HERALD $1.00
What’s up in Wantagh schools
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Vol. 70 No. 24
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Residents clean up the beach
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_________________ WANTAGH ________________
JUNE 9 - 15, 2022
Meet Wantagh High School’s top two grads class. “I barely even knew what valedictorian meant,” she said. “But I knew I wanted to study Wantagh High School’s class hard and do the best that I could, of 2022 will graduate this month, and it just turned out valedictoand at the top of the group are rian was in the cards.” Julianna Rose, the valedictorian, Rose has been involved in a and Skyla Marchesi, the saluta- number of extracurricular activtorian. ities, including Drama Club and Their weighted secretary of the grade point averagInternational es were extremely Thespian Society. cl o s e — Ro s e She was president ear ned the top of the English rank with an averHonor Society, the a g e of 108.022, National Honor while Marchesi finSociety and the Litished second with erary Society, and a n ave r a g e o f vice president of 107.253. the Science Honor “I’m happy that Society. She was all of my studying also a member of p a i d o f f, ” s a i d SKYla maRCHESi Peer Mentors, SciRose. “What’s more ence Olympiad and Salutatorian important to me is Wantagh’s a capthe f act that I pella singing learned the material.” group. Outside school, Rose was Rose attended Forest Lake a choreographer for the chilElementary School, while Mar- dren’s theater group at St. Franchesi went to Wantagh Elemen- ces de Chantal Church in Wanttary School, so the two didn’t agh, as well as a religion teacher. meet until middle school. Over In addition, she started a crethe years, however, they have ative writing program for middle grown close, and taken a number school students at the Wantagh of classes together. Public Library. As a freshman, Rose said, she Rose is the recipient of never expected she would reach numerous other academic the pinnacle of her graduating Continued on page 12
By miCHaEl malaSZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
t
Michael Malaszczyk/Herald
DEpaRtmENt of ENViRoNmENtal Conservation workers and volunteers pulled water chestnut out of the pond in kayaks and canoes, which aren’t usually allowed in Nassau County ponds.
State hosts invasive species pull at Wantagh’s Mill Pond By miCHaEl malaSZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Last Saturday, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation hosted a cleanup at Mill Pond Preserve, off Merrick Road in Wantagh. The cleanup was run by the DEC’s freshwater fisheries manager, Heidi O’Riordan, and its Long Island aquatic invasive species coordinator, Ashley Morris. Nassau County Legislator Steve Rhoads and members of Boy Scout Troop 96 took part as well. Mill Pond, previously known as Jones Pond, is a popular freshwater fishing spot, with easy shore access and a naturally reproducing population of fish including large-
mouth bass, pickerel, carp, yellow and white perch, crappie and catfish. The pond is also popular with bird watchers because it is a haven for geese, swans, ducks and herons. In recent years, however, the pond has been plagued by invasive water chestnut. Originally from Asia, water chestnut grows unchecked in lakes and ponds, outcompeting native plant species and producing massive overgrowth that affects local populations of birds, fish and other plants. The chestnut itself is a small, barbed nut that floats, and sticks to birds. The plant also reduces aquatic oxygen levels. “The water chestnut does not provide ideal Continued on page 4
he support from other students and teachers is insanely high here.