Mepham High School's Josephine Parlagreco honored by Bellmore chamber

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It wasn’t surprising to hear that Josephine Parlagreco, of Bellmore, was spending her winter break in Europe. She is a chemistry teacher at Mepham High School, the adviser of the school’s Leo Club and an active member of the Bellmore Lions, so a vacation seemed well deserved.

What was surprising, however, was Parlagreco’s actual reason for being there: She was helping her husband, Peter, an art teacher at Wantagh High School, chaperone a school trip.

Josephine mentioned on a  call from Madrid that Peter was doing bed checks, so she had a couple of minutes to talk. The group had also visited Rome, Florence and Barcelona, exploring the cities’ ancient streets and art museums. “When they see a piece [of art] that they’ve only seen in a book in real life, it’s really exciting,” she said, “and that excitement is contagious.”

That zest for learning is what Parlagreco aims to convey in her chemistry classes, on service trips with the Leo Club and with the Girl Scouts she advises in the community. It was for these reasons that the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores honored her with the Zagarino Outstanding Community Member of the Year Award on Jan. 25.

“One of the main lessons we teach our kids today are civility and service, and she is a wonderful role model for this,” Deputy Superintendent Dr. Mara Bollettieri said. “This is such an incredibly well-deserved honor for her work in our district.”

A graduate of Calhoun High School, Parlagreco, 57, said that volunteering in the community has long been important to her. As a member of Key Club and vice president of student government, she was able to directly impact those around her through service. “We live in a middle class community, so you think that no one needs help,” she said, “but there are” people who do.

Parlagreco began teaching chemistry at Mepham in 1997. In the classroom, she strives to connect the coursework to real life to make the subject more approachable for students. “We make ice cream and talk about why you put salt down when it snows,” she explained. “These kinds of experiments show [students] how much [chemistry] is in their life … and gives them the confidence to do something that they thought would be too hard.”

Mepham Principal Eric Gomez said the lessons that Parlagreco teaches extend far beyond the classroom. She joined the Bellmore Lions in 2013 to supplement her former duties as a troop leader for her daughters Aurora, now 29, and Deanna, 25, both Mepham graduates. She found a “synergy” between the Lions and the Girl Scouts, she said, as the former encourages young people to continue volunteering into adulthood.

“Service doesn’t stop at high school — it’s a lifelong thing,” she said.

Lions President Camille Raia has known Parlagreco for eight years, and described her as a “dynamic, enthusiastic and motivating role model.” In 2014, Raia said Parlagreco “did all the necessary paperwork” to establish the Leo Club at Mepham, and she has been the club’s adviser ever since. Just as Key Club is the youth branch of Kiwanis, the Leo Club is the youth branch of the Lions.

Mepham’s Leo Club comprises nearly 100 students who complete service projects through Bethany House, Habitat for Humanity, The INN and the Community Cupboard. Another initiative that the Leos are working on, Raia said, is collecting plastic bottle caps to be melted down and recycled into a “Buddy Bench.” The benches are intended to foster new friendships: If children are having trouble or being bullied at school, they can sit on the bench and invite other students to join them so they can become friends.

The idea to erect one at Mepham was Parlagreco’s. “She’s always looking for new ways to help those in the community,” Raia said. “She’s very dedicated and devoted.”

Parlagreco said that the most rewarding part of advising the Leos is being able to introduce her students to altruistic work. “No matter what the job is, the kids will finish doing it and say, ‘When can we do this again?’” she said. “There are so many different places where people could be of help — it’s not hard to find them.”