Suffolk County Community College has nominated four outstanding students for the prestigious State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, the College announced.
The SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence recognizes students for outstanding achievements and who best demonstrate the integration of SUNY excellence within many aspects of their lives, which must include three of the following areas: academics, leadership, campus involvement, community service, or the arts (creative performing).
Last year only 213 SUNY students of more than 415,000 system-wide were recognized with the honor. SUNY will announce the award recipients later this month.
Suffolk County Community College’s SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence nominees are:
Leenna Rutigliano
Leeanna Rutigliano
A Child Study Education major from Medford, Leeanna has a 4.0 grade point average and has earned Dean’s List recognition every semester for the last two years. Leeanna serves as President of Phi Theta Kappa’s Alpha Zeta Nu Chapter; is a Division 1 Finalist Oberndorf Scholar, and member of Suffolk’s College Choir.
Imani Ackerman
Imani Ackerman
A Liberal Arts major from Center Moriches, Imani has a 3.8 grade point average and has earned Dean’s List recognition every semester for the last two years. Imani has been awarded numerous scholarships such as the John Speirs Memorial, Laura Provenzano, Astor Scholarship, and the SUNY Suffolk Rising Black Scholar.
Gabriella Hassilidine
Gabriella Hassildine
A Liberal Arts General Studies major from Mattituck, Gabriella has a 4.0 grade point average and has earned Dean’s List recognition every semester for the last two years. Gabriella has served as president of the Music Club, president of the Honors Club, and as an Orientation Leader.
Amrita Deonanan
Amrita Deonanan
A Business Administration major from Brentwood, Amrita has a 4.0 grade point average and has earned Dean’s List recognition every semester for the last two years. Amrita serves as a Peer Mentor, chief financial officer of the Student Government Association, and assistant editor of the Western Student Press.
The Town of Smithtown Youth Bureau announces a variety of upcoming youth and young adult programs planned for the month of February.
In partnership with Microsoft-Huntington Station, the Youth Bureau will offer three programs in February. On February 16th, the Rock Your LinkedIn Profile Workshop will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. virtually. Participants will learn exactly how to build their online brand, grow and engage a LinkedIn network, and sharpen a basic resume.
On Wednesday, February 17th, the Minecraft Hour of Code Workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to noon virtually. Students ages eight and older will have fun learning and being inspired by Minecraft, computer science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Using the power of code and AI, students will learn to program a character to prevent forest fires and regrow a forest.
On February 18th, middle and high school students are invited to participate in the Black History Museum: Virtual Museum Experience from 3 to 4:30 p.m.. Students will virtually visit this museum and learn about the Freedom Riders in the 1960’s, and the work they did to protest segregation in public transportation. After the event, students can email the Youth Bureau and request a Town Certificate of Community Service Credit for participation.
The Youth Bureau will have a live virtual encounter with the butterflies and bugs of the Long Island Aquarium on February 19th from 10 to 10:40 a.m.. This free program is limited to 30 participants.
On Friday, February 23rd, there will be a District 7255 Virtual Student Interact Meeting for any students interested in learning more about the Interact Club’s community service and leadership opportunities. This meeting will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. Interact Clubs organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or community, and one that promotes international understanding. Rotary Club adults sponsor, mentor, and guide Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills.
The Choosing Your College: How to do an Effective College Search Webinar will be held for students and parents on Thursday, February 25th from 6PM to 7PM. Topics that will be covered include when to begin thinking about your college list, making big decisions such as choosing a major, do’s and don’ts for choosing schools, college characteristics to consider, and effective college search engines and how to use them. A question and answer session will be held at the end.
Finally, the Town of Smithtown Youth Bureau is conducting a Community Needs Assessment Survey from February through April of 2021. Feedback from the brief survey will allow the Youth Bureau to effectively plan programs for the remainder of 2021. All survey participants (students and adults) will be entered into a gift certificate raffle for the month, and the winner will receive a $30 Grubhub gift card. The raffle winner for February’s survey respondents will be announced in March.
Mouhamadou Gueye (#2) produced a career-high scoring output last Sunday against UMBC.
The Stony Brook men’s basketball team is now in the midst of crunch time as it aims to maximize its seeding in the America East Tournament.
Unfortunately for the Seawolves, they dropped the first of four straight games against the conference’s top placeholders, falling to UMBC, 71-65, on Feb. 7 at Island Federal Arena.
Stony Brook (8-9, 6-5 AE) slipped two games in the loss column behind UMBC (12-4, 8-3) and Vermont (7-3, 7-3) for the conference’s leading positions. The top two finishers earn byes into the America East semifinals, while the third and fourth seeds will host opening-round pods in the 10-team tourney.
UMBC shot 46.7 percent from three-point range before intermission (7-for-15) and built a 16-point advantage early in the second half.
“I think the experience factor was enormous,” Stony Brook coach Geno Ford said. “They came out at the start of the game, understood the intensity level when you’re playing for first place, and we played like an inexperienced bunch of new guys, who would like to win, but aren’t necessarily playing hard enough early.”
Mouhamadou Gueye paced Stony Brook with 17 points and eight blocks — both career highs, and the latter figure one shy of matching Jameel Warney’s program record, set in 2015 against Princeton. The scoring total supplanted a 16-point performance against Binghamton on Jan. 22, 2020 for his career high. Gueye now has 120 career blocks, matching Greg Angrum (1980-84) for fifth on the program’s all-time list.
Juan Felix Rodriguez (17 points) and Tykei Greene (11) also scored in double-figures.
A pair of free throws from Gueye and a driving layup from Rodriguez pulled the Seawolves within 49-45 and prompted a timeout from UMBC with 12 minutes remaining in the game.
When play resumed, Jordan McKenzie produced a steal and Greene converted a driving layup at the other end to continue Stony Brook’s 16-2 run.
LJ Owens stopped UMBC’s hemorrhaging with a three-point play and the Retrievers managed to hold off Stony Brook the rest of the way.
“I’ll give our guys a lot of credit,” Ford said. “In the first half, I thought we played on our heels. And at halftime we really challenged them hard about their effort and energy level. And in the second half I thought we were fantastic. We played well enough to win for 20 minutes, but they played well enough to win for 40.”
The Seawolves played without leading perimeter threat Frankie Policelli.
Policelli, who is averaging 11.3 points per game and a team-leading .348 shooting percentage from three-point range, had aggravated a nagging hip issue late in in last Sunday’s 63-49 win against Hartford.
Still, Ford noted the Seawolves shot 13-for-34 inside the paint on Sunday.
“That is, to me, what sputtered the offense,” Ford said. “They pack the paint so hard that they force you to shoot threes. We have two or three guys out there that they’re just blatantly not guarding. They’re just standing in the lane, off of them.”
Stony Brook and UMBC met again on Feb. 8 but the Seawolves fell again 60-48. The team heads to Vermont next weekend for a critical two-game showdown against the second-place Catamounts.
During the mid-winter school break, the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum will present Trivia & Craft, a live Zoom workshop for children in grades K-3, on Tuesday and Thursday, February 16 and 18, from 10 to 11 a.m.
A Vanderbilt Museum educator will present intriguing trivia about the animals in the Vanderbilt’s Stoll Wing dioramas and demonstrate an easy-to-do-at-home paper craft project.
Beth Laxer-Limmer, associate director of education, said, “Museums are integral to exploring our world and we’ve been successful bringing the Vanderbilt collections to children online in fun science-based programs.”
Cost is $10, free for museum members. To register, call 631-854-5539 or email [email protected].
The Staller Center for the Arts’ much anticipated Spring 2021 Film Series goes virtual on February 11. This year’s series features thirteen independent films you won’t see anywhere else and presents award-winning and record-breaking films from around the world.
Inspiring and often challenging, the films explore family and social conflict, health and healthcare issues, social justice issues, drug addiction and abuse, and so much more.
The Staller Center’s entire spring season will be virtual and will be available for viewing from the comfort of your living room using the IndieFlix Festivals app. The full schedule is listed below.
Patrons and households can view all films with one $50 season film pass which includes access to three bonus films. Single tickets for $6 each are also available for purchase. The series is 12 weeks long and will feature ten new premieres and three bonus films from previous Stony Brook Film Festival events. All movies will be available on-demand to watch and re-watch from Thursdays at 7 p.m. through Sundays at midnight.
To purchase, please visit stallercenter.com/movies.
FILM SCHEDULE
‘Days of Bagnold Summer’
February 11 to February 14
United Kingdom (86 minutes)
‘Asia’
February 18 to February 21
Israel. In Hebrew with subtitles.(85 minutes)
‘The Subject’
February 25 to February 28
United States. (119 minutes)
*Bonus screening, only availableto passholders.
‘Higher Love’
February 25 to February 28
United States. (80 minutes)
*Bonus screening, only availableto passholders.
‘Louis Van Beethoven’
March 4 to March 7
Germany. In German withsubtitles. (120 minutes)
‘Yalda, A Night for Forgiveness’
March 11 to March 14
Iran. In Persian with subtitles.(89 minutes)
‘Rose Plays Julie’
March 18 to March 21
Ireland. (100 minutes)
‘Citizens of the World’
March 25 to March 28
Italy. In Italian with subtitles.(92 minutes)
‘Night Shift’
Thursday, April 1 to Sunday, April 4
France. In French with English subtitles. (98 minutes)
‘Blizzard of Souls’
April 8 to April 11
Latvia. In Latvian with subtitles.(104 minutes)
‘To the Edge of the Sky’
April 15 to April 18
United States. (118 minutes)
*Bonus screening, only available to passholders. Will be followed by a Q&A with directors.
‘Thou Shall Not Hate’
April 22 to April 25
Italy. In Italian with subtitles.(96 minutes)
‘Needle Park Baby’
April 29 to May 2
Switzerland. In Swiss German with subtitles. (98 minutes)
Films have not been rated. Viewer discretion is advised. Closed captions or subtitles available for all films.
As we continue to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, the need for blood donations has hit a crisis level due to the lack of donors. To help assist the New York Blood Center (NYBC) increase their blood supply, Senator Mario R. Mattera (2nd Senate District) is sponsoring a blood drive on Sunday, February 14, at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove. This donation drive will take place from noon to 6 p.m. in the mall’s Center Court.
With nearly 2,000 donations needed every day in New York and New Jersey alone, the current shortage has the potential to have a real effect on those who need blood transfusions. Every single donation can save up to three lives.
Those most in need of blood include cancer patients, accident, burn, or trauma victims, newborn babies as well as mothers delivering babies, transplant recipients, surgery patients, chronically transfused patients suffering from sickle cell disease or thalassemia, and many more.
Potential donors are required to meet certain criteria including:
• Bring NYBC Blood Donor Card or ID with signature or photo.
• Minimum weight 110 lbs. or more.
• Eligible ages are 16 to 75. Anyone donating who is 16 years old must have parental permission and anyone who is age 76 and over is required to supply a doctor’s note.
• No tattoos for past 3 months
All donors will receive a New York Blood Center t-shirt and a coupon for Auntie Annie’s pretzels. Additionally, the NYBC will be doing free COVID anti-body testing for anyone who participates in the blood drive with results being provided via mail.
The entire donation process takes less than an hour and appointments are recommended to ensure minimal waiting time. To schedule an appointment or for more information, residents should visit Senator Mattera’s website at mattera.nysenate.gov and click on the link on the home page or call the NYBC at 800-933-2566.
Donors with O-negative blood type, or “universal donors,” are especially encouraged to donate, as their blood is essential in emergency situations. Any potential donor with questions concerning medical eligibility is asked to call 1-800-688-0900. It is recommended that those donating eat well and drink plenty of fluids prior to their appointment.
“The ongoing crisis is causing a very real and extremely serious shortage of blood supply and it is my hope that all residents who are eligible to donate will join us on Valentine’s Day to show some heart for their fellow Long Islanders. Each donation has potential to save three lives and all donors will be a Valentine’s Day hero to everyone in our community in need of life saving assistance,” stated Senator Mattera.
Residents are urged to visit Senator Mattera’s website at mattera.nysenate.gov for more information and to make an appointment.
Sweetbriar Nature Center, 62 Eckernkamp Drive, Smithtown will be offering daily natural science programs for children ages 6 to 12 from Feb. 15 to 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Each day will be a different natural science theme chock-filled with fun hands-on activities, interaction with our residents, non-releasable wildlife, crafts, games, and much more. Daily themes include Deep into the Woodlands, Caring for our Barnyard Friends, Bundling up for Winter, Who’s in Charlotte’s Web? and Rainforest Ramble.
Parents can register their child/children for one day, two days, three days, four days, or the entire week. To comply with COVID-19 safety protocols, most of the programing will take place down at the Red Barn and outdoors. Masks will be required.Fee is $80 per day, $350 per week with a discount for members. To register, visit www.sweetbriarnc.org or call 979-6344.
Stony Brook University Hospital has once again been named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals™ for 2021 by Healthgrades – the only hospital on Long Island to receive this distinction for the past three consecutive years. The distinction places Stony Brook University Hospital in the top two percent of nearly 4,500 hospitals assessed nationwide for its consistent, year-over-year superior clinical performance as measured by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems. Only five hospitals in New York State were named among America’s 100 Best Hospitals this year.
Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky
“This is the equivalent of receiving another A+ on our annual report card for quality care,” said Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Stony Brook Medicine. “It places us among the top 2 percent of hospitals nationwide. More importantly, it measures results that make a significant difference in the lives of our patients every day.”
Healthgrades analyzes hospitals nationwide to examine in-hospital complication rates and mortality rates. From 2017 through 2019, patients treated in hospitals achieving the award had, on average, a 26.1 percent lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award, as measured across 19 rated conditions and procedures for which mortality is the outcome.* And during that same period, if all hospitals performed similarly to those achieving the Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals Award, 172,298 lives could potentially have been saved.
“These outcomes are the direct result of the high-quality care provided by our staff every day,” said Carol A Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ, Chief Executive Officer for Stony Brook University Hospital. “Their daily commitment to our patients drives these outstanding results, which literally save lives.”
Stony Brook University Hospital has been recognized as One of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care™ for seven years in a row, One of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention and Stroke Care™ for six years in a row.
In fact, Stony Brook is the only hospital in the northeast** region of the U.S., and one of only five hospitals in the nation, to achieve 2021 America’s 100 Best Hospitals Award and America’s 100 Best in Cardiac Care, Coronary Intervention and Stroke Care.
“These types of consistent awards are not achieved by accident,” said Meadow P. Jaime, MA, Director of Quality Solutions for Healthgrades. “This recognition is validation of the ongoing effort and focus that Stony Brook’s dedicated teams have devoted to providing high-quality care and clinical excellence.”
During the 2021 study period (Medicare Fiscal Years 2017-2019), Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals Award recipients are recognized for overall clinical excellence and providing top quality care across multiple specialty lines and areas. These hospitals showed superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients in the Medicare population across at least 21 of 32 most common inpatient conditions and procedures — as measured by objective performance data (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications).
“Now more than ever, it is important to celebrate the physicians, nurses and extended care teams that are working around the clock to keep our nation safe. For the select hospitals that have been recognized with a Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals Award, we extend our heartfelt appreciation and commend them for their ongoing commitment to delivering the highest quality healthcare,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades.
To learn more about how Healthgrades determines award recipients, and for more information on Healthgrades Quality Solutions, please visit www.healthgrades.com/quality.
About Stony Brook University Hospital:
Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) is Long Island’s premier academic medical center. With 624 beds, SBUH serves as the region’s only tertiary care center and Regional Trauma Center, and is home to the Stony Brook University Heart Institute, Stony Brook University Cancer Center, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and Stony Brook University Neurosciences Institute. SBUH also encompasses Suffolk County’s only Level 4 Regional Perinatal Center, state-designated AIDS Center, state-designated Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, state-designated Burn Center, the Christopher Pendergast ALS Center of Excellence, and Kidney Transplant Center. It is home of the nation’s first Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. To learn more, visit www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/sbuh.
*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2017 through 2019 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.
**Northeast region is defined by the Census Bureau as Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, New York & Pennsylvania.
Earl L. Vandermeulen High School student Natalie McGuigan is one of this year’s six inductees in the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Photo from PJSD
The Earl L. Vandermeulen High School Chapter 2172 of the Tri-M Music Honor Society virtually hosted its annual honors induction ceremony.
This year’s six inductees are Natalie McGuigan, Julia Perrotta, Ruby Ray, Anna Rebic, Sierra Welsch and Michelle Wu.
Each student performed virtually after the ceremony, which included an introduction from Principal Eric Haruthunian, and encouraging words of achievement from Director of Music and Fine Arts Dr. Michael Caravello and chapter adviser Ed Pisano.
Caravello commended the students for their continued commitment to creating music. In addition to outstanding musical achievement, students are selected into the honor society on the basis of five points of distinction: scholarship, character, cooperation, leadership and service.
Harborfields Public Library, 31 Broadway, Greenlawn holds an emergency blood drive on Wednesday, Feb. 10 from 1 to 7 p.m. Blood supplies in the area are very low.
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