District 24 celebrates student, staff achievements
The Valley Stream Union Free School District 24 Board of Education spent much of their most recent meeting honoring their students and staff for their recent accomplishments.
The meeting began with the presentation of awards for the George Shebitz Essay Contest on Thomas Jefferson, named in memory of the district’s attorney who died suddenly in 2006. Each year, fifth-grade students in each of the district’s three schools write essays about Jefferson, who Shebitz studied closely throughout his life. Superintendent Ed Fale said the contest is a personal tribute to Shebitz.
“For those of you who don’t know George, he was our longtime school attorney,” Fale said. “However, he was also a trusted friend and someone who we could all learn from. Whenever he would come into the district, he would always say, ‘Tell me something good.’ … We’re saying something good tonight.”
This year’s winners, Paris Jones of Brooklyn Avenue Elementary School, Gina Stefanescu of William L. Buck Elementary School and Raquel Henao, of Robert W. Carbonaro Elementary School, each related a different fact about Jefferson to Adam Shebitz, George’s son and a judge of the contest.
“Wow, what an amazing set of essays this year,” said Adam, who attended the meeting with his mother, Randi. “They were so well researched and written so well, that I’d like to pass on my congratulations for writing with such passion and conviction. I think I’m finally starting to figure out what Thomas Jefferson’s core contributions to this country were.”
Anti-drug awards
Awards were given to the winners of an annual contest, sponsored by New York Elks Lodge #1 in Lynbrook, which asked students to create posters or write essays depicting their ideas on drug abuse and awareness.
Eight students — Caitlyn Schultheiss, of Carbonaro; Johnathan Greene and Kaitlyn Ross of Brooklyn Avenue; and Ashlyn Hernandez, Zahra Shahid, Ruby Volk, Emma Casey and Sreeya Bobby — were recognized for their efforts in the contest.
Anita Butler, an Elks member who has helped organize the contest for eighteen years, said she was impressed by this year’s entries.
