Students at West Islip’s Manetuck Elementary School raised a total of $4,521.92 during the past school year for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, culminating in Manetuck’s 14th annual seal release last month. The seal was injured and rehabilitated at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation before being released back into the wild at Robert Moses Beach.

The students raised the money with a schoolwide “Rallying for Riverhead” event, earning donations from sponsors every lap that they walked around the school’s bus circle. The top three earned the chance to raise the door on the seal’s cage for its release.
During the rally, facilitated by teachers Kerri Ierardi and Sue Marullo, the importance of marine research and preservation was discussed in the classrooms, and each student at Manetuck created a work of art related to marine life for display art teacher Tom McGunnigle.

IMG_4557, IMG_4559: Students at West Islip’s Manetuck Elementary School rallied to raise $4,521.92 for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, culminating in the school’s 14th annual seal release.

Photos courtesy of the West Islip School District

A concerted yearlong effort by student clubs at Islip High School led to the donation of Brady Buggy to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital’s cancer center. The Brady Buggy, a mobile cart that allows sick children to leave their rooms and move around the center with their IVs attached to the handle of the cart, was presented to the hospital on June 21.
The campaign, led by Joan Smith on behalf of Islip’s American Legion Rusy-Bohm Post 411’s Suffolk County Ladies Auxiliary, collected aluminum can tabs to recycle to raise funds to purchase the buggy. Among the high school organizations participating were the Islip High School Junior Chamber of Commerce Club and adviser Renee Clock, the Interact Club and adviser Karen Volkmann, and the Student Union and adviser Ann Gordon.
“Knowing that our students and staff were part of this project is rewarding,” said Clock. “To watch a little boy at the center get wheeled around by his grandmother and be able to play in the playroom was priceless. I am thankful to my colleagues and the students at Islip High School, and also our community members, who helped contribute to the Ladies Auxiliary’s Children and Youth Project this year.”

IMG_1451: A donated Brady Buggy was presented to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital’s cancer center on June 21, the result of a concerted yearlong effort by student clubs at Islip High School for the American Legion Rusy-Bohm Post 411’s Suffolk County Ladies Auxiliary.

Photo courtesy of the Islip School District

Josh Watson knew exactly how the youngsters performing a football drill felt Wednesday as they joyfully sprinted around the Hughes Stadium turf.

Watson, you see, spent several years participating in Boys & Girls Club activities while growing up in the Kansas City, Mo., area. So, seeing 78 youngsters from across Larimer County beaming while going through skills drills left him with a wide smile.

Smiling faces were everywhere when CSU student-athletes worked with kids from Boys and Girls Clubs of Larimer County at Hughes Stadium.
“Giving back to the community is the most important thing we do in CSU football,” said Watson, a sophomore linebacker for the Rams. “It’s great being out here and seeing these kids with smiles on their faces. It brought back a lot of fun memories for me.”

First-time event

The kids came from Fort Collins, Loveland and Wellington – all participants in Larimer County Boys & Girls Clubs. The event was a first for both organizations, but judging by the enthusiasm displayed by the kids and the 50 or so members of CSU’s football, volleyball and soccer teams, Wednesday’s event was the start of a new tradition.

“This is one of the best things we’ve ever done – it’s just incredible!” said Kaycee Headrick, director of operations for LCBGC. “The kids have been so looking forward to this, and they are having an amazing time.”

The kids, ranging in age from 6 to 14, had to sign up for the event, and every available seat was taken, said Andy Abbott, the program and outreach coordinator for LCBGC.

The kids were divided into groups and taught various drills for each sport. Kids spent 30 minutes focusing on each represented sport, catching football passes, working on volleyball serves and booting balls into the back of soccer nets before rotating to the next sport.

After eating lunch provided by McDonald’s on the stadium’s concourse, the kids were given CSU gear and had the opportunity to chat one-on-one with the athletes while getting autographs.

The event was a literal eye-opener for Paulina Hougaard-Jensen, an incoming freshman from Denmark who arrived from Copenhagen just nine hours prior to the kids’ arrival at the stadium. She loved the experience.

“I wish I had the chance to do something like this when I was a kid,” she said. “It was really fun.”

Rams quarterback Nick Stevens was tossing passes and handing out praise to kids doing everything in their power to impress the student-athletes – many of whom towered over the youngsters.

“I would have loved to have done something like this when I was their age,” he said. “The kids are having a great time, and so are we. I know we all feel like any time we can give back to the community it’s a great thing. It’s a huge part of being a student-athlete at CSU.”

The first-year event is part of an expanding relationship with Boys & Girls Clubs both in Larimer County and in the Denver metropolitan area. Patrick Krza, assistant director of community outreach in the Department of Athletics, said future events are planned with Boys & Girls Clubs, including those that will bring kids to campus.

Source: http://source.colostate.edu/student-athletes-connect-with-boys-girls-clubs/

A group of UNC student-athletes traded their cleats for construction gear Saturday.

Luke Ciocca is a junior at UNC. He’s also a soccer player. On Saturday, he added handy man to his résumé.

“We’re mulching; we’re moving siding,” Ciocca said. “And I’ve come out and helped move cardboard as well as heavy lifting.”

Ciocca was one of over 100 UNC student-athletes who participated in the first Day of Service on Saturday. It’s a partnership with the Orange County Habitat for Humanity. Athletes from at least five different teams worked side-by-side with Habitat workers to finish a group of houses in Efland, so families could move in as quickly as possible.

“We wanted to find a summer project where a lot of our student-athletes could come together and give back to the community since they have a little more free time in the summer,” UNC assistant director for student-athlete services Korie Sawyer said at the event.

She said the project was so successful that they had almost too many people and not enough jobs to divvy up.

“This is the first time we’ve had kind of a big service project Day of Service,” Sawyer said. “And we think we might have to do it again in the fall and spring because there was a good turnout.”

Hannah Strom is the communications manager for Habitat for Humanity of Orange County. She said Saturday was one of the most successful volunteer days Habitat has ever had.

“I think one of the great things about working with sports teams is that they’re so used to being a team and working together that they’re just a really fun group of students to work with,” Strom said.

Ciocca said he hopes to continue days of service with Habitat for Humanity, because he feels it’s so important to do something that helps the community.

“It’s something that UNC really tries to do is give back,” Ciocca said. “Especially student-athletes, because we have a lot of stuff that we get and so we try to give something back.”

Habitat for Humanity members also said they hope to plan more days of service like this in the future.

Source: http://chapelboro.com/featured/unc-student-athletes-team-up-with-habitat-for-humanity-for-efland-build

West Islip High School student and cancer survivor Kyle Dorr held a cancer awareness event in May, raising $1,150 in funds for the Cancer Center for Kids at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola.

Dorr, who will start his junior year in September, is a survivor of leukemia and still receives his care at the Cancer Center. Seeking to raise awareness for childhood cancers and donations for the facility, he reached out for support to school and district administrators and teachers. The Dorr family donated silicone bracelets that read, “West Islip Lions Stand Up to Cancer,” that he designed himself.

“Kyle is one of the most determined students I know,” said ​Sharon Kerrigan, the high school’s nurse, who assisted him in the project along with the school’s West Islip Students with HEARTT club.

In addition to the monies raised for the Cancer Center, which he presented to a hospital representative in June, Dorr and the staff at the district’s Beach Street Middle School also raised money for a local student who is just starting his battle with cancer.

Said Dorr, “I am a patient at the Cancer Center for Kids at Winthrop University Hospital, an amazing place for children fighting the hardest fight of their life, cancer. I decided to hold this fundraiser to give back to the wonderful people that saved my life. The center is full of great people: physicians, a clinical psychologist, child life specialists and a music therapist. This is a truly wonderful place for children fighting the battle with cancer.”

IMG_0671: West Islip High School student and cancer survivor Kyle Dorr held a cancer awareness event in May, raising $1,150 in funds for the Cancer Center for Kids at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola.

Photo courtesy of the West Islip School District