The Connetquot High School Business Academy attended the March 31 Islanders hockey game for Business Academy Night. Not only did the students enjoy the game with parents and peers but were given the unique opportunity to take a photo on the ice after the game.

The Business Academy was implemented at the high school this school year, with the inaugural class boasting 35 student-members who can now follow the path to achieving a Career and Technical Education accreditation and preparing them for real-life skills and employment after graduation.

“The Business Academy allows the students who have found an interest in business to follow their path,” Director of Social Studies and Business Robert Cassagne said. “Through the academy, we teach real-life business skills through courses and partnerships with outside business organizations.”

The opportunity to take a photo on the ice came from Connetquot High School graduate and Islanders account manager Steven Bulzomi, who virtually met with Business Academy students and spoke about his career. He offered the students the opportunity to take a photo on the ice if the academy’s students can sell 50 tickets to a game.

Date Added: 4/15/2022

Connetquot High School Italian language students hosted Oakdale-Bohemia and Ronkonkoma middle school Italian students to a day of immersion into Italian culture and language called Dantedi. The daylong activities were based on the Italian government’s designation of March 25 as Dantedi, named for the father of the Italian language Dante Alighieri, as a day to celebrate the richness of Italian life and culture. More than 200 students celebrated the day through diverse activities that gave the students a deeper glimpse into what it means to be Italian.

The College Italian students put on a skit called “Andreuccio! and played an Italian Bingo game called Tombola. They also led the younger students in learning La Tarantella, a famous southern Italian dance. In La Cucina Italiana, students watched food demonstrations and tried pizzelle, cannoli and espresso. They learned about Carnevale and made their own masks for a celebration. There was an opportunity to try their hands at playing bocce in the courtyard and to watch a skit based on “Dante’s Inferno.”

In the Connetquot High School library, students put their Italian skills to the test during games of Kahoot and tried their pronunciation skills at the pronunciation station. Students visited St. Joseph’s Table and learned how to design their own.

Director of ENL and World Languages Cheryl Sosa said the upperclassmen really worked hard to plan a day of activities that the younger students would enjoy and remember.

Date Added: 4/8/2022

Connetquot High School students had the unique opportunity to hear a harrowing story of survival by Holocaust survivor Edith Gross, who, as a Jewish girl, was taken first to concentration camps Auschwitz and then Stutthof before walking in the infamous Death March during World War II.

Ms. Gross described the hunger, brutality and inhumanity of life along with the fear that resonated through the camps as the Nazis determined who would die, live and eventually starve. Ms. Gross also explained that even though these experiences affected her, she has not put her problems on her children and was able to create four generations of Americans.

“I will never forgive or forget,” Ms. Gross said. “I’m not that charitable. The world needs to know what happened so it can never be repeated. This hate has to stop.”

Rabbi Shimon Stillerman of Chabad of Islip accompanied Ms. Gross and assisted in telling her story. “The story she tells took place at your age,” Rabbi Stillerman said. “This is also a story of triumph.”

Rabbi Stillerman called Ms. Gross a witness to history and emphasized that the best response to stopping hate is to speak up and call out a person who is hurting another individual.

The students asked questions about the Holocaust, how Ms. Gross has dealt with her memories and her eventual entry into the United States.

Date Added: 4/7/2022

The District congratulates Connetquot High School seniors Stephanie Chen and Ethan Zhang on having achieved a score of 1,500 or better on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The highest score a student can achieve is 1,600. Both students were recently presented with a congratulatory plaque by Principal Michael Moran and Director of Guidance Jessica Yawney-Kohler.

Both Stephanie and Ethan explained that the secret to their success on the exam was preparation. Both students used the Khan Academy to practice prior to the test.

Stephanie, who acquired a score of 1,510, is planning on attending MIT this fall where she will pursue a major in computer science and possibly a future career in artificial intelligence. Ethan earned a score of 1,500 and would like to pursue biology. He has not yet committed to a college or university.

Date Added: 3/29/2022

The Connetquot High School Theatre Club drew packed audiences to “The Addams Family – A New Musical,” held in the high school auditorium on March 17-19. It was under the direction of Jennifer Destio, producer Brad Drinkwater, vocal music director and rehearsal accompanist James Nagle and choreographer Christopher Loeschner.

The dark comedy was based on the original 1960’s television series about a macabre, close-knit family, who live in an ornate a gloomy mansion. The student version, however, focused on Gomez’s (played by Evan Mistler) greatest fear. His daughter Wednesday, played by Isabella Kerr, falls in love with smart and normal Lucas Beineke, played by Joseph Moulton – a man they have never met. What is even more upsetting to Gomez is that Wednesday has asked him to keep the love affair a secret from his wife Morticia (Lindsey Johnson), something he has never done before. Everything changes that fateful night when Lucas’ parents Alice (Madeleine DiGaetano) and Mal (Nicholas Gregorek) come to dinner at the Cemetery Lane mansion.

The audience could not stop laughing at the actors’ quips and expertly played roles. Those in attendance not only fell in love with the aforementioned characters, but also recognized the popular and famous supporting roles of Uncle Fester (Marilyn Justiniano), Pugsley Addams (Kamryn Goncalves), Lurch (John Patrick Armenia), Grandma (Charlotte DeSimone) and the spooky ancestors.

A special thank you also goes to pit director Gregory Johnson, stage crew and sound adviser Peter Coffin and production technical adviser Melanie Kramer.

Date Added: 3/25/2022