Woodland Middle School in the East Meadow Union Free School District held several assemblies from Oct. 15-19 with the goal of educating students on nonviolence, antibullying and mental health awareness.

The first assembly was led by John Halligan, who lost his 13-year-old son, Ryan, to suicide on Oct. 7, 2003. It was revealed in greater detail after Ryan’s death that he was ridiculed by his peers both at school and online. In 2004, Halligan spearheaded Vermont’s Bullying Prevention Policy Law for his son.

A former employee for IBM, Halligan quit his job in 2009 to dedicate his time to raising awareness on mental health among teens and has lobbied for education on suicide prevention and the adverse effects of bullying. Halligan has visited more than 2,000 schools in the U.S. and shared his son’s story to promote hope and kindness.

“Mr. Halligan has made it his life’s work to spread the need for awareness and prevention of bullying and cyberbullying,” said Woodland Middle School Principal James Lethbridge.

The rest of Woodland Middle School’s assemblies centered around Rachel’s Challenge, a nonprofit organization in the United States that aims to reduce violence. The challenge, which was established by Darrell Scott and his wife, Sandy, was named after Darrell’s daughter, who was the first student killed during the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.

In addition to the assemblies, Woodland students took part in follow-up activities with high school students in the district to build upon what they learned during the assemblies.

East Meadow High School and the surrounding community celebrated homecoming on Oct. 16 with a celebratory parade and football game against Port Washington.

Starting from Veteran’s Memorial Park and led by the East Meadow High School marching band, school administrators, board members, faculty and students marched through the neighborhood to the high school.

The theme for this year’s floats was “superheroes.” While students riding on the floats threw treats to those supporting them, members of the homecoming court were escorted throughout the parade, followed by the high school’s cheerleading and kickline teams.

After performances by the kickline team, cheerleaders and the marching band, halftime celebrations concluded with the crowning of the Homecoming King Matthew Oberhaus and Queen Brianna Mohammed.

The East Meadow Jets lost a nail-biter to the Port Washington Vikings, with a final score of 30-28. The pride was undeniable and the district thanks all supporters, fellow students and administrators for showing their support at the homecoming parade and game.

The East Meadow School District congratulates W.T. Clarke High School’s Rams Marching Band, who captured first place in New York City’s 77th annual Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 11. The district also commends East Meadow High School’s Jets Marching Band, who took second-place honors.

“We are so proud of our students’ work ethic, attention to detail and positive attitude,” said Jessica Shenker, W.T. Clarke High School’s chairwoman of music. “Our success would not be possible without our incredible band staff, including our marching band director Mrs. Molly Tittler-Ingoglia, our color guard instructor Mrs. Patricia Dunn, and our drumline instructor Mr. Steven Blutman.”

The Rams’ 2021-22 performance program is comprised of “Children of Sanchez” by Chuck Mangione and “Patriotic Finale” arranged by Ralph Ford.

“The East Meadow High School Marching Band would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Mrs. Ingoglia, Mrs. Shenker and the W. T. Clarke Rams Marching Band on their first-place finish at this year's Columbus Day Parade,” said Stephen Engle, East Meadow High School’s chairman of music. “We were so happy to be back in New York City marching in what has become a part of the cultural fabric of the EMHS music department. I know I speak for the entire staff and school community when I say that we are so proud of our students for how hard they have worked and for all they have achieved.”

The Jets have performed in the annual Columbus Day Parade since 1992. Their 2021-22 performance program includes John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" and the Michael Jackson classic, “Thriller.”

“Performing music during the pandemic has presented many challenges for music education, but true to East Meadow, our students and staff rose to the occasion and have succeeded despite those challenges,” said Kelly Gelfer, the East Meadow School District’s director of music and art. “I can’t say enough about their professionalism and dedication to our community and our program. They bring such pride to the East Meadow School District.”

The district commends both marching bands for their success in the Columbus Day Parade and looks forward to a fantastic remainder of the season.

Eight East Meadow High School students were named Commended Students in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The honorees, Sherlyn Alex, Shawn R. Balgobind, Sarah J. Eisenberg, Sheila Lorentzen, Aavi Lund, Helen Mun, Branden A. Sattler and Donato J. Zampini, earned a special certificate in recognition of this accomplishment.

Commended students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2021 competition by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their academic performance.