Current News

Seventh grade students – who have been studying about ratios, proportions and percentages in Eileen Pillig’s math classes – were recently challenged to solve a variety of puzzles to test their knowledge. 

Set up as an “Escape the Room” challenge, the students worked in groups and competed against other teams to be the first ones to solve a series of math problems and obtain a code to unlock a digital lock. The team who successfully solved eight puzzles and opened eight locks would “escape the math classroom.”

“It was a great motivator, as students stayed engaged and worked together as a team to achieve a goal,” Pillig said. “They found the puzzles were much easier when they listened to and supported each other’s ideas. I hope they took away from this that math can be challenging as well as fun, and that working as a team can make a hard task easier.”

The students said that despite the challenging activity, they had fun working together while also learning math.

Rye Neck Union Free School District students – who have been diligently working on their science research projects – earned awards when they showcased their exhibits at the Tri-County Science & Technology Fair, held on April 27 at White Plains Senior High School. 

Congratulations to the following F.E. Bellows students who earned awards in their respective categories:

• Dylan Arouh – first place in the Middle School Biology category. 
• Spencer Elliot and Henry Holtman – second place in the Middle School Chemistry category. 
• Lily Fauci – second place in the Middle School Earth/Space Science category. 
• Max Cea and Osborne Ringstad – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Chemistry category.
• Sydney Healy – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Earth/Space Science category.
• Dalia Mansell and Sela Rozov – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Engineering and Technology category.
• Annie Kasanin and Virgina Latorre – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Engineering and Technology category.
• Melanie Kramer and Sheena Haviland – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Health and Medicine category.
• Sage Abbey and Bianca Canonico – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Health and Medicine category.
• Owen Wagner – “Outstanding” award in the Elementary Physics category. 
• Tammy Zhang – "Excellent" award in the Elementary Physics category.

Congratulations to the following high school seniors who earned medals in their respective categories:

• Nicole Pereira – second place in the Physiological/Experimental Psychology category. 
• Elizabeth Mioli – second place in the Health and Nutrition category. 

Congratulations to the following middle school students who placed in the top three spots in their respective categories:

• Matthew Steeves and Jaime Latorre – first place in the Engineering and Technology category. 
• Isabel Palacios-Ferrer – second place in the Psychology category.
• Derek Ryan – third place in the Biology category.
• Ethan Felenstein – third place in the Biology category.
• Kyle Ryan – third place in the Earth Science category.
• Jeremie Thinat – third place in the Engineering and Technology category. 
• Ella Grann – third place in the Environmental category. 

As a result of their outstanding performance, Steeves and Latorre have advanced to the Broadcom MASTERS competition, a national science fair that is sponsored by the Broadcom Foundation, while Palacios-Ferrer and Thinat were selected as alternates. The top 10% of science fair applicants from across the country are nominated to compete. In addition, Rye Neck Middle School, which had the highest overall average among all other middle schools, won the Susan Schaell Handelman Award for Scholastic Excellence in Science & Technology for the second year in a row.

The Tri-County Science & Technology Fair brings together student-scientists from Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties who showcase their exhibits before a team of judges in their respective categories. 

Rye Neck High School students – who are studying math and computer programming in Shelley Swick’s classes – welcomed representatives from Progate, a company that provides an online platform for coding lessons, for a special visit to their school on April 10.

During their visit, the three representatives – Chandler Azling, Nathan Knight and Sayuri Kojima – hosted coding workshops for the students by giving them access to their platform and allowing them to explore and study different computer programming languages. They also discussed the various applications of programming and how it can be used for web development, data science, digital art and more. 

“In this day and age, it’s really important for all students to have some exposure to coding, so this was a great opportunity for the students to learn from professionals in the field,” 
said Swick, who teaches Algebra 2, Introduction to Programming in Java and Advanced Placement Computer Science, a college-level course with an emphasis on the Java programming language, problem-solving and algorithm development.  

Thomas Crook, a senior who is interested in pursuing a future in computer science, said he appreciated the opportunity to teach himself a new programming language, React, and gain new app development skills through Progate’s platform. 

Swick said the coding workshops were made possible thanks to Takuno Nishimura – a member of the Rye Neck High School Class of 2015, founder and global manager of Progate – who wanted to give back to his high school.

Members of the Rye Neck Model United Nations team spent a day at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan on April 2, where they listened to delegates who discussed their positions concerning the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons during a committee meeting in the Office for Disarmament Affairs. 

During their visit, the students heard speeches from the delegates, who demonstrated varying degrees of support for non-proliferation. They also met with Christopher King, a senior political affairs officer with the ODA, and engaged in meaningful conversation. 

“Our students discussed the history of nuclear proliferation and how proliferation is a more important subject in their lifetimes than in the past,” said Thomas Graziano, a social studies teacher and adviser of the Model UN Club. “As countries have looked to modernize their nuclear arsenals, it has led to clearer divisions in the world concerning those who support and have nuclear weapons and those who don't.” 

Graziano said the discussions in the UN concerning disarmament and weapons of mass destruction cannot be taken lightly.

“It is the future generation – our students – who will have to answer the question of nuclear proliferation in the future,” he said. 

Rye Neck High School students welcomed four prominent community members to their school on April 4 for a panel discussion on “The Future of Race Relations.” Organized by senior Rebecca Tenner, junior Adesuwa Carlton and sophomore Noah Thurer as part of the Independent Learner Program, the event was designed to raised awareness and engage students in meaningful discussions.

“We realize how students have an active voice, and we can show that students’ initiative can really have an impact on our community,” Tenner said. “We hope that by doing this, students will be more aware of their community, who they are as a person and how they act towards [others] in certain situations.” 

The panelists included Jirandy Martinez, executive director of the Community Resource Center; Ernie Ricketts, security director at Rye Neck High School; Danielle Tagger-Epstein, Rye City councilwoman and chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Rye; and Sidney Young, a Rye Neck High School graduate who is a digital account specialist with background in music marketing, distribution, promotions and strategy. Each panelist shared their experiences and encouraged the students to do their part in making the world a better place. 

“You have a certain power in the world,” Young said. “You have to understand what power you have and use it in the positive effect. You have to think about it if you want to change the world around you.” 

Thurer said he and his classmates have taken on a leadership role in bringing the panel together to engage their peers in meaningful discussions about current issues and provide them with different perspectives.

“We lead by example in bringing this together and enabling the rest of the community in forming their own opinions and thinking for themselves about such topics as human rights in our world today,” he said. 

Carlton, who is working on a project that analyzes youth activism and the influence of musicians over time from the civil rights movement to the Black Lives Matter era, said she hopes the panel discussion encouraged students to take action in solving real-world problems.

“I hope they take away solutions to problems of racial inequality and also to think about people who are oppressed in society and do not have a voice and encourage them to have a voice and help others,” she said. 

Members of the Rye Neck High School Science Research program had an outstanding performance at the 19th annual Westchester Science and Engineering Fair, held at Sleepy Hollow High School on March 16. 

Anna Nakagama and Rebecca Tenner, both seniors, earned the Leason Ellis Team Project Award, which is presented to a top team for working well together to achieve a goal. Nicole Pereira, a senior, earned fourth place in the Behavioral and Social Science category. 

“I am so proud of all of the girls who competed in WESEF,” science research teacher Kristen Bonnici said. “Over the past three years they have put so much time, energy and perseverance into a single research project. It has been a fulfilling experience for the girls and myself to watch the evolution of their projects into a sophisticated research experiment. The accolades and awards they have won at the competition are truly well-deserved.”

The competition featured more than 650 projects from 41 high schools from Putnam and Westchester counties. Students presented before a panel of judges, including local experts in the fields of life science, physical science, environmental studies, psychology and engineering.