Students and teachers at Lynbrook South Middle School participated in Rainbow Spirit Day on Friday to honor Pride Day! The school community showed their support and friendship to the LGBTQ+ community by wearing their colors.

Lynbrook South Middle School eighth graders in Matthew Schneck’s earth science classes participated in PSEG Long Island’s Earth Day video public service announcement contest where three groups were selected as semifinalists and one moved forward as one of the top 10 winners. The I Am EM-Powered Program and Student Challenge was open to Long Island students in grades 4-8 in honor of Earth Day and resulted in 207 PSA video submissions which were reviewed by judges.

Students were challenged to produce a PSA video on energy efficient topics. Lynbrook’s winning group of two, Zia Baluyot and Val Tuosto, submitted their PSA video “Cleaner Energy is Your Superpower.” Their creative video was showcased during a live PSEG Long Island virtual announcement ceremony, along with the other top 10 winning videos from across Long Island. Lynbrook South semifinalist groups included Kate Santoli and Kayla Finnegan and Aidan Clancy, Sam Moscheni, Eric Reilly and Ryan Stanton. The two videos were among a select 15 to earn the semifinalist title out of the initial 207 submissions.

I Am EM-Powered Program aligned with science, social studies and social and emotional learning standards and featured two science lessons, an optional social studies lesson and a PSA production guide for participating students to follow. The contest encouraged the middle school students to further develop their creativity and explore problems and solutions related to keeping our planet safe. The Lynbrook Public Schools congratulates the winning team, along with the semifinalist groups for their outstanding work!

Eighth grade students from Lynbrook North Middle School and Lynbrook South Middle School joined together virtually to explore different career paths during the district’s annual middle school career fair on April 30. Coordinated each year by South Middle School guidance counselor Jennifer Arena and North Middle School guidance counselor Alexandra Etra, the career fair typically takes place in-person and features various speakers that stop into middle school classrooms during the school day to teach students about their interesting careers.

Despite being virtual this year, the career fair was a success as students from both middle schools participated using their technological devices either at school or at home. Four presenters spoke with the students via Cisco Webex throughout the morning about their careers and personal experiences. Speakers included Lynbrook High School social worker and transition coordinator Rosanne Bogard, construction surveyor Michael Silverstein, forensic scientist Karen Dooling and CEO and founder of the Gourmet Ghee Company/Lynbrook parent Nazia Aibani-DeFrank.

Each presenter shared information about what they do for a living and how they got to this point in their careers. This included talking about their own backgrounds, education and training. The students received words of wisdom through each presenter’s session. They learned the importance of networking, jumping at opportunities and that your plan A can sometimes turn into a plan B. The middle schoolers were able to ask questions throughout the sessions and enjoyed exploring new career options that they may not have known about before.