By Arlene Hinkemeyer
A ribbon-cutting ceremony kicks off the festivities at 7:15 p.m. in the main lobby, with opening remarks by the high school district's superintendent of schools, Dr. Ronald D. Valenti, assisted by student representatives from each of the four Valley Stream school districts.
"Memorial Junior High provides a special welcome to the community this year," said Lights On coordinator and Memorial Assistant Principal Anael Alston, "since our school is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its opening in the 1952-53 school year."
"This is a Lights On For Education with lots of special performances that are not to be missed," said Kate Freeman, president of the Valley Stream Council of PTAs.
Schedule of displays and performances
Bursts of colorful, creative, artistic and academic expression by students in Valley Stream's 10 elementary schools will be on display. District 13 work from the Dever, Howell Road, Wheeler Avenue and Willow Road schools will be located in the auxiliary gym; District 24 work from the Buck, Carbonaro and Brooklyn Avenue schools in rooms 136 and 137 on Memorial's central corridor; and District 30 work from the Clear Stream Avenue, Shaw Avenue and Forest Road schools in rooms 132 and 139 on the same corridor.
High school district
The high school exhibit schedule rotates each year among the schools, from music to physical education to academic to art and career/technology projects.
Starting at 7:30 p.m. in the main gym, the North High kickline will perform several routines with the theme "Kick It Up For School Spirit."
Students from Memorial Junior High will serenade Lights On visitors with string and choral ensembles in the main lobby from 7 to 7:30 p.m., decorate the hallways with colorful 50th anniversary cakes and balloons created by student artists, and showcase their jazz band, jazz choir, chamber singers, orchestra and the Jones Family in Cafeteria B starting at 8 p.m.
The Jones Family includes six Valley Stream children from the second, fourth and sixth grades at Clear Stream Avenue Elementary School and the seventh, eighth and ninth grades at Memorial Junior High, who perform African drumming and dancing in costume, under the name "Ancestral Horizons." They have performed all over the metropolitan area, including Madison Square Garden.
Memorial will also host a Karaoke Time in room 117, where families can sing a '50s tune, and will give hands-on electronic music demonstrations in room 150.
South High students will exhibit academic projects and student science research in room 131, U.S. History "Rocks & Wraps" in room 133, and eighth-grade team projects in room 135.
Central High will showcase art in Cafeteria A, where the district's Career and Technology programs will also give hands-on demonstrations in cosmetology, culinary arts and auto technology. These will include the popular food taste-tests and cosmetology services.
In an exhibit titled "From Curiosity to Conclusion," the Memorial science department will exhibit student science research projects in the second floor science corridor and classrooms. Room 209 will have a display of the lab portion of the New York state eighth-grade science exam for parents to see.
The Valley Stream Teacher Center will host an exhibit in the main lobby.
The PTAs will provide free refreshments in the cafeteria line and sell scholarship squares.
Arlene Hinkemeyer is the high school district's community information coordinator.
