Kids & Family

Good News: Stolen 9/11 Flag Returned, Unidad Latina Conference

A look at some of the inspiring headlines from around the region this week.

I am so sorry. I had no idea.

Those were the words written on a note that accompanied a neatly folded American flag that was left on a Huntington Station doorstep sometime overnight Thursday.

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The flag, which flew over Ground Zero following 9/11, had been stolen from a flagpole at the home of Melissa Ielpi-Brengel earlier this week.

Ielpi-Brengel's brother Jonathan Ielpi, a firefighter with FDNY Squad 288 in Queens, died on 9/11, and the flag was one of many given to 9/11 families to fly outside their homes between Memorial Day and July 4, and again on Sept. 11.

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Long Island Teacher Creates App To Aid College Planning Process

Trish Portnoy, a teacher at West Islip High School, understands that teenagers have an unshakable fixation with their mobile devices.

With that in mind, she created College Push, an iPhone app meant to “support and guide high school students through the college planning, selection and application process.”

Here are some of the inspiring stories of the week, where community members sought to help others, or made headlines for their achievements.

Sound Beach Fifth Grader Wins 1st Place in Statewide Art Contest

Marianna Kalin, a fifth-grader at Laddie A. Decker Sound Beach School, won first place in the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officers’ (NYCOM) first-ever Magazine Cover contest, a statewide contest that asked fifth-graders to illustrate an example of “involvement in your local government.”

“Marianna displays a true talent and passion for art,” said Michelle Stylianou, an art teacher at Laddie A Decker. “Her understanding of the task at hand coupled with her ability to depict government involvement made it possible for Marianna to win the NYCOM Cover Contest. I am extremely proud of Marianna and am eager to see her continued success in the future.”

Senate Holds Fourth Annual Unidad Latina Conference

The New York State Senate held the Fourth Annual Unidad Latina conference, co-hosted by Molloy College in Rockville Centre and Círculo de la Hispanidad on June 28.

That's when hundreds of community, business, and elected leaders attended the daylong conference to further increase economic opportunities for the growing Hispanic population in New York .

The conference "helped community leaders share insight into ways that we can work together to create a brighter future both for our state’s Hispanic communities and all New Yorkers,” Senate Majority Coalition Co-leader Dean Skelos said.

It also "proved to be very informative and helpful in crafting public policy in the months to come,” he added.


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