Schools
Blind Brook School Board Celebrates Student Achievement
On Monday, the Blind Brook Board of Education honored students in areas ranging from foreign language and science to math and the arts.
During a packed Board of Education meeting Monday, the Blind Brook school community celebrated student achievements in a diverse activities ranging from Model United Nations to orchestra.
Board President Steven Kaplan began the meeting by saying that board members always enjoy this time of year because it allows them to honor students who have made a positive impact.
"It's important that we recognize and acknowledge the many fine things that take place here at Blind Brook," Kaplan said.
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"Tonight's honors represent a wide range of interests, talents, and abilities that our students have," Kaplan said.
Principals from Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School, Blind Brook Middle School, and Blind Brook High School announce awards as students came to the stage and shook hands with Board of Education members while their families watched and proudly took pictures of the occasion.
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Below is a list of award recipients:
From Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School:
Destination Imagination State Finalists Crimson Cracker Crunchers First Place
Lauren Asen, Haley Feuerman, Kasey Kerrick, Alexandra Limb, Ryan Telesca, Connor Wilke
Destination Imagination Regional Finalists
Tough Teal Team Third Place
Samuel George, Sarah Keilman, Caroline Levine, Julia Levine, Olivia Morrisey, Margot Schwartz, Eric Spanier
Destination Imagination Regional Participants
Blue Di-namites
Christine Argentino, Lauren Comstock, Meghan Comstock, Charlie Flanagan, Madison Goldberg, Clay Korpi, Lily Taub
CoCo Crazys
Noah Beal, Allison Chien, Gabrielle Feuerstein, Emme Gessow, Sophie Kleinhandler, Jacob Suesserman, Larsen Talmadge
Turquoise
Jared Bassett, Karen Bender, Nimrodie Price, Ethan Richard, Sarah Rogers, Noah Zeitlin
BMPRSS Spelling Bee
Eli Kanfer – Grade 3
Zachary Kornblum - Grade 3
Annie Liu- Grade 4
Gen Brian Suzuki - Grade 4
Garrett Hughes – Grade 5
Gabrielle Joyce Grade 5
Geography Bee
Bryan Weintraub
PTA Reflections Award Winners
Erick Hennings, Divya Kumaran
From Blind Brook Middle School
2010 National Spanish Exam Gold Award
Richa Jain, Blake Kaplan, Jason Rosenberg
Silver Award
Jason Adler, Lauren Belkin, Jacob Berk, Tucker De Paola, Casey Goldberg, Skyler Groglio, Alexander Gutner, Emily Kellman, Monika Malhotra, Azin Namin, Jared Wexler, Scott Wurtzel, Josephine Yalovitser, Jaclyn Zingman
Bronze Award
Ian Bass, Justin Cray, Danielle Manko, Molly Marks, Samantha Moross, Shannon Reddy, Joshua Scharf, Tara Tempesta, Rachel Weltman
2010 Nation French Exam Level 01
Certificat de Mérite: Alex Delafontaine, Jessica Park
Certificat de Réussite: Rachel Harmon, Sophie Loewenstein, Jenny Ma, Rhéanna Maitland, Rachel Saxe, Conor Thomas
2010 National French Exam Level 1
Certificat de Mérite: Nico Delledonne
Certificat de Réussite: William Saunders, Lindsey Smith
2010 National Italian Exam
First Place – Seth Hartman
Honorable Mention: Michaella Antony, Brad DeSanctis, Sabrina Parisi, Emma Rasch, Sabrina Scappatura
Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America
Alexa Maizes - Honoree
Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation
Expo Presenters: Chloe Citron, Benjamin Kanfer, Rachel Ochs, Jessica Park
Destination Imagination Regional Participants
DI Wanna Save It or Not?
Gabrielle Mondschien, Sargam Prakash, Gabriela Ramirez, Meghan Shah, Alyssa Wei
Middle School Spelling Bee
Leah Kratochvil – First Place
Brooke Ackerman – Runner up
PTA Reflections Regional Winners
Chloe Citron – Literature
Josephine Yalovitser - Music
Student Leadership
Middle School Student Government
Grant Alter, Brian Becker, Nick Drutman, Matthew Dubin, Jeremy Engle, Ross Jablon, Emily Kellman, Brian Ketchabaw, Gabriella Lynch, Adam Riesenfeld, Lia Schulman, Jared Wexler
Westchester All County Orchestra
Daiki Takenaka
Westchester All County Band
Daniel O'Neil Daiki Takenaka, Evan Wallace, Jacob Zeitlin
Westchester Inter All County Band
Jessica Park
Golden Key Competition for Young Musicians
Bronze medalist – Albert Kovacevic
High Note Musical Festival
7th and 8th Grade Band – Superior Rating
7th & 8th Grade Chorus – Excellent Rating
From Blind Brook High School
2010 Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Honorable Mention Awards
FLYWIRE Project
Jacob Benzaquen, Ross Elmaleh, Eric Nadasi
MIRACLE CURE Project
Shira Levine, Carly Sarch, Ellen Thomas
SOLAR NANO SKIN Project
Steven Doria, Joshua Hymowitz, Alex Lubkin, Rachel Simon
Junior Science & Humanities Symposium
Competitive Poster Award in Environmental Science First Place – Chelsey Louis
Second Place – Andrea Knox
Speaker Award in Behavioral Science
Second Place Melissa Rosenbaum
Westchester Science & Engineering Fair
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award: Leigh Engle
The Philips Award for Exceptional Research in Animal Science: Andrea Know
The Philips Award for Exceptional Research in Behavioral Science: Rick Vavolizza
The Westchester Academy of Medicine Best Project in Behavioral Science: Fourth Place Melissa Rosenbaum
University at Albany – Intermediate
Methods of Science Research
Stephanie Hennings, Andrea Know, Mark Vavolizza
American Mathematics Competition
Stephanie Hennings, Noah Goldman
Cornell Model UN Conference
Rachel Friedlander – Honorable Mention Ad Hoc Committee
Johns Hopkins Model UN Conference
Daniel Gelfarb – Honorable Mention Human Rights Committee
Westchester Community College
Business Education Awards
Outstanding Achievement: Austin Brettschneider, Jillian Forbes, Joshua Hamlet, Jenna Paterno
Outstanding Determination: Zachary Greenberg, Sahlin Mehta, Isabel Metz, Samara Meyers
Outstanding Leadership: Daniel Gold, Jayme Klein
Westchester County Mock Trail
Sharon Friedlander
The NY Press Association
Better Newspaper Contest
Second Place Best Column – Jason Pardes
Third Place Best Photograph – Thomas Ferrer
The Focus Staff also won third place for best design and third place of general excellence
Presidential Spirit of Community Award
Alexandra Blaiotta
Destination Imagination State Finalists
Veni ViDI Velcro – Second Place
Emily Conrad, Noah Goldman, Amanda Haber, Joshua Novack, Michael Shaw, Matthew Wels
2010 National French Exam Level 3
Certificat de Mérite: First Place Lea Saliba
2010 National French Exam Level 5
Certificat de Réussite: Antione Saliba, Daniel Ullman
2010 National Latin Exam Level 1
Summa cum laude: Gabriel Crivorot, Noah Goldman, Tessa Kajdi
Maxima cum laude: Michael Fier, Jack LeVine, Julia Parisi, Hallie Parker, Sho Stomski
2010 National Latin Exam Level II
Summa cum laude: Robert Winston
Maxima cum laude: Lauren Gelfarb, John Henry Herkert,
Magna cum laude: Nicholas Rasch
Festivals of Music Competition
First Place: High School Jazz Ensemble
Second Place: High School Concert Band
Best Section: High School Jazz Ensemble
Best Overall: High School Jazz Ensemble
Westchester Intermediate All County Band
Julia Joseph
Westchester All State Band
Eric Brett
Student Leadership Senior Congress
President: Rick Vavolizza
Vice President: Daniel Newmark
Members: Sage Berger, Zachary Greenberg, Jacqueline Mamorsky, Justin Starr
Student Mentors
Eric Brett, Bryan Silverman, Daniel Ullman, Mark Vavolizza, Robert WinstonDaniel Ullman was also recognized for his work with the Midnight Run and Sleep for Solutions
Other Board of Education Meeting Highlights:
After the awards ceremony, the Board of Education also conduct other business.
The board voted unanimously on several resolutions including the appointment of a part time assistant teach for the elementary school, the probationary appointment of a teacher at the elementary school, and the approval of a budget transfer for science classroom upgrade costs. The board broke into executive session to discuss the appointment of two science teachers, which they later approved. The teachers are a probationary appointment for a physics teacher at Blind Brook High School and a leave replacement for a science teacher at Blind Brook Middle School, both beginning September 1, 2010.
At the beginning of the Board of Education meeting, Kaplan stated that the budget process for the 2011-2012 year begins soon, and he invited community members to share their thoughts and ideas. The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for June 21.
