Congratulations to our cross-country boys team of Brian Veit (1st overall), Cooper Schoch, Owen Okst, Royce Perera, Jack Reilly and Will Ledezma who took first place at the Jim Smith Cross Country Invitational at Sunken Meadow State Park on Saturday. Great job also to Brennyn Veit who finished 8th out of 108 runners in the girls sophomore division!

High School senior Sophia Knapp serves as a voice of her peers as a student representative to the seven-member Port Jefferson School District Board of Education. Sophia was approached by guidance counselor Ms. Kathi Galvin for the volunteer position where she will report on student activities and upcoming events at the Board’s monthly meetings throughout the school year. “It is an honor to be chosen as the student representative for the Board of Education,” Sophia said. “I am so happy that I get to represent my school at the meetings and provide the board with information and events currently happening.” In addition to serving as a nonvoting Board of Education representative, Sophia is a member of the school’s Varsity Club, Interact Club, National Honor Society and the vice president of the Senior Class. She is also a member of the varsity lacrosse and varsity soccer teams.

To recognize the commitment and hard work of staff over the summer months, the Port Jefferson School District Board of Education honored members of the district’s technology, security, facilities and clerical departments at its Sept. 10 meeting. Representatives from each department were in attendance to receive a certificate of recognition. Director of Facilities Fred Koebel followed the recognition with a comprehensive presentation on the progress of district facility upgrades and capital projects that were addressed over the summer.

The district extends a thank-you to all members of the staff for helping to ready the schools and facilities to welcome students on the first day of school.

Ray Bradbury’s science fiction short story, “A Sound of Thunder,” was the universal text that all Earl L. Vandermeulen High School students read this summer. Once school began, students took several days of in-class discussion and interaction with the text before meeting in the library for a lively, multigrade exploration of the story’s plot, characters, the Butterfly Effect and a guided time travel expedition to the Cretaceous period.

According to English teacher Michael Augello, the reason the school year begins with an activity like this is to get students used to the expectations for their classes and to reflect and learn about what good readers do when reading, analyzing and writing about literature.

“When the students come together and meet with other classes (especially different grade levels), they are amazed at the different perspectives other students and teachers bring to the conversation,” Mr. Augello said.