Community Update

January 5, 2024

Dear Syosset Community:

I hope you all enjoyed a restful and restorative break. I had a “full circle” week, seeing first my nieces who were once preemie twins (now approaching age 2), and later celebrating my mother’s 90th birthday with far flung family. I took a lot of perspective from the juxtaposition of those events. Mom has seen a lot in her days, and what lies ahead for those tiny little ones?

Today was Alumni Day at Syosset High School where our recent graduates return to offer current Seniors some perspectives of their own regarding the transition to the first semester of college. I loved hearing the students enthusiastically describe their college choices, and candidly share about the challenges. Although academically well-prepared, the college kids found the social and time-management transitions that come with independence are significant. Fortunately, our thoughtful alumni had solid advice – be outgoing, but don’t force it; take advantage of resources and professors; lean on friends for support, and hold yourself accountable with a schedule. Wow. I could have really used an alumni day when I was younger.

This is another one of those #SoSyo moments where our whole learning community – even our alums – invest themselves in the success of our students. It’s one of those #SoSyo touches that drew me here 10 years ago, and fills me with pride today. Thanks to the PTA for their support of this event.

zoom_out_map

Reminder 📆

Our first Board Meeting of 2024 is coming up this Monday, January 8th, at 8pm at South Woods Middle School. The Board and I value public input, but we also must ensure that our meetings comply with the law and model the civility and respect we hope to instill in our youth. Accordingly, the Board is anticipated to adopt revised rules for audience participation.

Facilities Survey

Earlier this week, we sent out a survey to the community to gather their thoughts and questions regarding a draft school construction proposal intended to address the needs of our aging facilities, improve safety, and accommodate our enrollment growth.

Enacting a facilities plan will require a community referendum – and the Board welcomes your feedback as they work to finalize their plan for public approval. The survey is open until this Monday, and I encourage you to follow this link to participate.

Spotlight on Instruction 🔦

Seventh grade Science students at HBT are creating their own Periodic Tables that reflect elements of their world. These students demonstrated their understanding of the arrangement of the elements on the Periodic Table by creating new tables based on properties within a theme of their choice. Students' creativity shined through their theme choices – everything from sports teams, to different cuisines, movies, animals, and more. Students carefully arranged their new elements by finding patterns amongst all of their items. They then explored their classmates’ periodic tables, learning more about one another. I thought the Periodic Table of Designer Bags was particularly clever. Just don’t show my wife…

zoom_out_map

#SyoStars⭐

Two of our all-star teams brought home medals for the new year!

Ahead of the break, five members of HBT’s Math Club competed in the MoMathlon at Brookhaven National Lab – and took home gold! The team won first place out of 26 teams across Nassau and Suffolk County. Eighth grader Ethan Li also won first place in the individual competition out of 130 competitors. Later this month, the group will go to New York City for the regional competition. Good luck to these Middle School math stars!

Also in December, Syosset High School’s Science Olympiad team took first place at the Battle at Valley Forge Invitational in Pennsylvania. After competing against 47 teams from across the nation in 23 different events in the fields of chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering, they accumulated the highest score at the tournament. Go #SyoSciOly!

zoom_out_map

Bright Spot

One group of student musicians has banded (!) together to brighten up our community. Fortune Star is a newly formed rock group comprised of more than 20 Syosset middle and high school students, plus a few others from neighboring communities. The band’s mission is to entertain and spread the joy of music to their audiences – specifically at non-profit fundraisers, local community centers, food drives, and more.

The group is made up of guitarists, violinists, cellists, singers, and more. With the support of their families (who bought the equipment) and a community organization (iSchool of Music and Art, whose program director volunteers to conduct the band), Fortune Star is becoming well-known for pumping up a crowd with their renditions of rock songs.

The group’s student leaders are Thea Chen, Alice Huang, Brendan Jiang, Chloe Wu, and Harrison King. Their hope is to continue to grow the band to incorporate more instruments and students from around Nassau County.

Congratulations to this rockin’ group for finding a way to use their talents to cheer on our community!

We are expected to have our first wintry weather weekend of the year. Stay safe and dry!

#Light&Love
Tom Rogers