__________________ Merrick _________________
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November 18, 2021
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Vol. 24 No. 47
Football frenzy in N. Bellmore
Difficult ending for Mepham
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NoVEMBER 18 - 24, 2021
A Mepham alum with a green thumb her first year of graduate school. She will receive a bachelor’s in environmental science next Olivia Larocchia, of North spring, and a master’s in sustainBellmore, is a Wellington C. able communities the following Mepham High School graduate year. As for her motivation for with a passion for environmen- studying environmental science, tal conservation and community she said that it “is such a growservice. ing and important field.” While taking part in a grant Last school year, due to Covidprogram at Binghamton Univer- 19, Larocchia was completing sity — where she her classes from is studying envihome. “I was just ronmental science checking through — Larocchia nor mal emails worked with the and I saw this one Bellmore-Merrick that said grant Central High program — $4,000 School District in — community serlate spring and vice,” she said. “I summer to kind of waved it revamp their comoff, but it stuck in munity g arden my head, and that supports the before I knew it, I district’s Commuwas starting the oliViA lARoccHiA nity Cupboard. application proLarocchia, 21, cess.” graduated from Mepham in 2018. That application was for the While there she was involved in Harpur Fellows, a grant prothe drama program, and worked gram in which students design with several volunteer groups. “I and carry out community sergot my beginnings in volunteer- vice projects during the summer. ing — got a feel for some commu- It is funded by the alumni associnity service work there,” she ation at Binghamton’s Harpur said. College of Arts and Sciences. At Binghamton, she is in a The application process entailed 4+1 program, which means that her senior year is combined with Continued on page 14
By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
ut- Honoring those who served
Courtesy Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District
Students at Mepham High School in North Bellmore celebrated Veterans Day last week. Above, student Olivia Rooney placed a flag on the school’s lawn. Story, more photos, Page 3.
Covid vaccine eligibility expands By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
On Nov. 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. The pediatric vaccine — one-third of the adult dose — quickly became available to local doctors’ offices and pharmacies, leaving parents to decide whether to have their children vaccinated, or not. For some parents, the vaccine is a step toward pre-pandemic
normalcy. “I am absolutely for the vaccine,” Carrie Kalish, of Bellmore, who has a 14-year-old son at John F. Kennedy High School and a 10-year-old daughter at Shore Road Elementary, told the Herald. “I inoculated my children not only for their own health, but for the benefit of public health,” Kalish added. “I look forward to a future where they don’t have to wear a mask in school.” Kalish’s son was inoculated at Belmont Park when the vaccine became available to his age
group. Her daughter received the pediatric dose at Prohealth Bellmore Pediatrics. “I’m not a doctor, but I know enough to know what I don’t know,” she said. “I am trusting of my kids’ doctor and the general scientific community — I listen to them.” Other members of the community aren’t so sure about the vaccine. Some parents feel as if there isn’t enough information, and others are opposed to the idea of a mandate. Continued on page 12