The Port Jefferson School District Board of Education thanked senior Hailey Hearney for her year of service as the student representative to the seven-member board of trustees.

Hailey’s role this year included communicating student activities and upcoming events at the Board’s monthly meetings. Since September, Hailey’s reports included mention of the smooth transition to the start of the school year, athletic highlights, virtual events, opportunities for student involvement, PSAT and ACT test dates, Spirit Day themes and much more.

Superintendent of Schools Jessica Schmettan commended Hailey’s role as a nonvoting Board of Education representative and applauded her successful high school career, exceptional communication skills, involvement in school and community activities and plans for the future. Hailey was presented with a plaque for her commitment and efforts.

The Port Jefferson School District Board of Education recognized the service of several retirees during the last regular Board meeting for the school year. Executive Director of Human Resources Isha Morgenstern introduced the retirees and commended them for their many years of dedication and service to the students of Port Jefferson.

Staff members from Edna Louise Spear Elementary School include custodians Gary Kenyon and Kevin Winters; senior office assistant Lucy Arnone; teaching assistants Constance Byrnes, Louise Sciotto and Deborah Wilson; and teaching aides Constance Bermel and Bernadine Devlin. Third grade teacher Doreen Marullo was also recognized. Latin teacher Anne Algieri and ESL teacher Regina Paquette, who teach at both the middle school and high school, were honored. Librarian Mary LaSita and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Christine Austen were also recognized for their many years of service in the district.

On behalf of the school community, congratulations!

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Earl L. Vandermeulen High School and Port Jefferson Middle School students participated in The National Latin Exam earlier this spring. Under the tutelage of Latin teacher Anne Algieri, they were among more than 88,000 students from across the country as well as 20 other countries who participated.

Eighth grade students enrolled in Latin IB took the Beginning Latin Exam. Nine students received awards for their outstanding performance on this exam. Alice Snyder, Andi Snyder, Emily Snyder and Maru Sugimoto were each honored with a gold medal, summa cum laude. Emily achieved a perfect score on this exam and was recognized by the National Latin Exam Committee with a special certificate. Caitlin Dickhuth, Breyden Horstman, Josef Joyner, Rumaan Khan and James Morris were each honored with a silver medal, maxima cum laude.

Ninth grade students enrolled in Latin II took the Intermediate Latin Exam. Nine students received gold medals, summa cum laude, for their outstanding performance on this exam. They are Eric Chen, Ryan Gameng, Iris He, Gavin Onghai, Katherine Ranjbar, Alana Samara, Andrew Schretzmayer, Carman Stanton and Michelle Wu. Eric and Michelle achieved a perfect score on the exam. Eric also achieved a perfect score last year on the Latin I exam.

Tenth grades students enrolled in Latin III took the Intermediate Latin Reading Comprehension Exam. Five students received awards for their outstanding performance on the exam. Benjamin Perez-Flesler and Teppei Fukuto each earned a gold medal, summa cum laude. Brendan Capodanno, Jack Keegan and Olivia Schlegel each earned a silver medal, maxima cum laude.

Students enrolled in Latin IV, V and AP Latin took the Advanced Latin Prose exam, and 10 students received awards for their outstanding performance on this exam. Andrew Patterson, Grant Samara and Peggy Yin each earned a gold medal, summa cum laude. Hugo Onghai and Lucas Welinder each earned a silver medal, maxima cum laude. Liam Gameng and Kasumi Layne-Stasik were recognized with magna cum laude, and Ameen Khan, Beverly (Annie) Maier and Hunter Volpi were recognized with cum laude.

Peggy has won a gold medal for the past five years, and Andrew and Grant have now won four gold medals. All three students will be recognized with a special book award by the National Latin Exam Committee in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments.

Congratulations students!