Central scientists’ work on display

Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District students recently came together to celebrate two groups of science students from Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools during Young Scientists Night on May 19.

The evening began with the Little Big History Fair featuring the work of students enrolled in the Big History Project and concluded with the Central District’s New York State Science Honor Society induction ceremony. 

More than 45 ninth-graders from Big History classes at each of the district’s three high schools displayed their capstone research projects for parents, family members and peers at the Little Big History Fair. District officials said that the Big History Project, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, combines the earth science and global history classes into one course, and is taught collaboratively with a science and social studies teacher in back-to-back periods. 

The curriculum is woven together from the two disciplines through nine predetermined thresholds, or key points in the 13.7-billion-year history of the universe, including the Big Bang, formation of stars, formation of chemical elements, formation of earth and the solar system, life on earth, collective learning, farming, the Industrial Revolution and the future, examining the causes and effects of these events. The capstone project required students to select their own topics and connect them to three or four key points in history.

Some 152 students from the three high schools were inducted into the Central District’s chapter of the New York State Science Honor Society. Principals from each school congratulated students as they made their way across the stage to receive their certificates, and teachers offered their regards. 

“As I look out at the new inductees, I see bright young women and men who have already begun to distinguish themselves as young scientists in our school community,” said Robert Soel, Kennedy’s science chairman.

During the induction, students Jenna Rudolfsky, Samuel Epstein and Sasha Deshuk-Flores, from Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham, respectively, spoke about their experiences in various science programs and clubs throughout the district and the impact that they have made on their lives. Calhoun students Aliz Kozin and Rachel Ross and Mepham students Kiara Kaylor and Erica Miller assisted in lighting the four candles that represent the society’s pillars –– academic achievement, character, leadership and service. Kennedy’s Beatrice Brown read the honor society pledge.