__________________ SEAFORD _________________
HERALD
your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
and JANUARY 11, 2024
with a focus on:
Resolutions and Healthy Lifestyle
Vol. 72 No. 3
leading healthy lifestyles
Honored for leadership
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JANUARY 11 - 17, 2024
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Two close friends rise to the top of their class By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Courtesy Seaford School District
Seaford High School seniors Umika Hathiramani, left, and Angelina Belgiorno, who are close friends, are the top two graduates of the Class of 2024.
Umika Hathiramani and Angelina Belgiorno are accustomed to pushing each other to great academic achievements — and those efforts have catapulted them to the top of Seaford High School’s Class of 2024. The high school seniors have been close friends since middle school and have always pushed each other to reach their highest limits. This support for each other has resulted in Hathiramani and Belgiorno being named the high school’s valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. Both said they were surprised by the honor, but it made them extremely proud of each other. “Angelina has always been so hardworking and academically driven,” Hathiramani said, “and I know that this is a huge accomplishment, so I was really happy for her, that she got to have that, and that we get to do it together.” The two met at the lunch table at Seaford Middle School — Hathiramani had attended the Manor School, while BelContinUed on pAge 3
When a summer project leads to a newfound passion By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Internships are a chance to learn, but for Damien Crowley, an internship put him on the path to a potential career as a scientific researcher. Last summer, Crowley, a junior at Wantagh High School, signed up to be a research intern for Vesta, a public-benefit corporation based in the Hamptons whose mission is to further the science of coastal carbon capture, to help reduce carbon emissions. Crowley’s internship took place at the North Sea Beach Colony in Southampton, on Peconic Bay,
where he worked with other students and scientists, conducting field research and collecting data. For Crowley and his colleagues, it turned out to be a memorable experience. “We were having fun doing work and being able to talk about the work in an interesting way,” he said, “because we were all so invested in it.” The North Sea Beach Colony has sustained coastal erosion in recent years, and Vesta has partnered with the Town of Southampton to help it with a beach restoration project. In July 2022, Vesta helped deploy 500 cubic yards of olivine sand on the coastal edge of the devel-
opment. Olivine, a naturally occurring silicate mineral, can remove atmospheric carbon dioxide when it is dissolved in water, permanently storing it in the ocean. C row l e y a n d t h e o t h e r interns were tasked with completing a grain size analysis of the sand on the beach, to enhance their understanding of how sediments move and how wave action works on the beach — in particular, a beach with this unique variety of sand. “If you know how the olivine is going to move and how it’s going to distribute and how the beach is changing itself,
that just improves (Vesta’s) overall understanding for the rest of their studies that they h ave g o i n g o n , ” C r ow l e y explained. The inter ns worked with senior research scientists, and Crowley is currently writing a research paper about the experience, with the goal of getting it published. He said he hoped
to apply to take part in the New York State Science and Engineering Fair and the Long Island Science Conference in the spring. Crowley said he was glad he got involved in the project, because now he not only can enter competitions with his research, but has also develContinUed on pAge 5