The Long Beach Public Schools’ April 26 Board of Education Meeting celebrated a variety of districtwide achievements. Students ranging from elementary through high school levels have recently excelled in writing, art, foreign language studies and history, among other academic areas. They were joined by their teachers and family members as they accepted certificates from administrators and applause from the Board.
Students in the Talented Writers Program were commended for their award-winning submissions in the Scholastic Art and Writing program. Chrysalis Mandell won her second National Medal, taking Silver for her portfolio of poetry after earning Gold last year. She also achieved a Gold Key award for the poem, “Organized Chaos” and Honorable Mentions for poems, “My Daughter Will Be Indigo” and “A Brief Study of Those I Work With.”
Lucia Techera earned a Gold Key for the poem, “The Janitor and His Son,” a Silver Key for the poem, “The Story of a Mouse and Her Mother” and Honorable Mentions for poems “The House and the Boy and the Night” and “Hey Babe.” Lauren Bulik secured a Gold Key for a poem titled, “The Breakup,” and Uma Arengo and Alyscia Batista received Silver Keys for their respective poems, “Autumn Dawn” and “Home Sweet Home.” Honorable Mentions in the poetry category went to Sarah Conway for “Children of the Universe” and Esther Molloy for “Warmth” and “Rosemary and Sage,” while other Honorable Mentions went to Ava deBruin for the personal essay, “The Cutchogue House” and Julia Silverberg for a short story titled, “Pelvis et Umbra Sumus.”
Several of these students are among the high school’s Empire State School Press Association award recipients. Chrysalis and Alyscia received Silver Medals for their respective poems, “Catching Sunrise” and “I am the Wind.” Silver Medals also went to Lily Yeomans for the poem “Concrete Heart” and Matthew Martinesi for “LIPS” in the fiction specialized content category. Bronze Medals in poetry were earned by Lucia for “The Children of the Tides” and Colleen DiLello for “Tree Lady.” Nicole Codiana received an Honorable Mention in non-fiction for her work, titled, “Yellow.” Additionally, Jessica Thursland was distinguished by the Columbia Scholastic Press Gold Circle with a Certificate of Merit for her traditional closed poetry piece, “May.”
The successes of the high school’s literary magazine, Fragments, were announced. The publication achieved the American Scholastic Press Association’s First place with two marks of distinction; Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s “Gold Medal” and All Columbia Honors for Essentials; Empire State School Press Association’s Gold Medal for Best All Around/All New York State; National Scholastic Press Association First Class with three Marks of Distinction and National Council of Teachers of English PRESLM Superior Nominated for Highest Award. Lily Yeomans received a Gold Medal for “Groovin” and Jordan Landsman attained a Bronze Medal for “Nature’s Daughter.”
The district honored two French Poetry Award Winners. Jordan Landsman placed first for “L’ensoleillement,” which she recited at the meeting, and Chrysalis Mandell won third place for “ma fille sera indigo.”
This was the first year that Long Beach Middle School students participated in Long Island History Day, and they took on the challenge with enthusiasm. Jack Cura, Cooper Kramer, Skyler Oberlander and Parker Schab received the Aviation or Military History Award for Outstanding Junior Entry-Group Exhibit, sponsored by the Cradle of Aviation Museum, for their project, “The Battle of Waterloo.” Robert Quintanilla was honored as an Outstanding Junior Entry-Individual Website award recipient by the Latin American History Awards Sponsored by the Long Island Council for the Social Studies for his project, “Civil War El Salvador.”
The recognitions at this meeting concluded with distinction of All County Art Award winners representing all five buildings. Congratulations to Paola Blanco Cruz and Stephania Robinson from West; Brody Shapiro and Aidan Tarsia from Lindell; Carlos Benitez Mendoza, Vida Cortes and Ryden Nafte from East; Annabel Pines and Arisa Sato from Lido; Theadora Angelopoulos, Emily Backlin, Emily Baldeo, Melina Conevery, Michael Haskins, Ryan Hicks, Arianna Quijano, Gabriela Umanzor and Crystal Wu from Long Beach Middle School and Daniella Bruzzone, Nina Capofaffi, Skyler Catrambone, Jayla Coad, Caroline Curcio, Jessenia Depaz, Jonathan Lelis DeSousa, Summer Ejnes, Noelle Michelman, Jessica Page, Victoria Posada, Asma Raisa, Jessica Rogers, Madison Rivera, Taylor Rudtner, Victoria Strickland, Liam Thornton and John Whelan from Long Beach High School.