_________________ WANTAGH ________________ Enjoy the ride to saving s.
HERALD
Get Results. Sign Up Today!
Never too old to dance
Page 5
Page 4
Vol. 72 No. 9
THE LEADER IN PROP ERTY TAX REDUCT ION
Sign up today. It on ly takes seconds. Apply online at mptrg .com/heraldnote or call 516.715.1266
FEBRUARY 22 - 28, 2024
$1.00
Maidenbaum Property Tax Reduction Grou p, LLC 483 Chestnut Street, Cedarhurst, NY 11516 Habl
1243244
They’re off to see the wizard
DEADLINE MARCH 1ST
amos Español
Diving into the cold Atlantic for a good cause By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Charles Shaw/Herald
Members of the Wantagh High School boys’ varsity swim team raised over $2,000 by taking part in the 24th annual Super Bowl Splash in Long Beach on Feb. 11.
It requires mental fortitude to sprint into the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of February, but it’s easier to talk yourself into it when you have friends to share the experience with. Members of the Wantagh High School boys’ varsity swim team took part in the 24th annual Super Bowl Splash in Long Beach on Feb. 11. According to team member Stephen D’Amato, it was a memorable way to bond. “It was a great experience, obviously, but it was more of just the fact that everyone was there together,” D’Amato said. “It was mostly a group thing.” The idea to participate in what’s also known in Long Beach as the Polar Bear Plunge came from Wantagh swimmer Andrew Pascucci, who took part last year with some of his friends. This year he reached out to his teammates, who agreed to join him Continued on page 9
Salk students express themselves through podcasts By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Students at Salk Middle School, in Levittown, converted what was a fun club into a place for them to have meaningful conversations and reach out to other students about school life. Michele DiLevo, a sixthgrade teacher at Salk, launched a podcast club for students last year to provide them with a space to discuss topics they care about. Also known as the Pod Squad, students in the club are given the freedom to create podcast focusing on subjects t h e y ’ re p a s s i o n at e ab o u t , according to DiLevo.
“They’re podcasting about sports events outside of school, they’re podcasting about video games, about Legos, about puppies,” DiLevo said. “Just pretty much anything they want to, they can have a conversation about it, and it just took off.” Some of the podcasts encourage students to interact with teachers in a variety of entertaining ways. In one podcast, a student began a song and a teacher was asked to finish the lyrics. Another podcast, which DiLevo described as “spilling the tea,” required students to ask teachers to reveal an interesting secret about themselves that students might
not know. “It was just nice for students to be able to get teachers involved,” DiLevo said. During other podcasts, students interview one another on topics related to mental health and what to do if they’re having a tough time. In one segment, called “Dark Answers,” students discuss relatable experiences while navigating middle school, such as test anxiety. DiLevo said that students relate better to these experiences when they hear about them from a fellow student, rather than an adult telling them everything will be OK. “It’s a totally different ball-
game when you’re hearing people that are on your level,” she said. DiLevo, who is the club’s adviser, said students follow a format to map out how they want to record each podcast episode. They fill out a form, writing down their thoughts, and what they plan to talk about in each episode. After the
planning phase, they record, edit and then have it published. The club uses an app called Spotify for Podcasters, which provides students with an easyto-use recording and editing process. Using the app, they choose which parts of the recording they want to keep and which ones they want to Continued on page 11