In preparation for Thanksgiving, Tammy Dragelin’s first-grade class at Oquenock participated in a butter-making activity. The students used cream, mason jars and marbles to churn butter the old-fashioned way. Principal Jack Maniscalco sampled some of the butter on a cracker and was impressed.

Junior and county champ Jacqueline Triglia continues to rewrite the West Islip High School swimming record book. She recently competed in the state swimming and diving championship, held Nov. 21-22 at Ithaca College, taking bronze in the 100-yard butterfly with an impressive time of 55.91 seconds, breaking a school record. Triglia also broke the West Islip backstroke record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.11 seconds.

Triglia had previously been crowned Suffolk champion in the 100-yard butterfly for the second year in a row; her time of 57.11 was the best in the county. During this season, she also broke three West Islip school records in the 200-meter individual medley, 100-yard backstroke and 100-meter butterfly. 

The district again broke the record for the highest attendance at the Suffolk County Music Educators Association’s annual Day of Tuba, sending 32 students from grades 5-12 to participate in rehearsals, clinics and a massed ensemble. Several West Islip students were also selected to perform in the event’s All-Star ensemble. Held at Central Islip High School, the event featured several hundred tuba and euphonium players from across the county.

West Islip participating student-musicians were Victoria Swicord from Bayview; Lucille Charbonneau, Joseph Nealon, Savas Sioutopoulos and Colin Stueber from Bellew; Salvatore Randazzo and Matthew Rao from Oquenock; Billy DeWitt, Andrew DiStefano, Alexander Dumitru, James Kennedy, Thomas Mueller and Samantha Rivelli from Beach; Robert Govier, Michael Harbord, Thomas Kerrigan, Sydney Krowles, Laveeza Malik and Daniel Pipitone from Udall; and Matthew Cammarano, Drake Castonguay, Eve Castonguay, Andrew D'Agostino, Jonathan Delanoy, Timothy Hantzschel, Dylan Latargia, Andrew Palmer, Marisa Pastore, Sophia Randazzo, Vincent Santini, Nicholas Vallejo and Nicholas Veiga from the high school.

The counseling department at Udall recently conducted a week’s worth of activities for National Kindness Day. During lunch, the students participated in making a video in which they said kind things. Udall showed the video to the school at the end of the week and had each class create the hashtag #YouAre…, write compliments on pieces of paper and post the papers outside each classroom. As students walked down the halls, they had a chance to see random compliments posted on the walls.  

High school senior Emily McGrade and sophomore Olivia Marker put on an impressive performance at the recent Suffolk County gymnastics individual championship meet. McGrade finished in ninth place on the floor routine and 11th place for all-around performance, while Marker finished in 17th place in the county on vault.