_________________ Glen COVe ________________
HERALD Class of 2022 Graduation Inside $1.00
VOL. 31 NO. 26
Dancing at the senior picnic
Doris Serrano is G.C. salutatorian
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JUNE 23 - 29, 2022
A picnic to benefit Ukraine By LAURA LANE llane@liherald.com
Elisa Dragotto/0Herald
MARIA SZHERBA, FAR left, Halyna Fenchenko, Anna Kijko, Ivanna Duda, Tetyana Komzuk and Iryna Bodnar were on hand to serve homemade Ukrainian food at the Father’s Day picnic at St. Josephat’s, a fundraiser for the war-torn country.
Ten Ukrainian police officers, trained in combat, ran for their lives near Lugansk in May as a Russian drone followed them. A helmet worn by one had already been shot off by the enemy as they dodged a barrage of shrapnel. Hearing the roar of bombs in the distance, the Ukrainian fighters were desperate to find refuge. When they spotted the door to an underground shed, they ran inside. As Michael, the last to enter, pulled the door closed, a bomb went off outside, causing the door to explode and fall onto him. Michael cannot share his last name for fear he will be CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Meet Glen Cove High’s valedictorian, Teresa Melfi By LETISHA DASS Special to the Glen Cove Herald
Given the tribulations of the past three years for high school students amid the coronavirus pandemic, the honor of being named valedictorian has new meaning this year. And Teresa Melfi, 18, tops Glen Cove High School’s graduating class of 255, with a GPA of 105.19. “It was a surprise for me, because throughout my sophomore and junior year, I was at home doing virtual learning,” Melfi said. “So I wasn’t really in touch with a lot of my peers, and I wasn’t sure how … any of us were doing.”
Teresa’s mother, Lisa Melfi, said she had expected her daughter would finish at the top of the class because of her dedication over the past four years, especially when the school was shut down and classes were remote. “I knew that she had worked so hard and put in so much effort,” Lisa said. “Especially through the pandemic, [by] really trying to focus and keep up with the schoolwork and the online classes. So it was very exciting.” Frank Melfi, Teresa’s 19-yearold brother, who graduated from Glen Cove High last year and is a freshman at Binghamton University, added that he was proud
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t Glen Cove, I had this unique experience of sort of meeting with and developing respect for a lot of diverse people. TERESA MELFI
GCHS valedictorian of her as well. Her honor was expected, Frank said, “because she’s always working really hard in school.”
The topic of Teresa’s graduation address is “Change is inevitable,” which she will share on June 24. She said that throughout her high school career and during the pandemic, the message the school conveyed to students was that there was always a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter the changes that were occurring around them.
“With very supportive students and teachers and administrators, we were kind of taught that we all have the potential to succeed,” Teresa said, “as long as we work hard and endure through that.” Frank’s advice for his sister, as an incoming college freshman, is to keep up the hard CONTINUED ON PAGE 9