Locust Valley High School students help beautify Soundside Beach in Bayville

Posted Friday, August 15, 2025 12:02 am

Locust Valley High School students, teachers and Bayville village officials helped beautify their community this July.

Courtesy Locust Valley Central School District

Locust Valley High School students Mikayla Pacini, Christian DiPaola, Tyler Banks and Maneet Bedi, garden club coordinator Tina Hament, teachers Jessica DiPardo and Dianna Manning and Giuseppe Sicuranza, deputy superintendent of public works, planted new flowers.

Courtesy Locust Valley Central School District

By Will Sheeline

Four students from Jessica DiPardo’s Locust Valley High School classes spent time this July planting Japanese purple irises at Soundside Beach in Bayville. The summer project came out of a collaboration between Village of Bayville Mayor Steve Minicozzi, Locust Valley Central School District Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Janine Sampino and the schools’ garden club coordinators Tina Hament and Patrick Silvestri.

Hament and Silvestri met with the mayor in May to see how their club could help in the community. The project was suggested by Minicozzi and district officials supported the project, which saw students Tyler Banks, Maneet Bedi, Christian DiPaola and Mikayla Pacini transport perennials and plant them in front of the beach playground. Giuseppe Sicuranza, Bayville’s deputy superintendent of public works, met the group at the beach and helped with the plantings.

Perennial sharing is encouraged by Hament and Silvestri as a way for folks to support their community. District students can contact DiPardo or Hament to participate in future plantings.

Report an inappropriate comment

HELP SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM

The worldwide pandemic has threatened many of the businesses you rely on every day, but don’t let it take away your source for local news. Now more than ever, we need your help to ensure nothing but the best in hyperlocal community journalism comes straight to you. Consider supporting the Herald with a small donation. It can be a one-time, or a monthly contribution, to help ensure we’re here through this crisis. To donate or for more information, click here.