This year’s graduation ceremonies were worthy of more celebration than ever before.
The Class of 2021 has been through an unbelievable two years of academics.
As the school year of 2019 began, everything was the same as usual, and then March of 2020 saw drastic changes. One minute, students were studying in school, attending clubs, practicing for plays or out on the fields, the next they were home learning remotely with no extracurricular activities.
Proms were canceled, graduation commencements were put on hold until July where seniors graduated with just a fraction of their class at a time, as ceremonies needed to be spread out over a few days.
The beginning of the 2020-21 school year varied depending on what school district a child attended. For some there was a hybrid schedule, others fully remote and for a few in-person instruction five days a week, if they chose to do so.
Then things began to change slowly but surely as the calendar flipped to 2021. Students were given the green light to return to their classrooms every day as the year progressed. Activities after studies resumed and the fields were filled once again with football, field hockey, baseball, lacrosse and so much more.
While masks were still worn and plastic dividers remained, students began to emerge from their cocoons like butterflies ready to take on the world. Proms were held and graduations were celebrated with the whole class.
Last year school administrators, faculty members, students and parents banded together to come up with resourceful ideas such as car parades and staggered ceremonies to commemorate the momentous occasion of completing high school. This year after weathering the storm, students witnessed that a light at the end of the tunnel can exist no matter how dark that tunnel may seem at times.
They have emerged strong and resilient which can be seen in the sports championship wins across the North Shore and the smiles on the graduates’ faces.
Education is a valuable resource but, in the last two years, teenagers have stepped away from their desks with more important lessons than any high school class can provide. Life has taught them that with some flexibility, resourcefulness, resilience and optimism they increase their odds of making it over any hurdle to achieve success.
Graduates, take the lessons you gained in your cocoon and take flight as a butterfly would. A whole new world awaits all of you, and we look forward to hearing all about the wonderful things you accomplish.
Eating a diet rich in high fiber can help relieve the symptoms of hemorrhoids. Pixabay photo
Hydration, fiber and exercise help reduce problems
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Dr. David Dunaief
Many of us have suffered at one time or another from inflamed hemorrhoids. They affect men and women equally, though women have a higher propensity during pregnancy and child birth. For some reason, there’s a social stigma associated with hemorrhoids, although we all have them. They’re vascular structures that aid in stool control. When they become irritated and inflamed, we have symptoms – and often say we “have hemorrhoids,” when we really mean our hemorrhoids are causing us pain.
When they’re irritated, hemorrhoids may alternate between itchy and painful symptoms, making it hard to concentrate and uncomfortable to sit. This is because the veins in your rectum are swollen. They usually bleed, especially during a bowel movement, which may scare us. Fortunately, hemorrhoids are not a harbinger of more serious disease.
There are two types of hemorrhoids: external, occurring outside the anus; and internal, occurring within the rectum.
External hemorrhoids
Fortunately, external hemorrhoids tend to be mild. Most of the time, they are treated with analgesic creams or suppositories that contain hydrocortisone, such as Preparation H, or with a sitz bath, all of which help relieve the pain. Thus, they can be self-treated and do not require an appointment with a physician. The most effective way to reduce bleeding and pain is to increase fiber through diet and supplementation (1). However, sometimes there is thrombosis (clotting) of external hemorrhoids, in which case they may become more painful, requiring medical treatment.
Internal hemorrhoids
Internal hemorrhoids can be a bit more complicated. The primary symptom is bleeding with bowel movement, not pain, since they are usually above the point of sensation in the colon, called the dentate line. If the hemorrhoids prolapse below this, there may be pain and discomfort, as well. Prolapse is when hemorrhoids fall out of place, due to weakening of the muscles and ligaments in the colon.
The first step for treating internal hemorrhoids is to add fiber through diet and supplementation. Study after study shows significant benefit. For instance, in a meta-analysis by the Cochrane Systems Data Review 2005, fiber reduced the occurrence of bleeding by 53 percent (2). In another study, after two weeks of fiber and another two-week follow-up, the daily incidence of bleeding was reduced dramatically (3).
There are several minimally invasive options, including anal banding, sclerotherapy and coagulation. The most effective of these is anal banding, with an approximate 80 percent success rate (4). This is usually an office-based procedure where two rubber bands are place at the neck of each hemorrhoid. To avoid complications from constipation, patients should also take fiber supplementation.
Side-effects of the procedure are usually mild, and there is very low risk of infection. However, severe pain may occur if misapplication occurs with the band below the dentate line. If this procedure fails, hemorrhoidectomy (surgery) would be the next option.
Preventing hemorrhoid problems
First, sitting on the toilet for long periods of time puts significant pressure on the veins in the rectum, potentially increasing the risk of inflammation. Though you may want private time to read, the bathroom is not the library. As soon as you have finished moving your bowels, it is important to get off the toilet.
Eating more fiber helps to create bulk for your bowel movements, avoiding constipation, diarrhea and undue straining.
Thus, you should try to increase the amount of fiber in your diet, before adding supplementation. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans and legumes have significant amounts of fiber. Grains, beans and nuts have among the highest levels of fiber. For instance, one cup of black beans has 12g of fiber.
Americans, on average, consume 16g per day of fiber (5). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends daily fiber intake for those <50 years old of 25 to 38 grams, depending on gender and age (6). I typically recommend at least 40g. My wife and I try to eat only foods that contain a significant amount of fiber, and we get approximately 65g per day. You may want to raise your fiber level gradually; if you do it too rapidly, be forewarned – side-effects are potentially gas and bloating for the first week or two.
Get plenty of fluids. It helps to soften the stool and prevent constipation. Exercise also helps to prevent constipation. It is important not to hold in a bowel movement; go when the urge is there or else the stool can become hard, causing straining, constipation and more time on the toilet.
If you have rectal bleeding and either have a high risk for colorectal cancer or are over the age of 50, you should see your physician to make sure it is not due to a malignancy or other cause, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
The message throughout this article is that Americans need to get more fiber, which is beneficial for inflamed hemorrhoid prevention and treatment.
Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com.
This past week, I spent more time personally and professionally speaking with other people than I had in over a year.
I give myself mixed reviews. Two anecdotes capture the range of my experiences. During one meeting, my brain had its own mini dialog, even as I tried to stay focused on details about a story I was researching. Here’s a sample of that internal dialog:
Wait, why is he looking away? Should I not have had that salad earlier? Do I have something green in my teeth?
No, hold on, maybe it’s that you’re tired and your eyes are closing. Open your eyes wider to indicate that you’re paying attention. No. NO. NO! Too wide! Now, he’s wondering why you’re staring so intently at him.
Okay, he’s looking at you again. Oh, no, I have to scratch my face. What do I do? Ignore it. Yes, that’s working. No, it’s not. Now, my face itches even more. Come on face, suck it up. No, I have to scratch. Maybe I can coordinate the scratch with the moment when he looks away. Come on, look away!
Great, now he’s looking at me without blinking, like Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men.” Wait, I’m listening. Really, I am, but I’m a tad distracted. It’s not my fault. It’s my face’s fault.
I’m focused. I have a good question ready, but I still need to scratch my face. Look away. LOOK a-WAY! It’s not working. Instead of scratching, I’m twitching. Now he’s staring at the part of my face that itches and twitches.
I’m going to lean on my hand and scratch subtly, while listening intently and making solid, but not scary eye contact.
Okay, so, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but it was an imperfect and slightly distracted moment in the real world.
Later in the week, I had another opportunity to multitask. Just as I started walking across a courtyard to a meeting, it started pouring.
I walked quickly. Running didn’t seem like a great choice because panting, dripping and sweating is never a good look for me.
When I arrived, an incredibly supportive executive assistant asked me if I wanted a hot tea, coffee, towel or water. I said I’d be fine.
Once I got in the office, I immediately realized, dripping onto, into and around the chair of one of my favorite sources, that his air conditioning was among the strongest in the area. In addition to the cool air in the room, I felt a slight breeze, which made me feel as if each droplet of water clinging to me might soon turn to ice.
As I spoke to him, rocking slightly back and forth, putting my hands under my legs to keep them warm, I was well aware of how ridiculous I must have looked. At the same time, I appreciated the in-person nature of the experience, which wasn’t an option six months earlier.
I enjoyed how the multitasking necessary to stay on track was so much different than the challenges of Zoom, where my primary concerns were whether the background in the screen included messy clothing, whether I was looking at the right place on the screen, and whether my dog would decide to bark at the five-year-old learning to ride a bike in front of our house.
Venturing further out than I have in over a year from the turtle-shell life felt like stepping back into a familiar but altered role. Despite the momentary and awkward setbacks, it was a welcome return to a three-dimensional world.
Anumber of small local businesses applied for and received, in the course of the pandemic, money to pay their employees as their customers and revenues dwindled. Some $800 billion was made available by the federal government through the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP as it was known for short, and overseen by the Small Business Administration. The actual lenders were banks, 5,200 of them, and they made a small percentage on what they loaned.
But according to an analysis in The New York Times, that was nothing compared to what two newcomers made as they rushed to the scene. These two companies pocketed more than $3 billion in fees, and they weren’t even lenders. It was all legal. Here’s how they did it.
Since the banks were getting a percentage of what they loaned, for each set of paperwork processed, they logically favored making larger loans for their efforts. These invariably went to larger companies. The result was that the smallest companies, asking for the smallest amounts of money, who were perhaps the ones most needing the help, were overlooked. Blueacorn was founded last year to help companies get PPPs. “Tiny businesses, self-employed individuals and minority communities are left out in the cold,” explained the CEO to The NYT.
The federal government realized this discrepancy and, last December, raised the fees for small loans, later encouraging even unprofitable solo businesses to ask for help. Both Blueacorn and the second company, Womply, which already existed but in a different niche, rushed to advertise their processing services with the PPP on behalf of these tiny businesses. Their ads were on New York City subways, billboards and Facebook, according to NYT reporters Stacy Cowley and Ella Koeze, offering “free money for those who qualify.” During that time, from late February to May 31, the companies processed 2.3 million loans, with most less than $17,000, and then turned them over to banks.
Those interested banks, now promised by the government 50% of loans valued at less than $50,000, with fees up to a maximum of $2,500, could find making small-dollar loans more profitable. At least that was the intent of Congress in December of last year when it made the change.
For Blueacorn, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Womply, in San Francisco, finding the banks, putting them together with the borrowers and doing their paperwork in a standardized way, proved more profitable than for each of the banks to do the work themselves on behalf of the smallest businesses. Now all the lenders had to do was pass the paperwork to the government and fund the loans.
Largely as a result of these two companies, lenders made 5.8 million loans this year as opposed to 3.6 million in 2020. The average loan size dropped from over $100,000 dollars last year to $41,560 in 2021. The six most active lenders this year partnered with one or both of those companies.
Blueacorn worked with just two lenders: Prestamos CDFI, a non-profit, and Capital Plus Financial. Just for contrast, Prestamos made 935 PPP loans last year, totaling $27 million and 494,415 loans for $7.7 billion in 2021, according to The NYT, until applications halted.
Womply used 17 lenders and processed 1.4 million loans, totaling more than $20 billion dollars, some 7% of PPP money loaned this year.
Here is the payoff for the two companies. Because Congress wanted to make smaller loans more lucrative, Prestamos made $1.3 million for its lending last year and $1.2 billion this year, but will keep “only a fraction of its earnings.” Blueacorn, because if its agreement with Prestamos, will get a “significant” portion of the $1.2 billion Prestamos is collecting. Capital One Financial, a public company and thus more transparent, earned $464 million in fees for its PPP loans during the quarter but only kept about a third or $150 million.
So Blueacorn gets some $1 billion this year and Womply anywhere from $1.7 billion to $3 billion. That dwarfs any other PPP loans or fees. Thank You, Uncle Sam!
From left, potato, Cole slaw and macaroni salad. METRO photo
By Barbara Beltrami
Call me crazy,but this year on the Fourth of July I’m going to pull out all the throttles with traditional American dishes. I want hot dogs with the works, and that means, mustard, relish and sauerkraut. I wanthamburgers oozing cheese and ketchup and crunchy with slices of raw onion. And I want the three traditional salads, tart and creamy with mayonnaise.
Not that it wouldn’t be okay to have a few appetizers like deviled eggs, chips with salsa and guacamole, maybe some scallion pancakes or shrimp rolls to munch on while things get going, but after the past year filled with all its denials and restrictions I want to renew the pleasure of scarfing down good old-fashioned potato salad and cole slaw and macaroni salad.
And while I’m loading up my plate I want to keep in mind and remind my fellow indulgers that the day is not just a day for gorging ourselves with the things we love to eat, but primarily an anniversary of the day 245 years ago that we declared ourselves free from tyranny and launched a nation dedicated to equality and unalienable rights, a day to savor not just what comes out of the kitchen and off the grill but all those other unassailable rights and privileges that we enjoy.
Potato Salad
YIELD: Makes 6 to 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds small red-skinned potatoes
Salt
1 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
1/3 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chopped fresh dill leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 celery rib, minced
1/2 medium red onion, peeled and minced
DIRECTIONS:
Place the whole potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil; lower heat to simmer and cook 15 minutes until potatoes are al dente; drain, remove from heat, then set in a colander over cooking water (with heat turned off), cover and let heat from hot water finish cooking them, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, wine, dill, salt, pepper, celery and onion. After the potatoes have cooled off a bit, but are still warm, halve or quarter them, depending on size, place them in a large bowl and toss them with the dressing. Let sit until completely cool, toss again and refrigerate. Toss one more time before serving. Serve with hot dogs, hamburgers or just about anything you’re grilling.
Cole Slaw
Cole Slaw
YIELD: Makes 12 servings
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups shredded green cabbage
3 cups shredded red cabbage
2 to 3 carrots, peeled and shredded
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup unflavored Greek yogurt
Scant 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 cup sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
In large bowl combine cabbage and carrots. In small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, vinegar, celery seed, sugar, and salt and pepper. Add to cabbage and carrot mixture and toss to thoroughly coat. Cover and chill unless serving immediately. Serve with grilled or fried meat, poultry or fish.
Macaroni Salad
Macaroni Salad
YIELD: Makes 6 servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 small red onion, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 cup diced fresh tomato
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Generous 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Coarse salt and black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Cook macaroni according to package instructions, drain and rinse in cold water; drain again. In large bowl combine the macaroni, celery, onion, parsley and tomato. In small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Pour dressing over macaroni mixture and toss to thoroughly coat. Cover and store in fridge. Serve with grilled chicken, beef or fish.
Visitors to the Port Jefferson Village Center and Harborfront Park this summer will be treated to a unique art installation by Holtsville artist Michael R. Zotos. The exhibit is currently on view on the front lawn of the Village Center.
“I call my free standing characters ‘Spontaneous Entities’ because the initial figure is made spontaneously as a free stroke of the hand,” said Zotos. “Those I like I redraw onto a piece of thin plywood. I cut it, sand it, prime it and paint it. Then I usually add eyes and other facial characteristics and I embellish the piece.”
Zotos, whose curious creatures have been popping up all over Suffolk County lately,says his artwork is influenced by his experiences as a child growing up in the Catskills’ Blue Mountain near Saugerties.
“There I played in the pond by my house, reaching into the water to pull up various aquatic living creatures. There were minnows and fish, frogs and lots of pollywogs. And then all around the landscape were all kinds of bugs and insects, toads and rodents [along with] lots of plant life of all variations. Somehow all of this seems to work its way into my art pieces.
This week’s shelter pet is Yoo-Hoo, a gorgeous 10 to 12 year old domestic medium- haired Torti with stunning green eyes at the Smithtown Animal Shelter.
Yoo-Hoo is loving, laid back and outgoing. She has an overactive thyroid that is managed with a prescription diet and will need a home that can assure she only eats that food and nothing else. Yoo-Hoo gets along with other laid back animals that respect her space. She is spayed, microchipped and up to date on her vaccines.
If you are interested in meeting Yoo- Hoo, please call ahead to schedule an hour to properly interact with her in a domestic setting, which includes a Meet and Greet Room.
The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Shelter operating hours are currently Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sundays and Wednesday evenings by appointment only). 631-360-7575, www.smithtownanimalshelter.com.
Participants gather for the 4HAS's first Children's Birding Adventure. Photo by Cayla Rosenhagen
From left, Iris and Cayla Rosenhagen. Photo by Raina Angelier
A little girl searches for birds. Photo by Cayla Rosenhagen
Above, a birder takes a break on the steps of the Setauket Grist Mill to check out his binoculars. Photo by Cayla Rosenhagen
Cayla Rosenhagen with a fellow bird lover. Photo by Raina Angelier
A swan and her six cygnets. Photo by Cayla Rosenhagen
By Cayla Rosenhagen
Cayla Rosenhagen
“Look, look! There’s a bird up in this tree … and there’s a nest, too!”
A young boy with binoculars pressed against his face cheerfully announces what he has found. An American Robin flies to her nest, cozily tucked in a nearby cedar; the child notices she has a worm in her bill. More young birders gather to watch in awe of the mother robin feeding her recently hatched chicks.
Nothing compares to watching a child’s face light up with happiness and fascination as they become immersed in the world of birds. I had the joy of seeing this firsthand. On June 27th, my sister Iris and I launched the first Children’s Birding Adventure at Frank Melville Memorial Park in Setauket for Four Harbors Audubon Society.
The event began early in the afternoon at the entrance to the park, as enthusiastic families circled around to introduce themselves on the lawn overlooking the lake. Their children ranged in age from infancy to age 10 and were bubbling over with questions and stories about wildlife they had seen. One of the participants, Olivia, 8, a birder for about two years, looked forward to seeing a Northern Cardinal, one of her favorite backyard birds.
Before our walk began, the children engaged in a round of nature-inspired activities, including Sparrow Says (Simon Says with an aviary twist) and a storytime, featuring a book by Kermit Cummings entitled A Backyard Birding Adventure: What’s in Your Yard? To further their birding knowledge, we presented the budding ornithologists with a photo album of birds we were likely to spot on our adventure. Bird BINGO cards, illustrating the same feathered friends, were handed out to all the children so they could record their sightings in a novel manner. Each youngster was then lent a pair of child-sized binoculars and taught how to use them.
Eagerly, we headed down the path encircling the picturesque Mill Pond. As we strolled the half-mile paved loop, a dozen children and their families surveyed their surroundings for birds and were met with great success. Catbirds, swallows, woodpeckers, swans, and warblers filled the lenses of every pair of binoculars. Little eyes spotted blue jays, sparrows, and egrets; the children announced their birding discoveries to the group with delight. The group paused along the old stone bridge and I pointed out turtles on a floating log and the blackbirds who nest in the nearby reeds. When birds weren’t readily in sight, scurrying chipmunks, zigzagging butterflies, and the iridescent wings of dragonflies captivated the young minds. As the hour-long event came to a close, it was so gratifying to hear from both parents and kids alike that fun was had by all, and much was learned about the natural world.
The members of Four Harbors Audubon Society have been my role models and mentors for many years and continue to inspire me. I started participating in their monthly bird walks when I was the age of many of the children who attended Saturday’s event. At age 16, I now serve on the Board of Directors for 4HAS, and it is a privilege for me to contribute to the younger generation’s love and appreciation of birds. Who knows? Birding may become a lifelong passion for them, as it has for me.
In the future, Four Harbors Audubon Society plans to run the Children’s Birding Adventures on a seasonal basis. If you are interested in joining us for our next program, please email us at [email protected].
Cayla Rosenhagen is a local high school student who enjoys capturing the unique charm of the community through photojournalism. In addition to the Four Harbors Audubon Society, she serves on the board of directors for Brookhaven’s Youth Board, and is the founder and coordinator of Beach Bucket Brigade, a community outreach program dedicated to environmental awareness, engagement, and education. She is also an avid birder, hiker, and artist who is concurrently enrolled in college, pursuing a degree in teaching.
Americans (remember civics?) know that there is a third branch of government … the Judiciary. Unfortunately, most think of Judge Judy (and the myriad of similar TV judges) and Law and Order (and its spinoffs). If they are politically engaged, it’s the Supreme Court that is a focus. However, judges affect the majority of Americans much “closer to home” at some point in their lives: traffic, matrimonial, drug and alcohol, accidents, property. But there’s so little awareness of how judges are selectedand the pressing need for court reform in New York State.
Because of the League of Women Voters’ nonpartisan principles and expertise with voter education, I was asked by County Executive Steve Bellone to moderate a four-hour judicial reform conference on June 8. Opening keynotes from Congressman Jerry Nadler (Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) and Hon. Jeh Johnson (former U.S. Dept of Homeland Security Secretary, appointed Special Advisor on Equal Justice in the Courts by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore in 2020) set the stage for the three panels.
These focused on the history and experience of judicial selection; a robust discussion of judicial selection reform proposals, and a wide-ranging discussion of the challenges: court simplification, promoting diversity on the bench, and criminal justice and public confidence in state judiciary as well as methods to promote and ensure judicial independence andimplications on criminal justice. (View the entire conference at https://www.facebook.com/SteveBellone/videos).
During the conference, Hon. Stuart Namm, former Suffolk County Judge, was given the Suffolk County Public Service Award by CE Bellone. Judge Namm’s experience culminating in 1985 with a letter to then-Gov. Mario Cuomo describing misconduct by the Suffolk County police and the district attorney’s office including possible perjury by prosecutors.
New York’s State Commission of Investigation followed up on Judge Namm’s charges, eventually filing a report (described as “blistering” by Newsday) condemning misconduct by police detectives and prosecutors. The Suffolk County police commissioner resigned soon afterward; the district attorney declined to run for re-election. A number of officers retired early or resigned. No one, however, was indicted. Denied renomination to his judgeship, Judge Namm was ostracized and moved to North Carolina.
Although “some who knew him wished he would stay quiet,” Namm’s 2014 “A Whistleblower’s Lament” details his experiences. He said “… in New York state, judges always have to be looking over their shoulders. So long as judges in trial courts are selected through the political process, things will never change.”
The LWV of NYS has been advocating for court reform since 1955, when there were about 1500 autonomous courts in the state. Some progress has been made since then, but there has been tremendous reluctance by the NYS Assembly and Senate and the Governor to fully address issues via legislation and appropriate budget support. Constitutional amendments are needed. We support measures to obtain a unified, statewide court system, and believe judges should be chosen on the bases of merit although with ultimate control of a major governmental institution resting with the people.
New York’s existing multiple court structure creates confusion for the people the justice system is supposed to serve. For many, and frequently in matters involving the safety of families and children, the scenario is this: different judges decide on different pieces of inter-related cases, as a result each judge has an incomplete story of a case causing individuals to receive multiple decisions and faulty resolution of their cases. As a result, all parties to a case have to make multiple appearances, along with any government agencies, attorneys and witnesses and have to repeat, again and again, the trauma that caused them to appear in court.
This not only wastes time for everyone, it is completely unfair and an unproductive way to provide justice, causes the loss of work and wages and perpetuates a system that is difficult, if not impossible, to understand, and hurts individuals and their families as they get caught up in systemic chaos. (To learn more, visit https://simplifynycourts.org/)
Lisa Scott is president of the League of Women Voters of Suffolk County, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. For more information, visit www.lwv-suffolkcounty.org, email [email protected] or call 631-862-6860.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNA Learning Center and the Red Cloud Indian School recently launched a program called Students Talk Science in which high school students could ask questions from several senior scientists about the vaccine for COVID-19 and healthcare disparities in minority communities.
Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable
The talks are a component of a program called STARS, for Science, Technology & Research Scholars, an effort the group started in 2019 to build interest and experience in STEM for minority students. The Students Talk Science program engaged the STARS participants and students from the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Jason Williams, Assistant Director of Inclusion and Research Readiness at the DNA Learning at CSHL; Brittany Johnson, an educator at the DNA Learning Center; Katie Montez, a teacher at the Red Cloud Indian School ;and Carol Carter, Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, wanted to connect minority students with practicing physicians and scientists in leadership positions at the National Institutes of Health to allow them to ask questions of concern regarding the vaccines.
Dr. Monica Webb-Hooper
“We did this to empower them to function as trusted resources for their families, friends and network,” Carter, who participated as an individual rather than as a formal representative of Stony Brook University, explained in an email.
The conversations included interactions with Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable, Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, or NIMHD at the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Monica Webb Hooper, Deputy Director of the NIMHD; Dr. Gary Gibbons, Director of the National Heat, Lung and Blood Institute; and Dr. Eugenia South, Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia.
The high school students prepared informed questions.
Dr. Gary Gibbons
“The students were encouraged to do their own research” on the interview subjects, Williams explained. “We asked students not to look just at [each] interviewee’s science work, but also any personal background/ biography they could find. Students had multiple opportunities for follow up and were largely independent on their choices of questions.”
Samantha Gonzalez, a student at Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School, asked South about her initial skepticism for the vaccine.
South acknowledged that she had no interest in taking the vaccine when she first learned she was eligible. “I almost surprised myself with the fierceness with which I said, ‘No,’” South said. “I had to step back and say, ‘Why did I have this reaction?’”
Some of the reasons had to do with mistrust, which includes her own experiences and the experiences of her patients, whom she said have had to confront racism in health care. In addition, she was unsure of the speed at which the vaccine was developed. She had never heard of the mRNA technology that made the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/ BioNTech possible.
“I had to do my own research to understand that this wasn’t a new technology,” she said.
Dr. Eugenia South
South went through a learning process, in which she read information and talked to experts. After she received answers to her questions and with the urging of her mother, she decided to get the vaccine.
“I’m so thankful that I was able to do that,” South said.
The team behind Students Talk Science not only wanted to empower students to make informed decisions, but also wanted to give them the opportunity to interact with scientists who might serve as personal and professional role models, providing a pathway of information and access that developed amid an extraordinary period.
“We wanted to engage high school students in something unique going on in their lifetime,” Carter said.
To be sure, Carter and Williams said the scientific interactions weren’t designed to convince students to take the vaccine or to urge their parents or families to get a shot. Rather, they wanted to provide an opportunity for students to ask questions and gather information.
“We purposely did not participate in the discussions because our goal was not to convince or ‘preach,’ but to enable students and their networks to make informed decisions,” Carter said.
Parents had to read and sign off on the process for students to participate. The organizers didn’t want a situation where they were doing something that conflicts with a parents’ decisions or views.
Williams added that the purpose of the conversations was never to say, “you must get the vaccine. Our purpose is to talk about information.”
The objective of these interactions is to help minority students find a track for a productive career in ten years.
In addition to questions about hesitancy, Williams said some of the high school students expressed concerns about access to vaccines. He is pleased with the result of this effort to connect students with scientists and doctors.
The group was “able to get some of the most important scientists in the country to sit with high school students,” he said. “It was very powerful to give students access to these role models.”
The goal is to stay with these students, mentor them and stay in touch with them until they graduate from college and, perhaps, return as research scientists.
Even for students who do not return, this type of interaction could provide an “impactful experience that prepares them for other opportunities,” Williams explained, adding that the STARS program would incorporate the Students Talk Science Series into the program more formally in the future, with new students and topics most likely during the school year.
The interviews are available at the following website: https://dnalc.cshl.edu/resources/students-talk-science/.
Prev
