Schools
Honors for Port Washington Students, Faculty And Community Members
First grader Aghelos Kouvaras among the honorees.
The Port Washington School District had many reasons to celebrate this week.
first-grader “who decided from his hospital bed while fighting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that he wanted to help stop the extinction of penguins,” said Board President Karen Sloan.
Sloan read about Aghelos’ achievements and awarded him a certificate of excellence from the board during its Tuesday meeting.
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Aghelos has raised more than $8,000 for the Wildlife Conservation Society to help save the penguins, with the help of his classmates, teacher and parents.
The board also recognized four individuals who were instrumental in establishing the crew team. They were Monika Dorman, Steve Panzik, Mitch Tamkin and Bo Hansen, who all received thunderous applause from the audience when they were called to receive certificates of appreciation.
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This year was the first year , and 96 students are a part of the crew “family,” as Coach Panzik put it.
He also pointed out that this year’s crew team has “made history in Long Island rowing.” The team has won the most medals – four – of any first-year team in the annual regatta. And at the Long Island Championships, where schools from Connecticut and New Jersey also competed, the team entered four events and came away with four medals: two bronze, one silver and one gold medal. “They are the [first] first-year program ever to win a Long Island championship and win a gold medal,” Panzik pointed out.
To top off the evening, several teachers were awarded tenure at their respective schools, as were two administrators and two teacher assistants.
The two administrators were Shirley Cepero, director of ESL at Schreiber, and Stephanie Joannon, director of athletics, physical education and health at Schreiber.
The following teachers were awarded tenure: Alexis Berberabe, Michal Cohan, Marisa DeMarco, Patrick Faraday, Elizabeth Griffin, Amity Howard-Reiss, John Meyer Jr., Stacey Portmore Davies, Victoria Roger, Helen Sachs, Marlene Woska and Maria Convey.
Dolores Costa-Pina and Julia Pepe were awarded tenure as teacher assistants.
The next school board meeting is on June 14 at 8 p.m. at Schreiber.
