Suffolk County Community College’s Talise Geer is a finalist for a prestigious Vanguard Student Recognition Award that acknowledges outstanding students who are enrolled in career and technical education programs that prepare them for professions that are not traditional for their gender. The Vanguard Award is presented annually by the NET (Nontraditional Employment & Training) Project, an initiative administered by SUNY Albany’s Center for Women in Government & Civil Society in partnership with the New York State Education Department.
Geer is one of 15 state-wide finalists for the award and pursuing a new career in cybersecurity.
Geer, a Wading River, married mom to a six-year-old daughter, was working successfully in sales after earning a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Old Westbury. But, she wanted more.
“I wanted to find a profession with job security,” Geer said, adding “and to do something I loved and with the opportunity for advancement.”
Geer researched emerging professions and settled on cybersecurity. “I needed a school offering a cyber security major, a great faculty, affordability and convenience,” she said, “Suffolk County Community College had everything I needed.”
“Talise started with very little computer knowledge, but she fought through every challenging course, and she has continuously improved substantially with each class. Talise always comes prepared for class, hands in all assignments on time, and shows enthusiasm for every topic,” said Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Susan Frank.
“Talise fully understands the significance of a nontraditional career,” Frank said, “and she is determined and prepared to succeed in the male dominated field of information technology. Cybersecurity offers her a world of opportunity with a higher salary, quick career advancement and job security. A traditional field could not provide all of these benefits. All of her training, along with her amazing attitude and aptitude, makes Talise Geer one of the most deserving Vanguard Award nominees,” Frank said.
“I’m very thankful for the time I spent at Suffolk, the professors and for Professor Frank nominating me for this prestigious award,” Geer said, and also thanked all of her professors for their help in her journey.
Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Paul Beaudin was quick to affirm Talise’s observation about the great faculty at Suffolk. “As in many of our departments at the College, we are richly blessed to have a cadre of men and women in this program who are not only scholars and practitioners, but who are dedicated to student success in the classrooms, the labs, and in experiential learning,” Beaudin said.
Geer’s next stop is the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Cybersecurity Master’s program, having demonstrated sufficient knowledge in the courses she took at Suffolk.
Geer said that she applied to NYIT, was accepted and pleased to learn that a majority of her Suffolk courses will transfer over. “I don’t think I could have been accepted unless I had the technical background taught to me at Suffolk, Geer said. “I feel competent and prepared.”
“I hope more girls, more women transition to this field,” Geer said. It’s possible! And I hope to inspire more girls and women to enter cyber security. I’m honored and hope that a girl or woman in a seemingly dead-end job considers cybersecurity as a future career,” Geer said.
This month, Northport High School senior Dillon Heinzman, above, was honored with the Technology and Engineering Student of the Month award and fellow senior Maxwell DeBrino was honored as Science Student of the Month. Both students showed incredible passion for their respective courses and will be recognized during the Jan. 21 board of education meeting.
Maxwell DeBrino
Dillon’s commitment to his technology and engineering courses was apparent throughout high school, having taken both Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes as well as Project Lead the Way engineering courses. District Chairperson for Science, Technology and Engineering David Storch said, “Dillon’s diligence and tenacity in all his STEM courses exemplify his determination to comprehend complex and highly specialized concepts along with outstanding computer science and technological skills.”
Similarly, Maxwell DeBrino has had an impressive educational career, starting the school’s Trout Team and a co-captain of the school’s Science Olympiad team. When describing Maxwell, Mr. Storch said, “he is a creative and inquisitive scientist who possesses a passion, commitment and sense of wonder when he is conducting experimental research.”
Superintendent Jessica Schmettan. File photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson Middle School and Earl L. Vandermeulen High School had to go fully remote this week, after parents begged the district to allow their children back in four days a week.
Up until recently, the district had students come to the high school and middle school twice a week. Parents, concerned about how the lack of in-person learning would have on their children, began asking why the district would not add more days.
Jae Hartzell, a parent in the district, said she was one of a dozen who voiced their concerns.
“We really worked, and fought, and emailed, and studied, and provided stats, and really researched to make sure we were fighting for the right and safe thing to do,” she said.
And their wishes were granted at the latest board of education meeting on Jan. 8, when the board agreed on a vote to let middle and high schoolers back in four days a week.
But just two days later, on Sunday, Jan. 10, the district sent out a notification that the four days will not happen, and instead, those two groups would have to go remote.
The notice said that as of that day, there were 26 staff members, including teachers and teaching assistants, who are subject to quarantine due to COVID-19, for a variety of reasons related to their own health, in-school and out of school exposures, and positive family members.
It continued that after careful examination of the school’s schedules and their available substitute coverage, they determined they do not have the staff to cover the middle and high schools this week. That being said, grades 6-12 will go remote Jan. 12 through Jan. 15, with no change to the Monday, Jan. 11 schedule as this is an asynchronous remote day in the district’s hybrid schedule.
The notice did not affect the elementary school, which will still be open for in-person learning, and staff coverage for the district’s 8:1:1 special education students have not been affected, as the in-person class schedules for these students remains the same.
“As a parent, you see your child go from super happy and over the moon to be able to go back to school, and then flattened a bit with that disappointment,” Hartzell said. “We all have to understand this is very complex and complicated and we don’t have the information, but it’s disheartening.”
Port Jefferson School District Superintendent Jessica Schmettan said the district understands this is difficult news to hear after the highly anticipated return to four days per week of in-person instruction.
“This determination is only for the remainder of this week and we expect to begin this next phase of our reopening plan on Tuesday, Jan. 19 – as long as circumstances permit – when we look forward to having all of our students back in our classrooms,” she said.
The Sunshine Prevention Center in Port Jefferson Station has worked to make sure its students had coursework during the pandemic, even driving materials home to students. Photo by Kyle Barr
When the first weeks of the pandemic hit, when everything from restaurants to gyms to playgrounds were being shut down, schools were forced closed as well.
As the many different districts across Long Island scrambled to implement distance learning, a new crisis loomed. For the many men and women who still worked, especially those on the frontlines in hospitals or elder care facilities, they could no longer depend on school districts to take care of their children for most of the day.
George Duffy, the CEO of SCOPE Education Services, was instrumental in providing child care during the pandemic’s early months. Photo from SCOPE
And as parents scrambled to find ways to take care of their children, a few groups stepped up to the plate. Many parents owe a great deal to those organizations that took care of their children during the pandemic’s worst months, many of whom were trailblazers for what kids would come to expect when schools finally reopened in later months.
Organizations from all over kept their child care services going when they were needed most. The Huntington YMCA, while suspending many of its other youth and adult programs, kept running its child care services and food pickups for families. This was even amongst huge economic hardship caused by the loss of membership dues.
Eileen Knauer, senior vice president of operations for YMCA of Long Island, said their child care programs ran for four months out of their Huntington facility as well as a school in the South Huntington school district, up until their summer camp programs started again. While it initially ran free of charge for parents, having been supported by stipends from the school district and Northwell Health, they did end up having to charge parents some cost for the program. For those parents who did not have enough to pay, they fundraised to help support their children.
“The ‘Y’ is here for our community — we respond to what the community tells us we need,” Knauer said.
SCOPE Education Services, a Smithtown-based nonprofit chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, operates child care programs all over Long Island. Though SCOPE normally works with school districts from all over, in March, when districts were mandated to provide child care even while their buildings were closed to normal activity, they turned to SCOPE, according to George Duffy, executive director.
The nonprofit operated 25 locations throughout Long Island to provide that child care, with more than 800 children in total enrolled. From March through August, SCOPE workers kept children in safe spaces, allowing them an opportunity to socialize when many were feeling the emotional constraints of isolation.
Though districts pay a weekly stipend to help run the program, for parents who desperately needed people to take care of their children while working, it was effectively free.
Lori Innella-Venne, a district manager for SCOPE operating in the Huntington area, said it was soon after the closures were coming into effect that she and her workers sat together to come up with a plan, creating something entirely new on the fly, even when restrictions and medical advice seemed to be changing on a daily basis. Despite all that, the program never saw a positive COVID-19 case amongst its children, she said.
“We took one breath when schools closed and we immediately got to work, reimagining how we did everything,” Innella-Venne said.
Over in Rocky Point, the North Shore Youth Council, a nonprofit that services districts from Mount Sinai to Shoreham-Wading River, was also caught up in that first COVID wave that crashed upon Suffolk County. Their summer camp, which featured 100 kids, was so effective in its procedures that it did not see a positive case in the several months the program ran.
NSYC Executive Director Robert Woods said they also had the benefit of good relationships with the Rocky Point school district, and that it was the district’s custodial staff who were “rock stars” in helping to prepare children for these activities.
It was difficult, of course. Children could not even play board games together. Innella-Venne said they had to draw up an entirely new curriculum. Activities had to focus on being spaced apart. Equipment that was once shared now had to be restricted to individuals, and then sanitized after use.
“When we were still waiting for guidelines to come out, we already had a fully realized program, one that we found well within the guidelines and in some cases exceeded them,” she said. “There was fear in the beginning, but also incredible pride for what we were able to accomplish.”
The Huntington YMCA struggled during the pandemic but still offered childcare during the peak months. File photo by Victoria Espinoza
Once school started again, the demand for child care did not relax. The youth council’s afterschool program now follows in the footsteps of the local school districts’ cohort system, following those so that they don’t mix students who may have been kept separate for a significant time. They also developed a kind of study hall for those students in the hybrid model who are studying electronically, allowing parents to work even when their children are not allowed inside schools, according to Cyndi Donaldson, the youth council’s school-age child care program director.
Knauer said the YMCA has also started a program to allow children a place to do their remote work while their parents are at their jobs. Though that program had stalled once students were allowed back in school full time, it will likely start up again after December as the number of COVID cases climb and local districts expect to take a longer-than-normal Christmas break.
“If you’re a working parent, you don’t have the luxury of taking time off,” she said.
There are so many stressors with young people having to deal with so much, whether it was hearing the news and the number of people dying, or it was seeing the anxieties of their parents. It was especially hard on more at-risk kids, the kind of population serviced by The Sunshine Center in Port Jefferson Station. Carol Carter, CEO/co-founder of the organization, said they had to transfer much of their child care services online once the pandemic struck, whether it was live on Facebook or YouTube, or constant calls to catch up with parents and their children on what was happening. They took to driving out to children’s households with homework and activities or even food, trying to keep those participants engaged. The center created a blessing box where needy parents could pick up supplies and food that were donated by the wider community.
“We knew immediately how important support was through this time,” she said. “Our main focus was on positive social skills. People were feeling anxiety and other tough feelings, so developing coping skills, problem-solving skills and communication skills that kids could use during this time was important.”
All program directors agreed that their services provided a kind of stability for children during a tumultuous year.
“A parent said to me the other day that our programs are the only constant in their childs’ lives,” Woods said. “Their children look forward to coming to our programs, they are able to socialize in a different way. They are a thriving testament to what [our organization] does.”
Just like many businesses and other organizations during the pandemic, COVID has hurt their bottom line. Knauer said the YMCA is currently running at 50% below their normal revenue, as membership dues have dropped off significantly. She said anybody looking to start memberships or to donate can contact her through the YMCA at 631-421-4242.
Other programs also operated at a loss.
“SCOPE ended up losing money,” Duffy said. “We thought they were going to be running this for four-to-six weeks. We ended up running it for six months.”
But for the nonprofit service, the point was to provide that niche when it was needed.
NSYC camp councilors stood with 100 young people who participated in this year’s Summer Buddies camp, where there were no reported infections. Photo from NSYC
“We felt it was a valuable service that benefited families and the community,” Duffy said. “We were happy to do it — it kept people employed who would have been forced to do something drastic, like leave their job.”
The child care services were truly the first bulwark of dealing with children and students in a pandemic. Both SCOPE and NSYC officials said school districts reached out to them when coming up with their own procedures when reopening in September.
“A lot of school districts looked at what we did over the summer, asked for our input, and a lot of what they’re doing now is what we did in March,” Duffy said.
The work of these and other groups has been recognized by both school districts and parents. SCOPE has received numerous positive comments from superintendents from Brentwood to Middle Country to Comsewogue. One of the districts SCOPE operated in was Miller Place, where Marianne Cartisano, the MP superintendent, said her district would not have been able to come out of the first-wave months still with their feet under them if it weren’t for Duffy and his program.
“Parents would come back and say, ‘I didn’t worry about my child today,’” Cartisano said.
Nicole Tahlor and Brian Tahlor from Nesconset hold their baby girl born just one minute after midnight Jan. 1. Photo from Stony Brook Medicine
Nicole Tahlor and Brian Tahlor from Nesconset welcomed their daughter, Briella Nicole, to the world on New Year’s Day at Stony Brook University Hospital.
Weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce, the new baby girl was born at 12:01 a.m., just one minute into the start of 2021, according to a press release from Stony Brook Medicine. She was delivered by Dr. Charissa Dinobile, Dr. Rabale Hasan, Dr. Diana Calero Kunda and Ashley Etienne, RN.
“2021 has already brought so much to look forward to,” said Nicole Tahlor.
This is the first child for the new mom and second for the dad who has another daughter.
Did you gaze with delight on a recent winter night at the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, when they were close enough to appear to be a huge single star? Have you always been curious about what’s up there in the night sky?
If you are intrigued by astronomy and have a beginner or novice-level understanding of it, the Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium & Observatory at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport invites you to take the second semester of its Astronomy Education Series, which comprises three virtual mini-courses. The courses explore astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and the night sky. Total lecture-class size will be limited, with a minimum of 10 students and a maximum of 25.
The Planetarium, which premiered the first three mini-courses last fall, will offer the next three (Courses 4, 5, and 6) every Tuesday night beginning on Tuesday, January 5, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Offered remotely via Zoom – the courses are taught by Vanderbilt astronomy instructor Bob Unger.
Courses are designed for beginning to novice-level amateur astronomers age 16 and up – and for anyone who wishes to expand their knowledge of astronomy and the night sky, Unger said: “The Astronomy Education Series provides a more formal education than is typically provided at planetarium shows and exhibits, or from media outlets.”
Designed for adult learners (age 16 years and up), the courses explore astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and the night sky. Total lecture-class size will be limited, with a minimum of 10 students and a maximum of 25. Course fee: $60 for Museum members, $70 for non-members.
Anyone with questions can email [email protected]. Prospective students can read more about the specific topics – and register for classes – at this link: https://www.vanderbiltmuseum.org/astronomy-education-series/
Registrants will receive information on how to download the course textbook (PDF format) for free and a detailed syllabus.
The Museum Association of New York (MANY) is thrilled to announce that 98 museums from across New York State including the Whaling Museum & Education Center in Cold Spring Harbor have been selected to participate in “Building Capacity, Creating Sustainability, Growing Accessibility”, an IMLS CARES Act grant project designed to help museums impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic share their collections and reach audiences who cannot physically visit their museums. 200 staff will be trained to use new hardware and software to develop programs that will engage their communities and reach new audiences.
“We are honored to be awarded IMLS CARES act funding and excited to be able to make an impact on the work of our colleagues and their museums across New York State,” said Erika Sanger, MANY Executive Director. “We are living in an age of transition, experience a radical shift in our ways of learning and communicating. The group selected captures the diversity of our shared history in NY and our nation. The stories embodied in the museums’ collections and the storytelling talents of their interpretive staff are the heart of the project.”
In this two-year project, museums will identify a program to virtually deliver to their audiences, focusing on developing programs from stories found in their collections that reveal cultural and racial diversity in their communities.
“We are delighted to have been chosen for this project and cannot wait to get started,” said Brenna McCormick-Thompson, Whaling Museum & Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor Curator of Education. “We feel we’ve only just begun to tap into the potential virtual programming has to serve our community.”
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [CAGML-246991-OMLS-20].
## # About The Whaling Museum
The Whaling Museum & Education Center is located at 301 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor and specializes in the culture and history of our maritime heritage as illustrated by the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Industry of the 1850s. Fall/Winter Hours: Sat-Sun 12-4 pm. Learn more at www.cshwhalingmuseum.org
How libraries look during COVID times. Photo from Comsewogue School District
Nine months into the coronavirus pandemic and schools are still adjusting. The school library, a place of solace for elementary schoolers and high school seniors alike, has had to adhere to the new and ever-changing COVID-19 protocols.
Local districts, however, have embraced the changes and have implemented new services that they never would have started if it wasn’t for the crisis.
A silver lining, school librarians across the North Shore explained how the changes have impacted them, their schools and their students.
Alice Wolcott, librarian at Elwood-John Glenn High School, said that COVID changed the landscape of public education, meaning they had to reimagine their space.
“This year we transitioned the book loan program to a digital platform, which will continue to support students’ pleasure and academic reading while still observing COVID restrictions,” she said. “Students can browse the collection online via Follett Destiny [a library management system], and if they find a title they’d like to borrow, they can request that book through our book request form.”
To adhere to COVID rules, the books are delivered in a Ziploc bag to first period teachers.
Since some students are not physically in their first period classes, the district also increased their digital library as a main focus.
Shoreham-Wading River High School librarian Kristine Hanson and Albert G. Prodell Middle School librarian Ann-Marie Kalin created an initiative to meet the need for printed books while reimagining the online presence in concert with OPALS, the open-source library system.
They created a book delivery service at their schools called BookDash, which allows students to electronically submit requests with their student ID. Then, physical books are either delivered to students at Prodell or picked up at the high school library doors at the end of the school day. The initiative is promoted through English classes, and a multitude of book recommendations are available via the OPALS pages, blogs and links.
“Kids are reliant on what’s in the catalog, books that never went out before are going out like wild,” Kalin said. “For the time being we’re making the best of it all.”
With the BookDash initiative, Kalin said students are excited to get their hands on actual books.
“So many kids are so tired of being on the screen and are desperate for that interaction with each other,” she said. “I’m seeing readers I never saw before, and there are so many requests for books. It’s very successful.”
Along with Shoreham-Wading River, other districts across Long Island are using an e-book platform called Sora, including Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School in Rocky Point.
Monica DiGiovanni teaches Sora to third graders in Rocky Point. Photo from RPSD.
Librarian Monica DiGiovanni has been visiting classrooms, having students log into their Chromebooks. She is teaching them how to check out library books with the new service, which enables students to borrow a book and read it right on their devices. Another program, Destiny Discover, enables students to find a physical book in the library and have it delivered directly to them since their libraries are currently not open.
DiGiovanni said that their school libraries have become break rooms for teachers and classroom spaces to accommodate kids in a socially distanced way.
“The library has become an interactive thing,” she said. “Students are definitely utilizing it.”
Although Rocky Point school libraries had to reshape themselves and close the doors to students, Elwood school district was able to open the doors at the high school last week. Wolcott said that right now 15 students are allowed in the library at a time, with designated seating and other stipulations in place.
“The students are really responsive and they’re following all the protocols,” she said. “It’s great to have them back.”
She even sees students, who were not her typical regulars, interacting with the library catalog more than they did before.
“Now it’s nice they’re browsing the shelves,” Wolcott said. “They’re picking books they would not have chosen otherwise.”
Donna Fife, library media specialist at Elwood Middle School, said that early on, the district was keeping library services running smoothly, while her younger students are opting to read more.
“I am seeing names I never saw before requesting books more frequently,” she said. “I know how I feel at the end of the day — I would have a hard time playing video games after screen learning.”
Fife said she thinks students are looking for something tangible now that some are looking at a computer all day long.
“They’re requesting to hold a physical copy instead of looking at another screen,” she said.
Nicole Taormina, librarian at Boyle Road Elementary School in the Comsewogue school district, said that new regulars have blossomed throughout the pandemic.
“They really love browsing online,” she said. “It’s a different experience — they are really excited now because they use their Chromebooks and have their own accounts.”
Taormina said that while the changes have been different, she’s looking forward to some normalcy in 2021, and is grateful for what 2020 helped her with.
“I’ve been able to tweak things,” she said. “And the students have been able to learn things that they may have not been able to learn before.”
Also in Comsewogue, Deniz Yildirim, a librarian at Terryville Road Elementary School, said that teaching her library classes has been different compared to years past.
“It’s been a huge change,” she said. “We can’t hand out worksheets anymore, and we do a lot online to cut down on contamination. No other class can come in other than what’s assigned in this room.”
When Yildirim visits classrooms at her school now, she will deliver books that children ask her for.
“It breaks my heart that they can’t browse,” she said. “But we’re making it work.”
And she said that all school libraries have made progress in 2020 than the past 10 years.
“Publishers, authors and librarians are working very hard to make sure kids are reading,” she said. “It’s the least we can do for them during these trying times.”
Taylor Kinsley, a librarian at Minnesauke Elementary School in the Three Village school district, said their schools have been allowing browsing within the libraries.
She said students have to use hand sanitizer before and after touching the books to be sure they have clean hands, and they reorganized the setup of the library, featuring no reading carpets on the floor.
“Elementary students are always excited to have the freedom to pick the books they want,” she said.
The district sanitizes the used books and quarantines them for about a week before putting them back on the shelves.
“I think normalcy is really important for them,” Kinsley added, referring to her students. “We’re being supercautious so why take that away from them?”
On Dec. 11, officers from Harbor Country Day School’s Student Council visited Long Island Elite Limousines in St. James to drop off toys donated to the Suffolk County Toys for Tots program. The toys were donated by Harbor Country Day School students as part of their annual toy drive.
Given the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, more than ever, there was a tremendous need for donations.
Because visitors are not permitted to Harbor Country at this time, and due to social distancing requirements, both the result of COVID-19, this year’s toy drive looked different than in years past. Historically, Harbor Country Day School was a local drop off point in the community and donated toys were picked up by the Marine Corps. This year, Harbor students and faculty loaded toys onto the Harbor Country Day School bus to bring to Long Island Elite Limousines where they were subsequently delivered to Suffolk County Toys for Tots.
Harbor has contributed to the Toys for Tots drive since 1998, when former Harbor employee and former Marine Mike Guido instituted the program. Now retired from the school, the St. James school continues this tradition begun by Mr. Guido.
“We’re honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the Toys for Tots drive and to work … on such a wonderful program,” said John Cissel, Head of School for Harbor Country Day School.
After months of hybrid learning during the COVID pandemic, thousands of Stony Brook University students were awarded degrees at the Winter Virtual Degree Conferral Celebration. The Degree Conferral was webcast on Friday, December 18 at 6:30pm, ET.
Candidates, with their families and friends, were invited to participate in the live-streamed celebration as Bachelors, Masters, Doctoral and Professional, Medical Degrees and Graduate Certificates were bestowed.
During her first graduation address, President Maurie McInnis commended the newly-designated alumni for their fearlessness during these trying times.
“You were brave enough to start at a new school; brave enough to make mistakes, learn new things, and share your opinions. You were brave enough to take risks and allow your minds to change. You were brave enough to excel through this most difficult year in contemporary memory. And you were brave enough to take the leap of faith that is inherent in any commencement,” she said.
In addition, former Stony Brook Southampton faculty member and internationally renowned Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, recognizing his talents that also include achievements as a celebrated playwright, screenwriter, satirist, children’s book author and graphic novelist. After he left the Village Voice where he worked for 42 years, Feiffer joined Stony Brook’s MFA program in Creative Writing and Literature where he taught ”Humor and Truth,” one of the program’s most popular classes.
After receiving his honorary degree this evening, Feiffer said, “When I started on that first day [of teaching at Stony Brook Southampton], I said ‘You have a license to fail and if you don’t take advantage of that license, you really will fail. But if you take chances; if you fall flat on your face; if you just reach out to what you can’t do, I’m going to help you learn how to do it and we’re going to have a very good time together’ and in the years that I taught, we did have a very good time together failing our way upward.”
Pre-recorded remarks for the Conferral Celebration were provided by Interim Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos and Deans from each of Stony Brook University’s Schools and Colleges. For the first time in history, several students from the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) at Stony Brook University conferred their degrees and took their Hippocratic oath during a December ceremony, administered by Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, Dean, RSOM and Sr. Vice President of the Health Sciences.
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