Hundreds attend SSHS’s open house

The Jeffers family has a dilemma.

Kevin Jeffers’ son Ryan is a seventh grader at St. Agnes Cathedral School and the family is already thinking about what high school he will be attending. Ryan was at South Side Middle School, but his parents didn’t like the environment there and removed him in favor of St. Agnes.

On a whim, father and son attended South Side High School’s open house on Nov. 9 to see if anything had changed. After speaking to several students and seeing all of the new facilities and clubs, both of them concluded that a return to the public school may not be out of the question.

“We’re paying the taxes for it and it’s hard to want to spend more money unless it’s the right thing,” said Kevin Jeffers. “But until we came here tonight, it wasn’t on the table. Now, it’s on the table.”

The Jeffers were among the hundreds of people who visited the high school on this night, including Rockville Centre Mayor Francis X. Murray and district superintendent Dr. William Johnson.

In a 42-month span, South Side underwent a major facelift, improving its facilities as well as student safety thanks to a $45 million bond that also helped expand Watson Elementary School. The new amenities included the library, the science and art wings, a virtual reality lab, and athletic facilities. New wings replace the portable classrooms that used to be on the south side of the building.

Many of the visitors brought their younger children to see what their educational futures hold. Lauren Baum graduated from South Side in 1996 and attended the open house with her two sons, nine-year-old Michael and seven-year-old Lucas. As she watched her boys drive mechanical cars around a figure-eight sheet in the robotics room, Baum was excited to think about how future students will embrace the new hands-on technology.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “They’re very, very lucky to have all this and it’s nice to do this tonight because I feel like a lot of the kids that aren’t in high school don’t know everything that they have available to them.”

Feet away, freshman Quinn Reynolds was handling a Double Robotics telepresence robot with a tablet. The robot moves on wheels and has a video screen on the top that showed his face. Reynolds drove the robot into the hallway for all to see.

“In a school that kinda has a technology department that’s lacking in certain areas, it’s nice to spark interest in something that kinda needs more interest,” Reynolds said.

Upon entering the high school lobby, visitors were greeted with red and blue balloons and representatives from the National Honor Society that provided information about each club and maps on where to find them. Musical bands and soloists performed in the eastbound hallway the entire night and volunteer parents, faculty members and students manned dozens of tables throughout both floors of the school selling baked goods or promoting their departments or clubs.

In the gymnasium, there were athletes representing each of the teams, two badminton courts and a basketball shooting line in which participants were assisted by a ball-passing machine. The high school’s cheerleaders manned one of the doors to add spirit to the festivities.

Upstairs, the new library hosted The Sportsman newspaper, Context Literary Magazine, the Harry Potter, coding and book clubs, and Habitat for Humanity.

History teacher and newspaper supervisor Vincent Falivene said the changes to the school have gone beyond aesthetics.

“It really enforced the mission here,” said history teacher and newspaper supervisor Vincent Falivene about the changes. “I think I’ve seen a change in the students too. I’ve see the kids congregating a little more and actually working on their work.”

The wood shop was also a popular destination for visitors as students at four different tables were sawing, drilling and sanding their masterpieces. There is a special computer lab in the back of the room that helps the students design their projects.

“What wood shop on Long Island has a computer lab hooked up to it?” said technology teacher David Beinlich. “The facilities are unbelievable. These kids learn differently than they did when we did.”

South Side principal John Murphy was very impressed with the overall turnout and how the students performed in helping promote the school and its new additions.

“It’s prideful in that I get to see it every day,” he said. “Now the community gets to know why I look forward to coming to work every day.”