(December 2021)—As students and staff prepared for the holiday season break, Mr. Brian Suckle, Amityville Memorial High School’s Assistant Principal, introduced Wellness Week in an effort to reinforce the true spirit of the holiday season amidst the hustle and bustle of gifts, parties, and other holiday activities that can draw attention away from the concepts of giving and caring for others.

The idea for Wellness Week was born from the activities and intention of Unity Day, an event celebrated in October. Unity Day is a campaign created by PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. Founded in 2006, the project aims to actively create social change and help put a stop to bullying in youth. Unity Day is a day to bring people together, as a community, to show respect and honor the diversity of people and cultures that make up the community. Mr. Suckle felt those aspirations should not be celebrated on just one day, but every day, and especially during the holiday season which, at its core, is about family, friends, and community.
Wellness Week was designed to help the students and staff to focus on community, family, friendship, mental health, and physical wellbeing. On Monday, December 13th, it was “We Are Family Day.” Students wore their warrior nation sweatshirts and created name tags before class so that everyone knew each other's names. Tuesday, December 14th, was “Being Part of the Community Day.” Students wore their club or team apparel and participated in Unity Day. Students engaged in “Future Me Day” on Wednesday, December 15th by wearing what they want as a future career. Students watched presentations created by the school’s social workers and attended virtual career day. The day was filled with music and rhythm on Thursday, December 16th for “Music Therapy Day.” Throughout the day, fellow Amityville musicians stopped by to cheer everyone up with their musical talent. Students also wore music themed or tye-dye shirts to brighten up the day. The last day of Wellness Week, Friday, December 17th, was “Random Acts of Kindness Day.” Students wore a blue shirt or anything that had a positive message. Tables were set outside of the cafeteria during lunch to hand out kindness cards.

Throughout the whole week, school clubs participated by engaging in holiday activities. The National Art Honor Society distributed intricate holiday-themed coloring pages. The Hispanic Heritage Club welcomed students to take pictures in their Feliz Navidad photo booth. Students and staff competed in themed games, like a reindeer antler ring toss and pin the nose on Rudolph.
Mr. Suckle remarked, "Our Wellness Week has been a time to show kindness, acceptance, and inclusion for all. We are Amityville and united we are changing how we are viewed, showing by example we are inclusive and accepting of everyone regardless of gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. We are also sending a visible message that we are stronger together."
The participation of students from different cultural and extracurricular clubs helped exemplify the diversity of the community and served as a reminder to accept each other’s differences and appreciate uniqueness. Wellness Week was a success, demonstrating clearly how Amityville Memorial High School fosters rich diversity and constantly strives to promote inclusivity amongst its students.

(December 2021)—Amityville Memorial High School welcomed back the Lonnie Kittle/Norm Maisel tournament after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. The tournament holds the distinction of being the longest-running wrestling tournament in New York State, with the first tournament being held back in the 1970s. This year’s edition also represented the first wrestling tournament held in Amityville Memorial High School’s recently dedicated Fred Williams Memorial Gymnasium. Over the weekend of December 4-5, five high school wrestling teams competed in the tournament: Amityville, Mattituck, Lindenhurst, St. John’s the Baptist, and University High School from West Virginia.

“Our Lonnie Kittle/Norm Maisel tournament was a great success, and we were thrilled to be able to bring it back this year for the enjoyment of the Amityville community and the high-level competition it brings forth from the participating teams,” said Evan Farkas, Amityville High School Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Health. “I want to give a huge shout out to all the teams that attended this year, especially University High School for making the long trip from West Virginia to join us !”

The Amityville High School wrestling team finished third overall. Congratulations to our wrestlers who placed in the top six in their respective weight classes:

KyJier Bethea: 2nd place at 110 lbs
Donte Riggsbee: 3rd place at 138 lbs
Josiah Miller: 3rd place at 285 lbs
Enrique Mercado-Torres: 4th place at 285 lbs
Benson Guillaume: 6th place at 126 lbs
Kenneth Garcia: 6th place at 160 lbs
Ignazio Sanchez: 6th place at 189lbs
Matt Buskey: 6th place at 172 lbs

(November 2021)— Amityville Union Free School District’s October Teacher of The Month Nominee has garnered a lot of attention due to her unique and innovative teaching method. Ms. Schgweigert’s Modern Classroom gives students a more individualized approach to learning.

Ms. Schweigert faced the inevitable challenge of her students learning at different paces throughout each lesson. As every teacher experiences, she found herself having to repeat key components of the lesson to cater to those who needed extra instruction, while those who had already grasped it were ready to move on. To differentiate instruction within the classroom and better maximize both her and her students’ time, Ms. Schweigert took the liberty of filming herself teaching each lesson over the summer. This way, after her initial introduction of each lesson, the students are free to watch the remainder of the instruction on their own. They are able to pause, rewind, and replay as much as they individually need so that they can get the personalized instruction they need. It also permits Ms. Schweigert to give individualized attention to students throughout each class session.

“I think this is a great contemporary method of teaching,” said Mr. Edward Plaia, Principal of Amityville Memorial High School. “We are aware that our students have their own way of learning and absorbing information. It is our job as educators to be able to recognize each of our student’s needs. Everyone learns differently and at a different pace!”

In addition to asynchronous video learning, students gain encouragement from each other through a system of magnets on the classroom whiteboard. Each student has their own magnet that is placed in a particular section of the whiteboard to signify their progress throughout a given lesson. For every lesson, there is a Must Do section, a Should Do section and an Aspire section. Students earn their grades as they complete each section.