more. Once he gathered all his data, he loaded it into a multi-page, detailed website complete with photos, stats and fun facts. Gianluca said, “It was a little bit hard trying to learn all the details and how to set up the pages, but as soon as I started doing it, I thought to myself that I want to do this more.” He’s already at work on a Minecraft site and a few travel oriented sites based on his family vacations.

Gianluca’s teachers at Columbus are really excited that he is learning such a great skill at a young age. One of Gianluca’s teachers, Nicole Ponte, remembers that she was exposed to her first computer skills class when she was a student at Columbus. It sparked an interest that she was able

A Note from the Board of Ed

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While upcoming holidays make the start of school feel like a distant memory, the first newsletter of the 2020 school year would be incomplete without Colleen formally welcoming Scaglione-Neglia current families back BOE President to another year and offering a warm welcome to the new families and staff joining our district. We are certain those joining our community will love all of the characteristics that make Mt. Pleasant so special. There’s no denying that this school year is looking very different than most but I’m so grateful to hear from families how appreciative they are that our schools are filled with students and staff again.

After months of Board of Education meetings being held on zoom, it was refreshing to return to in-person meetings in the Westlake gymnasium. Simple routines that we once took for granted provide much needed opportunities to reconnect with friends and colleagues.

to turn into a career. It seems the same might be true for Gianluca. Fortunately, he will have plenty of opportunities to hone his computer science skills as he continues his education in the Mount Pleasant schools.

Avid Yankees Fans: Third grader Gianluca Gentile shared his high-tech scrapbook with Columbus Principal Michael Cunzio, who keeps his memory book, circa 1996, close by on a shelf in his office.

I was happy to see our teachers and staff adjusting well and hosting back-toschool nights with the families. Thank you for allowing the BOE to pop in and visit your virtual classroom. I know we all miss meeting our childrens’ teachers and school staff in person and sharing summer memories with friends while walking the hallways between classes, but it is important for our community to continue to support these altered routines.

No routine has been more altered than our daily learning routine. There are too many staff members to individually thank for all of their efforts involved to open our schools and keep them safe. Thank you to the Superintendent, administrators and staff for continuing to stay up to date on this evolving situation and adapt our plans to ensure the safety of the students and staff while providing quality education during these challenging times. There will continue to be more rough roads ahead, but we are grateful to have your positive support and partnership.

Our sports and extracurricular activities have also been altered to comply with government orders and we know it is hard to limit fan attendance. We are grateful to

see our soccer, cross country, and tennis teams were able to play and look forward to football, cheer, volleyball, and theater commencing their seasons in the Spring.

We miss seeing everyone at homecoming games and fall productions, but appreciate the many volunteers that continue to find ways to support these programs through fundraising on zoom and other social media platforms. Be sure to visit your children’s school at www.mtplcsd.org for a list of all these great upcoming events.

More than ever I urge people to stay connected to our community and find new ways to get involved. Join volunteer organizations, participate in events even if they are virtual and remain flexible to evolving situations as we work to provide a safe educational experience for all. I know this has been a challenging and confusing time and that the only satisfying educational format we want for our children is the one we had prior to Covid. I want to thank the parents and the teachers for being patient as we navigate this new learning environment. On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to wish all of you a successful school year and a happy and healthy holiday season.

Reimagined STEAM Symposium encourages students to be creative Young people are the future. They are the ones who will create technology and find solutions to make our world a better place to live. The students of this generation don’t remember a time when technology wasn’t easily accessible, so it is our job as educators to encourage students to make use of this knowledge.

This is exactly why the Westlake STEAM Symposium was created. The popular two-day, interactive event offers workshops across a multitude of disciplines to inspire and empower students about opportunities in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) that will fuel their curiosity, inspiration, and wonder.

This year’s symposium, the third annual, was like none before it. Like everything else, Covid-19 interfered with plans to host more than 70 students and 20 presenters at Westlake High School. Instead of canceling altogether, however, the coordinators of the event, Mary Knopp and Janet Matthews, decided to shift gears and take it virtual.

The symposium, usually a two day event with over 20 workshops to choose

from, was transitioned to one day of virtual events. The day opened with a group of keynote speakers from IBM who spoke to students about how they can use technology and innovation to make our world a better place to live.

The listeners were challenged to ask themselves “What are the growing needs of our planet?” and then ask “What can I do to inspire change?”

As the day progressed students took part in workshops presented by industry leaders covering topics such as 3D character animation, video game coding, graphic design and more. In addition, award-winning documentary and lifestyle photographer, Amy Drucker, led an iPhone photography workshop

where she shared some great tips, surprising even the teenage skeptics.

They were challenged to a photography competition, “STEAM in Everyday Life”, and turned out some impressive photos.

At the end of the day students had the opportunity to win fantastic prizes including gift cards, Fuji cameras and VR goggles thanks to our many generous sponsors.

The overall goal of the day was to expose students to the many different ways that they can use STEAM to make their world a more interesting and sustainable place. Giving students these opportunities at a young age will fuel their curiosity and encourage them to be the next generation of innovators.

FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020

Innovation Starts with “I”

Above: Tycho Force created a poster for the Innovation Challenge to create a smart planet.

Right: Adriana Escobedo was one of the winners of the STEAM in Everyday Life photography contest.

Sharing the Passion

Pranav Vadapalli encourages younger students to explore their interests The ongoing mission to inspire students to follow their interests in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) isn’t limited to one two-day workshop per year. The STEAM Symposium organizers, Mary Knopp and Janet Matthews, have found creative ways throughout the year to engage students with exciting opportunities and open their minds to the infinite possibilities in these fields.

One such way they kept the momentum going after the summer symposium was to encourage older students to share their passion for STEAM with middle school and young high school students. The role of STEAM Ambassador was created after the first Westlake STEAM Symposium in 2017 and has evolved over the years. At first, ambassadors helped with future symposiums, but later they were encouraged to come up with a project which they could share with younger peers. One student who ran with the challenge was Pranav Vadapalli.

While Pranav had never attended any of the previous events, he was familiar with them as his father, Sudhakar Vadapalli, a Financial Professional at IBM, has played a huge role in

securing many of his colleagues to serve as presenters for the workshops. The younger Vadapalli understood what would be of interest to the students so he decided it would be useful to set up a series of speakers who could talk about their career in the STEAM field and give young students a plan and a path to follow. His inspiration was the career fairs hosted by the guidance department, but he wanted to “ create a smaller, more friendly environment where students would be able to discuss prospective careers with a single person.” He also chose to focus on people just getting started in their career so they could share more relevant advice on the college process.

The first of his “Speaker Series” took place this fall after Pranav reached out to a family friend who is pursuing her PhD at Stony Brook University. Julie Betke, who is studying immunology and infectious diseases, spent 45 minutes speaking with dozens of interested students. She engaged the listeners and told the story of her path to a professional career. Students left feeling inspired and wanting for more. Lucky for them, Pranav already has a second speaker lined up for a later date with more planned throughout the year.

Pranav, who has racked up many accomplishments of his own already, including being named a National Merit Semi-Finalist and a National AP Scholar, plans to pursue a degree in physics next year. Surely, he will be among the next generation of young innovators inspiring up and coming students.

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FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020 6

And kudos to …

National Scholar Recognition Being named a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist is a difficult achievement.

Only about 1% of the 1.6 million students in the country who take the PSAT during junior year reach this status. This year Westlake had two students who were honored for their exceptional scores:

Olivia Cartano and Pranav Vadapalli.

Both will have the opportunity to continue on in the competition to vie for thousands of dollars in scholarships. Also recognized for exceptional achievement is Evan O’Brien. He was named a National Merit Commended student. His PSAT scores put him in the top 3% in the nation.

WHS has record 73 AP Scholars, 39% increase from last year Despite all the disruptions this spring, one event that wasn’t cancelled was the administration of Advanced Placement (AP) Exams. The tests, the culmination of year-long college level courses, were administered remotely for the first time in their 64 year history. Traditionally, the exam consists of a combination of multiple choice and free response questions and takes about three hours to complete. This year, the format was changed to a 45-minute multiple choice test administered online.

In spite of some technical challenges and the loss of several weeks of preparation after schools went remote in March, a record number of Westlake students earned AP Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the exams.

According to the College Board, only about 18% of the nearly 1.8 million students worldwide who took AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to earn this distinction. WHS had 73 AP Scholars! The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement: National AP Scholar Award. Earning an average score of at least 4 (out of 5) on all APs taken and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more exams were 2020 grads Katelyn Jaime, Caleb Levitt, Liam Naughton, Roman Raguso and senior Pranav Vadapalli.

AP Scholar with Distinction Award. Earning an average score of at least 3.5 on all exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more exams were 2020 graduates Colleen Bradley, Samantha Castellano, Rebecca Cross, Olivia Eng, Paul Gschneider, Kiera Higham, Nicole Izzo, Katelyn Jaime, Samantha La

Scala, Caleb Levitt, Gabriella Muratore, Nicole Musial, Liam Naughton, Roman Raguso, Emily Salvi, and Alice Warford and current seniors Phoebe Barnes, Olivia Cartano, Carter Falkenberg, Samantha Lubart, Marco Petrillo and Pranav Vadapalli AP Scholar with Honor Award. Earning an average score of at least 3.25 on all exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams were graduates Emma Bigley, Lea Bonsignore, Amanda Bradley, Kyra Earley, Arianna Edwards, Jake Szeszko and Maeve Verna and current seniors Angelica Alvarez, Alessandra Blasone, Elisabeth Carpinelli, Ryan Cowles, Thomas Marto, Evan O’Brien, Alessia Pellegrini, Julie Pinchiaroli and Deanna Reynolds.

AP Scholar Award. Completing three or more exams with grades of 3 or higher were graduates Jacqueline Andrews, Julia Behring, Courtney Bonyai, Peter Cavazzini, Julia Clark, Juliana Colabatistto, Aaron Dearborn, Brendan Di Liberti, Katherine Di Liberti, Charles Digennaro, John DiMaio, Kenneth Dronzek, Christopher Drossos, Joshua Finkel, Alyssa Martinez, Arianna Muratore, Matthew Mynes, Eric Nieves, Christopher Pagan and Emily Specht and current seniors Lauren Abbate, Stefano Ammaturo, Jonathan Clemente, Sophia Garritano, Kristin Iannucci, Zachary Katzman, Patrick Lilly, Brandon Martinez, Nicholas Mulvey, Arianna Pellegrini, Rachel Raguso, Alexander Rosenberg, Stephanie Rosenberg, Raine Spearman, and Mia Williams.

Lauren Abbate

Angelica Alvarez

Stefano Ammaturo

Pheobe Barnes

Alessandra Blasone

Elisabeth Carpinelli

Olivia Cartano

Jonathan Clemente

Ryan Cowles

Carter Falkenberg

Sofia Garritano

Kristin Iannucci

Zachary Katzman

Patrick Lilly

Samantha Lubart

Brandon Martinez

Thomas Marto

Nicolas Mulvey

Evan O’Brien

Alessia Pellegrini

Arianna Pellegrini

Marco Petrillo

Julie Pinchiaroli

Rachel Raguso

Deanna Reynolds

Rain Spearman

Pranav Vadapalli

Mia Williams

Alexander Stephanie Rosenberg Rosenberg

Art Award Senior AP Art student Stephanie Rosenberg was awarded a medal of achievement in the 2020 National Scholastic Art and Writing competition.

Her painting “Composition in Red / Girl and Bird” was chosen and recognized out of 320 thousand works submitted to the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers.

Congratulations Stephanie!

All State Honors Congratulations to Pranav Vadapalli for being named an All State Jazz Band Alternate for Trombone. This is a significant honor, as it places Pranav in the top percentage of all student performers in New York State.

In normal years, about 900 musicians perform at the All-State Music Festival, however this year was cancelled, only the 3rd time since 1945.

Thank you for your service Ava Raguso, Gian Marco Miraglia, Gabriel McCabe, Caleigh Finck, Molly Verna and Joseph Palamara received an IB recognition at the end of the spring/ summer 2020 semester during remote learning for service to their community during the lockdown.

Distinguished Awards Westlake’s own Nick DiPaolo was honored recently at the 29th Annual Mt. Pleasant Italian American Association Dinner with the Distinguished Achievement Award, alongside his mother Rita DiPaolo, who received the Distinguished Service Award.

Mr. DiPaolo joined the WHS Guidance department in 2006 and now serves as the Department Chair. His passion for service goes well beyond the countless hours he has spent counseling thousands of students through academics, college applications, employment opportunities and more. A few of the many local

Mystery Reader

Kindergartners love a good mystery. They also love storytime.

So when you combine the two, you end up with some pretty happy kids. Every week, students in Kim Newman’s kindergarten class eagerly anticipate the moment when they get to log-in to a Google Meet and discover who will be reading them a special story that day. The reader gives a few clues about themselves as the children take turns guessing. Once the mystery is solved, they settle in for a fun read-aloud.

Westlake High School Guidance Counselor Nick DiPaolo was the mystery reader in his daughter Ella’s kindergarten class.

organizations he is involved with include the Valhalla Ambulance Corps, the Thornwood Lions Club and the MP Town Board, where he formerly served as the Deputy Supervisor. In addition, he is the Chairman and founder of the MP Parks Foundation.

Mr. DiPaolo has brought his passion for service to the students he works with every day. As the advisor of the Westlake Service Club, he has facilitated dozens of community service projects, including distributing clothing and toiletries for NYC shelters, organizing blood drives and collecting, wrapping and shipping hundreds of gifts for underprivileged families each year.

Truly, a man for others, Nick DiPaolo is a great example to the younger generation he works with and is highly deserving of this distinguished award.

FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020

Students of the Month Alicia McCarvill, Evan O’Brien and Alessandra Blassone have been chosen as “Thornwood Lions Club Student of the Month” for September, October and November respectively.

Students are chosen for putting “service above self”. The seniors were nominated by their teachers and guidance counselors who cited exceptional service to their school and/or community. Students will be feted at a celebratory dinner in the spring of ‘21.

County Legislator Margaret Cunzio presents WHS Guidance Counselor Nick DiPaolo and his mother, Rita DiPaolo, an award for their service to the community.

Sharing the Love

Local photographer and Hawthorne resident Debbie Miracolo was looking for a way to spread kindness amid all the unrest of the past several months. As an artist, she wanted to use her talents to make a difference in the lives of the young people around her. She decided to focus her efforts locally and used the proceeds from selling her photographs to buy books on diversity to donate to the Hawthorne and Columbus libraries. Elementary librarian Jennifer Weitman helped choose about a dozen books for her students to access. She has enjoyed sharing them with the students during her virtual library hours and will also make them available to older students to check out.

Principals Anne Stern and Michael Cunzio, along with librarian Jennifer Weitman accept book donations from artist Debbie Miracolo.

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FROM THE HEART • Fall 2020

Mount Pleasant Central School District Board of Education Colleen Scaglione Neglia, President Michael Horan, Vice President Sara Beaty Vincent Graci Michael Griffin Laura Michalec Olszewski Chris Pinchiaroli Superintendent Dr. Kurtis Kotes Correspondence Phone: 769-5500 • Fax 769-3733 Web: www.mtplcsd.org Editor/email contributions Alyson Walsh/awalsh@mtplcsd.org

Fall Sports

It was a season of delayed starts, canceled games, partial and full team quarantines and empty stands, but Westlake Athletics managed to pull together a meaningful season for many of the fall athletes. After a disappointing announcement by the Section One Athletic Association that “high-risk” fall sports would be postponed until early spring, many were not hopeful that there would be any kind of season this year. Other sports, however, were relieved to learn that they would be allowed to compete, although with many modifications. Soccer, tennis and cross country were three of the lucky ones.

Athletes were required to wear masks during practices and competition and only two home team spectators per player could attend matches, but even with the restrictions, they managed to squeeze in a season and make it to sectional competition. In a world that has been turned upside down, most were just grateful to have the opportunity to play, restrictions and all!

Game On!

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Non-Profit Organization US Postage Paid White Plains, NY Permit No. 9415

West Lake Drive, Thornwood, NY 10594

The Westlake campus tennis courts have finally reopened and they are more beautiful than ever. After being closed for more than a year due to bond-funded renovations on the Westlake campus, the courts reopened this fall. Physical education classes and the re-instated girls tennis team were thrilled to be able to use them on a daily basis. In November, the new courts were put to the test when Westlake Athletics hosted the Southern Westchester Small School Regional Tennis Sectional. The match champion, a nationally ranked tennis player, proclaimed “This tennis facility is awesome!

These are the best courts I ever played on.”

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