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NOVEMBER 30, 2023
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Vol. 30 No. 49
A lot’s happening with the Elks
A Thanksgiving tradition ... still
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NoVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 6, 2023
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SATs are now online — but how does that affect students? hour shorter. The PSATs also reflect those changes, and districts have been using those It’s official: In true 21st cen- tests to get accustomed to the tury fashion, the SATs will be new testing style. “It was a shorter test, which administered online starting was good for the next spring, with a kids,” Richard new format that is Schaffer, principal expected to be more of East Rockaway accessible to the High School, said. modern student — “There didn’t seem but also presents a to be many stufew extra obstacles for local school disdents who strugtricts. gled to get through “There is an it. enormous shift “I think they’re aw ay f r o m t h e more used to digiindustrial educatal platfor ms for tional model, and testing now, so it’s more of a recogninot totally brand tion of students’ n ew, ” h e a d d e d . i n d iv i d u a l ab i l i - RIChARD “State testing is ties,” Matthew m ov i n g t ow a rd s SChAFFER Sarosy, principal of online platfor ms L y n b r o o k H i g h Principal of East also.” Rockaway High School, said. T h e e x t e n s ive “And what that School planning that the means is yes, less of new SATs necessia reliance on long, standard- tate for school districts doesn’t ized exams.” stop at technology support. HisThe new for mat features torically, SATs are often adminmore changes than just a lack istered on weekends so the traof pen and paper. The exam ditional school day is not diswill have two sections rather turbed. But along with this new than three, and will also be an CoNTiNued oN pAge 16
By NIColE FoRMISANo
nformisano@liherald.com
Courtesy Lynbrook School District
Aiden Michaels, left, and Jack Murray, center, are the first students from Lynbrook to send a science experiment to outer space. They, along with their teacher and collaborator, Stoycho Velkovsky, right, were invited to the Kennedy Space Station in Florida, where they presented their experiment to a panel of NASA experts.
Project is out of this world By NIColE FoRMISANo nformisano@liherald.com
The Kennedy Space Center was nearly pitch black, until a miniature sun was born. An impossibly large fireball lit up the Nov. 9 night sky as a rocket was propelled toward space — carrying, among other things, Lynbrook High School students Aidan Michaels and Jack Murray’s science experiment. The two sophomores are the first students from Lynbrook to have a science project launched into space. The program, a collaboration between NASA and the Student Spaceflight Experi-
ments Program, gives students a rare chance to create a science experiment that is conducted in microgravity on the International Space Station. Thousands of students around the country submitted applications, but Michaels and Murray’s project was one of only 37 that were accepted to go aboard the ISS. They headed to Florida to watch the launch, accompanied by their science teacher, Stoycho Velkovsky. “It felt real when we actually went down there and watched the rocket take off,” Michaels said. CoNTiNued oN pAge 16
I
think that anytime we shorten the test without reducing the integrity of the test, it’s in the students’ best interest.