Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to Ginger Gentile, a senior at East Hampton High School, who was awarded the $1,000 first prize in Group for the South Fork's Third Annual Student Environmental Essay Contest. Ms. Gentile's essay, Giving Trash the Respect It Deserves, proposes a strategy to increase recycling and reduce solid waste in East Hampton. She proposes: 1) restricting the sale of disposable containers; 2) placing recycling bins in public areas; 3) requiring restaurants and small businesses to recycle and compost; and 4) implementing an environmental awareness education campaign.

In her conclusion, Ms. Gentile says that her plan "would not be easy to implement, but revolutionizing the way people think and behave is never easy." She goes on to say that "East Hampton is the perfect place to start because of its large tax base, educated populace, its renown as a tourist destination and its proximity to some of the most beautiful and economically productive natural resources in America."

Megan Zureck, a senior at Westhampton Beach High School, took second prize ($500) in the contest for her essay, Brookhaven National Lab's High Flux Beam Reactor: Researcher's Dream or Environmental Nightmare? Third prize ($250) went to senior Bryan Bookamer, also of Westhampton Beach High School, for his essay, Haul Seining on Eastern Long Island. All essays were judged by the review panel for creativity, form, analytical assessment, creative problem-solving and substantive data.

SEALS and TERN Programs

The 1997-98 environmental education programs, which I have coordinated with the assistance of Erika Haberkorn (Environmental Aide), have reached out to more than 100 classes across the South Fork of Long Island. East Hampton fifth-graders in the SEALS Program felt gale force winds during a blustery field trip to the ocean as part of a lesson on weather and biomes. They also had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing a special planetary alignment during their solar system lessons. Later, they used a basketball court to act out the movement of planets in our solar system. They tracked the phases of the moon to help prepare for a salt marsh field trip wherein they decided what they wanted to learn and how they should learn it!. Through this program, students discovered they preferred the hands-on approach of a lab practical over more predictable testing methods.

TERN classes at the Springs School have brought Springs School fifth-graders into several ecosystems of the South Fork. We have given students hands-on learning in freshwater pond, forest & ocean beach/dune ecosystems along with "imaginary" field trips to a salt marsh. This proactive series of lessons included a special bonus this year of a guest appearance by a local farmer who taught about organic farming and included a "taste test" (the organic spinach and carrots won hands down!). The program culminated with student groups planning their own island communities. Students did an impressive job on their final project and each submitted an essay on their favorite lessons and what they have changed in their life as a result of these lessons.

"Wild" Interns!

Group for the South Fork offers Wildlife Week programs every year, and this year the programs are more popular than ever! Education Intern, Liberty Trimarchi, has visited more than 12 classes and taught about fin whales, diamond backed terrapins, box turtles, Atlantic Kemp's Ridley, osprey and animals of the salt marsh and ocean beaches. She also assisted with SEALS and TERN classes. Liberty has quickly made friends with students from pre-K to 10th grade! Unfortunately for us, her internship ends in May. However, her Fulbright Scholarship will allow her to research the effects of ambient noise on whale communication. She will be doing this important work in Nova Scotia, where she's bound to make lots of new friends. Thanks Liberty!

Please call Vikki Hilles at Group for the South Fork at (516) 537-1400, extension 3010, if you would like more information on any of the Group's environmental education programs.