The East Islip School District English as a New Language Department held its third annual ENL Commanding recognition on Oct. 20. A total of 18 students who earned a Commanding score on the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test were honored with an online ceremony at the ENL parent orientation meeting. Administrators met with over 20 community members to provide insight on the ENL program and answer any questions. The winning students, who attend East Islip High School, East Islip Middle School, and Connetquot and John F. Kennedy Elementary Schools, were provided certificates during their classes.

During the 2020-2021 school year, East Islip’s ENL students participated in different models of instructions and then transitioned to in-person learning. ENL teachers were challenged to meet the needs of individual multilingual learners throughout the district. Starting in April, these multilingual students began the NYSESLAT speaking assessment and completed the reading, writing and listening sections in May. The teachers prepared for countless hours and provided intense instruction to support the students during this assessment.

“I am so proud of our teachers who go above and beyond to support our individual students’ needs,” said Robert J. Wottawa II, the district’s director of art, ENL, music and world language. “The results are clear that despite all the challenges, our students had great success last year due to our teachers’ positive impacts.”

The high school’s boys junior varsity volleyball team headed to Smithtown High School West on Oct. 23 to compete in a 16-team tournament. The East Islip athletes started off slow, with some struggles in the pool play, but were able to overcome adversity and win the silver playoff bracket.

“Setter Jake Vessalico and libero Teague Nolan made huge contributions to the team during the playoff rounds, as well as outside hitter Carter Jones, who rose to the challenge when the team needed him most,” said coach Bill Lackner, “Everyone stepped up when we needed them to. In each set of the playoffs, the boys showed an uncommon desire to win. I’m very proud that they were rewarded for their efforts and hard work.”

East Islip students and community members were among the participants in the EJ Autism Foundation’s first annual AutisMile race, held on Oct. 17. The event proceeds will fund the foundation’s work in supporting Long Island programs that help children with autism.

“The AutisMile provided an opportunity to showcase Main Street East Islip on behalf of a great cause,” EJ Autism Foundation founder Bea Huste-Petersen said. “A road mile is a bit of a rare event, but extremely competitive and exciting. It was a great opportunity to have fun running or on the sidelines. We had competitors from as far as New York City and Washington, DC competing for bragging rights and prize money. The event was a great success and we will return next year.”

Fifteen members of East Islip High School’s mock trial team traveled to Harvard University, accompanied by coach Patsy Lester and parent chaperone Pat Blair, for the Angela R. Mathew Harvard Mock Trial Seminar Program, held on Oct. 16-17.

The participants were Emily Blair, Victoria Crowell, Nicole Espinosa, Bella Fantauzzi, Julia Fink, Stephanie Finley, Jacob Franchi, G. Gerondel, Tristan Hearth, Hunter Lasiak, Tyler Oquendo, Kate O'Hara, Luciana Ponciolo, Hanna Ross and Adan Villaneuva.

Team members were excited to compete in person again after a year of online tournaments due to the pandemic. Students attended lectures on trial presentation skills and worked in breakout sessions with the members of the Harvard mock trial team. On Sunday evening, East Islip’s students faced other high school teams in competition as both prosecution and defense in the case of State v. Sutcliffe. East Islip prevailed in both trials and received excellent feedback from the judges. In addition, two seniors, captain Blair and captain and president Gerondel, were recognized for outstanding performance in their rounds.