art department awards

healthy decisions and the dare program

On February 9th, led by Officer DiLegge and Sergeant Pegna, ten EHS students participated in the DARE Role Model program. The students spoke with 5th graders at Greenvale and Anne Hutch, regarding healthy decision making and some of the realities about entering Middle School and High School.

News from Habitat for Humanity

December

The club ended the year with two construction projects. On December 11th, twenty members spent the day in Tuckahoe putting up sheetrock in a basement destroyed by Hurricane Ida. The house belongs to 97 year old, Fred Plastini, a veteran who bravely fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He was so grateful!

Additionally, the club ran a food drive during the holiday season for the families in Mamaroneck who were affected by Hurricane Ida. The club toured parts of Mamaroneck that demonstrated how much work is needed to get the community back up and running. Many of the residents are still in need of major home repair, and their basic necessities need replenishing.

January

To kick off the new year, club members have done outstanding work raising money and participating in community service work throughout the county.

January’s fundraising events consisted of students selling boxes of the, “World’s Finest Chocolate”. Habitat members successfully sold 135 boxes of chocolate to students, teachers, family, and friends! Fundraising began on January 13th, and lasted for three weeks. The club brought in almost $4,500, most which will be donated to victims of Hurricane Ida and our veterans who need assistance during challenging times. During the three weeks of fundraising, the club gained five new members, all of whom immediately got to work and sold a box for their first build! At last count, we have 141 members, consisting of the largest club at school!

The first build of the year took place on January 23rd. Twenty students were sent to the American Legion Hall in New Rochelle where members engaged in painting and the beautification of the Veterans' building.

Students volunteered their time to Habitat into February with more efforts in Mamaroneck. On Saturday, February 12th, twenty more students were broken up into two groups. One group stayed in the Mamaroneck command center to sort out clothes and household items that were donated. Residents came in to take some to bring home to their families. A second group sheetrocked one of the resident’s homes that was damaged, completely gutted and now reconstruction has begun. At the center of Mamaroneck’s rebuilding efforts is the NY Fuller Center for Housing, a non-profit organization, working in the absence of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

On Valentine’s Day, the club delivered homemade dinner, dessert and a Valentine’s card to Mr. Plastini, the 97 year old veteran from Tuckahoe who they back in November.

Mrs. Astarita (Club Advisor) and the officers are extremely thankful to all of their members for their work this year and look forward to continuing doing great work in March, April and May, culminating with Relay For Life on Saturday May 21, 2022!

wellness club

For the month of February, the Wellness Club hosted a Self Care Bingo Game. Members created a Bingo board that was posted on the Wellness Club Google Classroom and Instagram and around the school building. Students were encouraged to send a photo of themselves as they completed the different self care tasks on the BINGO board. The top photos received a prize! Remember to take good care of yourself : )

model congress

The Annual EHS Virtual Model Congress Conference took place on January 29th. Students who attended included:

Sasha Razhanskiy

Kevin Danaj

Mariam khan

Alisa Bera

Sofia Renzo

Karthik Kottapalli

Katelyn Pothakul

Zhuoyi Zou

Genna Handel

The club presented well-structured bills and had a solid debate in the process. This activity is an excellent prelude to the preparation towards the UPenn Model Congress Conference on March 24 - 27.

science and breadmaking

In February, Mrs. Lockwood continued her annual breadmaking and science activity with her Chemistry class. Baking was the trendiest thing to do on social media during quarantine. So popular, that yeast, the active ingredient, became very difficult to find in the supermarket! Baking has the ability to relieve stress and provides a sense of accomplishment. During anxiety filled times, we tend to crave carbohydrates such as bread, because it releases serotonin, a “feel good” chemical. During times of food shortages, we go into “save mode” and our appetite and cravings increase because our body wants to store up calories for the future. It all makes sense why we couldn’t stop baking & eating! Students, along with a group of adventurous teachers, participated in this activity and shared their amazing creations from home!

nehs winner, aamuktha kottapalli

Senior Aamuktha Kottapalli was one of the winners of the National English Honor Society's December/January poetry competition. Students from around the country submitted their original works of poetry to the NEHS, and Aamuktha's "Observer in the Dark" was chosen as one of the winners for the theme "Never Again."

In May, the winners from each of this year's five competitions will be compiled and re-evaluated by the NEHS, and the best works from the year will be selected and re-published.

Observer in the Dark

by Aamuktha Kottapalli

“Individual vs. Society”

I watch her pace

Before tucking herself in

The whites of her eyes light up the dark room

The dark used to scare her

Now it’s her friend

The lights turn off

The expectations end

Constant headaches

No time to sleep, or eat, or talk

Tackling her workload, tackling her fears

Steeling her resolve, holding back tears

Everywhere she hears

Every post, video, article

Everything else she must do

Growing up in an age of information

With no filters

Trapped in twenty different worlds converging in her head

I watch on helplessly, watch her in distress

She turns to what’s taking it all from her:

Internauts, another world away

She hangs on their words

For her validation

Every setback crushes her

But she brushes it from existence to pretend it never happened

At least on Instagram no one cares she’s failing physics

I watch her pay

Nothing in this world is free

She pays the price for validation, for hate

For each emotion that ebbs in her veins

I watch in horror

Her cycle persists

She wants to break it

And yet she herself resists

Every ping is a call to her heart

The technology has broken her

But she’ll waste away in-denial

Dark circles under bleary eyes, she falls asleep

Her phone clutched to her chest

If the blue light doesn’t wake her

She’ll make her way to dreamland

Where none of it exists

When she wakes up she’ll check Snapchat

But for now, in her dreams

She’s blissfully unperplexed

Content with vibrant visions existing only in her head

And finally

Her first unguarded smile of the day

Spreads across her face

Fills bright dreams with joy

In the dark of the night