Community Update

April 11, 2025

Dear Syosset Community:

As you likely know, the State’s computer-based testing system faced some difficulties earlier this week, causing much of our testing to be postponed. While that was somewhat frustrating, there was a remarkable silver lining that appeared. Willits Principal Kelly Morgan shared this lovely story with me.

As classroom teacher Ms. DiFonzo was settling her class after the postponement was announced, she shared with the students that “Syosset was one of the best performing school districts in New York state” and then asked them “why they thought that was so?” They might have responded by crediting their teachers’ skill (and I would concur) or their own capabilities (with which I would also agree). Instead student Abby replied, "It's because we are friendly to each other and we include each other" and her classmate Jayden added, "We are kind, helpful and inclusive." So true.

These students reminded me of the saying attributed to Einstein: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." Perhaps Abby and Jayden created a corollary: “Sometimes the things that count most lead to things that can be counted.”

Spotlight on Instruction 🔦

This week at the High School, the Sophomore class welcomed back Consolee Nishimwe, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. This marks Consolee’s second visit to our school to tell her experience living through these horrors at the age of fourteen. Her miraculous and inspiring story stands as a powerful testament to hope and faith triumphing over unimaginable tragedy.

In her remarks to students, Consolee quoted Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel: “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.” Her visit encouraged students to reflect deeply on the past and its relevance to the present—recognizing the early signs of hate and prejudice, and understanding the vital role we each play as global citizens to not just witness, but to act.

Also echoing Weisel’s words, Syosset students were well represented in the Witness Project, “an intergenerational initiative that pairs high school students with Holocaust survivors to collaboratively create multimedia performances and art exhibits, preserving firsthand accounts of survival and resilience. Through this year-long engagement, students transform survivors’ narratives into powerful artistic expressions, fostering deep personal connections and ensuring these vital stories are passed onto future generations.” Sammy and Whitney Etra (pictured here) were among the Syosset participants (I’ll share the full list in a future update).

Around the District 🏫

Syosset High School last week also welcomed 120 representatives from colleges and universities across the country for our annual college night! The highly anticipated event for students and parents alike is an amazing way for students to speak to different institutions about their admissions process, campus life, popular majors, and unique opportunities at their institutions. Nearly 1,000 parents and students attended.

This is just one of the many ways our Syosset counseling department encourages students to think about what lies ahead after high school. Late last month, a group of sophomores took a Northeastern college tour with stops at Brandeis University, Boston College, Harvard University, and Bentley University. Along the way, they met up with Syosset High School alumni who spoke about their experiences attending these colleges – and learned more about what to consider when applying to schools.

Also this week, I joined several members of our Board of Education and Administration to stop by the annual Eid celebration hosted by Syosset’s Muslim families. I learned to write “Eid Mubarak” in Arabic calligraphy (from right to left, which doesn’t get smudged by us lefties!), saw wonderful student performances, and made friends with so many of our students.

#SyoSTEM

We don’t just compete with athletic brawn, Our Science Olympiad, Robotics and HOSA teams are all, um, gearing up to compete with their brains at national tournaments this Spring!

Our #SyoSciOly team took home first place at the state competition last month for the third consecutive year! There were 60 teams competing – and only the top two move on to the national contest. As gold medal winners, the team is now preparing to head to Nebraska next month, hoping to bring home the district’s first ever national title. We are so excited to hear of all their successes when they return.

After a successful season and a great showing at the regional qualifiers, our Robotics team, the Syosset SuperSonics, will be competing at the World Championship in Houston next week. This is the third consecutive year that they have ranked at Regionals and moved on to Worlds. Our team’s robot, driven by our students, will be competing against some of the best in the world to complete agility challenges including push, pull, and lift. (This sounds like robot Pilates to me.)

HOSA, or Health Occupation Students of America, is a club meant to empower students to become leaders in the health community. At HOSA’s Spring Leadership Conference, our students competed in a range of events – from nutrition, epidemiology, and medical math to community awareness and community public service announcements, where they seek to educate the community through a campaign. Our Syosset team came home with 36 medals – several first, second, or third place, which qualifies them to participate in the International Leadership Conference (ILC) in Nashville this Spring. Congrats to all!

Bright Spot

The Awareness Club held its second annual “Day of Service” this week – which was an opportunity for students to participate in projects that were both enjoyable and helpful to the community-at-large. I popped by the cafeteria between meetings to get a better sense of what they were up to, and found students creating pipe-cleaner flowers, fuzzy cat toys, inspirational cards, and friendship bracelets. The creations were going to support local nursing homes, animal shelters, women’s shelters, and children who are hospitalized.

Watching students lining up to write a card, or twist up a flower reminded me of the poignant quote from Aesop: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

Thank you to sophomore Sophie Weisz for the invite – and all the members of the Awareness Club – for creating dozens of small acts of kindness that together make a big difference.

A reminder that school will be closed next week for Spring recess. When we return from break, on Monday, April 21st, the Board of Education will meet for a special meeting to adopt the budget for the 2025-2026 school year. There will be an audience to the public portion of the meeting for members of the community solely to address the budget.

Two days later, on Wednesday, April 23rd, the Board of Education will meet for its regular monthly meeting. The agenda for that meeting will be published Tuesday, April 22nd. The form to sign up to speak will be on our District website.

We will see you all back to school on Monday, April 21st. Enjoy the time off!

#SyoSpringRecess
Tom Rogers