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LEF Continues Support of District Initiatives:
Lakeland Central School Districts recently recognized the Lakeland Education Foundation for their continued support of worthy projects and activities that benefit the students of the district with the awarding of grants for the Spring of 2008. Created in 1994, the foundation has now awarded almost $309,482 in grants to help enhance the educational experience of students in the district.  This spring, the LEF is awarding more than $23,575 in grants for a wide variety of proposals from both staff and students.

"The Lakeland Education Foundation is pleased to support our teachers and students with innovative programs that assist all students in their education," said LEF President Charles Newman. The proposals that have been adopted include:

Bicycle for Life: George Washington Elementary School, recipient-Ann Everingham

Music Technology and Digital Recording:  Lakeland High School, recipient-Darrin Grimm

Peaceful Playground:  Van Cortlandtville Elementary School, recipients-Theresa Wilkowski and Theresa Fernandes

Reading Can be Fun Through 'Fundations':  Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, recipient- Patricia McIlvenny

Reading Can be Fun Through 'Fundations':  Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, recipient-Karen Gagliardi

Reading Can be Fun Through 'Fundations': Lincoln-Titus Elementary School, recipient-Elizabeth McGowan

Macbeth: Mystery, Mayhem and Murder:   Lakeland High School, recipient-Diane Travis

Let's Play Jeopardy and Other Quiz Games: Walter Panas High School, recipient-Cristina Oliva

Lincoln-Titus Elementary School awarded the 2008-09 Mini-Grant "Listen Up": Congratulations to Lincoln-Titus teachers, Patricia Canini, Jessica Giangrande, Dawn Restivo, and Lindsey Starr, as the recipients of the 2008-2009 Mini-Grant "Listen-Up" awarded by Hudson River Teacher Center.

Lakeland and Walter Panas Orchestra Awarded Top Prize: The Walter Panas High School and Lakeland High School orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Robert Schwartz, took the top prizes in this past weekend's Hershey Park Music Festival. The Symphony Orchestra and String Orchestra both received 1st place with a score of excellent. In addition the orchestras received the "Best Overall High School Orchestra" award. Congratulations to our music students for such an outstanding performance.

Oracle ThinkQuest Education Foundation: Two teams from the district participated in ThinkQuest, an Oracle sponsored Internet competition in which,”Students work in teams to build innovative and educational websites to share with the world. Along the way, they learn research, writing, teamwork, and technology skills.”  Both teams received high evaluations for their work.

Three Walter Panas High School sophomores, Megan Gansfuss, Laura Pizzuto, and Nicole Radzilowicz chose as their topic, “The Changing Face of Political Campaigns.” They spent seven months doing research, conducting interviews, collecting data, and planning, designing and creating an engaging website on this timely theme.  The website is now part of the ThinkQuest Library and is available at this url: http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00103/

Three Lakeland Copper Beech sixth grade students, Zach Power, Kim Nguyen, and Patrick Burns chose as their topic, “The Travel Dragons Explore Chinatown, NY.” They met for many months, gathered notes, files, pictures, food, and designed an attractive website. Click here to explore the wonders of Chinatown, NY with the Travel Dragons.

Lakeland and Walter Panas Orchestra Awarded Top Prize: The Walter Panas High School and Lakeland High School orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Robert Schwartz, took the top prizes in this past weekend's Hershey Park Music Festival. The Symphony Orchestra and String Orchestra both received 1st place with a score of excellent. In addition the orchestras received the "Best Overall High School Orchestra" award. Congratulations to our music students for such an outstanding performance.

Superintendent Awards for Juniors Announced:
The Superintendent's Awards are given to members of the Junior class who display character, integrity, strive hard and have an 80 and above Grade Point Average.  It is given to one male and one female in each of 5 categories, which are Co-Curricular Activities, The Arts, Academics, Sports, and School or Community Involvement.

From Walter Panas High School, they are:
The Arts - Nicole McMahon, Jonathan Borretti; Academics - Pavitra Srinivasan, Michael Saccomanno; Co-Curricular - Hannah-Ruth Civita, Ryan Powers; Sports - Carissa Preuss, Michael Parish; Community Services - Jonathan Hittman, Michelle SooHoo

From Lakeland High School, they are:
The Arts - Sarina Vasta, Matthew Voelke; Academics - Casey McGowan, Michael Quinn; Co-Curricular - Kerry Johnson, Seth Rubin; Sports -Amy Layefsky, Blake Bizovi; Community Services - Janine Belsky, Menelaos Ioannou.

Annual Lakeland Week of the Arts being held at Jefferson Valley Mall from May 12 through May 18:  The art show features student artwork from the district's high schools: Lakeland High School, Walter Panas High School, and the Lakeland Alternative High School.  Work ranges from photography and oil painting to watercolor and drawing. The show will be located on first and second floors of the Mall, located off of Route 6 in Jefferson Valley. The Jefferson Valley Mall has been welcoming the Lakeland School District's artists to the mall for more than 15 years.

District Named Pioneer Award Winner: Lakeland has been awarded the 2008 LHRIC Pioneer Award for Districts which is presented by the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center.  The Pioneer Awards are given every year to a school district, administrator and teacher in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. The awards are in recognition for innovative uses of technology that change teaching and learning. Please note the following details: Event: Pioneer Awards Dinner, Date: Friday May 16th (6:00-10:00 PM), Venue: Hilton Rye Town - Rye Brook, NY. Guest Speaker: Ian Jukes, Topic: Understanding Digital Kids: Teaching and Learning in the New Digital Landscape.

Lakeland High School Guidance Newsletter Correction: A couple of the end of the year dates listed on the LHS Counseling Newsletter were incorrect. Please click on the link below to see the updated and corrected LHS Newsletter. http://lakelandschools.us/do/pkavanagh/Counseling Nsltr May08.pdf

Learning Together: Lakeland High School students taught Thomas Jefferson Elementary School children basic conversational Spanish skills in grades 1-3. The high school students used food, games, songs and books to help the children learn about Hispanic culture. After the completion of the lessons the Thomas Jefferson students were presented with a certificate. Click here to view the movie.

District Science Symposium May 28: The Science Research students of Lakeland and Walter Panas high schools will present the district's annual Science Research Symposium on Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00 pm in the Lakeland High School auditorium and library. The keynote speaker is Jennie Conroy of the the Albany Medical College. The evening's activities will include presentations by students on their science research projects.

Lakeland Students Enter Doodle 4 Google Competition:  Google invited K-12 students to create a logo based on the original around the theme “What if…?”
A panel of judges will select 40 finalist doodles, from which the public will help select a favorite to be featured on Google’s homepage on May 22, 2008. Click here to view the Lakeland's entries.

Panas’ Lance Roller Track, Academic All American: Lance Roller, A senior at Walter Panas High School, capped a great career recently with his selection as both a track and an academic All American.  Signed to attend the University of Virginia, Lane finished fourth  earlier this year in the 800-meter race at the 2008 National Scholastic Indoor Championships . Competing against thousands of the top Track & Field athletes from the throughout US & Canada, his performance earned him earned him All-American status. In addition, he was one of 10 recipient's of the Academic All-American Award.

Lakeland Debate Team Wins New York State Championship: The Lakeland District Debate Team had a very successful New York State Debate Championship recently.  The team of Jason Wright (L) & Taylor Roth (L) won the varsity division of the New York State Championship tournament in Albany with Jason being named the tournament’s best overall individual speaker.

Jason & Taylor were 3-1 in the preliminary debates with a loss to Edgemont. They were seeded 2nd entering the elimination debates.  In the first elimination debate (semifinals), they defeated the Bronx High School of Science on a 3-0 decision.  They avenged their loss to Edgemont in the finals, defeating them on a 3-0 decision.

In junior varsity, the teams of Mackenzie Carroll (P)/Jack Chong (P) and Chris Grossman(P)/Patrick Cheung (L) both reached the semi-finals.  Both teams were undefeated in the preliminary debates (4-0) and were the 1st and 2nd seeds in the elimination debates.  In their first elimination debates (quarterfinals), they defeated teams from the Bronx High School of Science and Baccalaureate.  In their second elimination debates (semifinals), they were defeated by Beacon and another Bronx High School of Science team.  They finished 3rd and 4th.

Jaime Burns (L) and Theodore Maulen (P) also participated in the tournament and finished the preliminary debates with a 2-2 record.

Collectively, the team finished 17-5. This collective record enabled the district to capture first place in the sweepstakes competition – an award given to the program with the best overall tournament performance.
The Debate coach is Stefan Bauschard.

Walter Panas Students Honored in Science Competitions: Walter Panas High School Science Research students were honored with a number of awards at the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair held in March at Pace University.  Walter Panas High School students were among the award recipients: Jonathan Grossman placed first in Computer Science and won the Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award.  Usama Javed won three awards: the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association Award, Yale Science and Engineering Association Award, and Ricoh Sustainable Development Award. Miriam Javed won the CIBA Excellence in Science Award.
More recently, Jonathan Grossman placed first in Math/Computers at the Tri County Science & Technology Fair.

American Math Competition Winners at Panas:
A number of Walter Panas High School students performed well in the recent American Math Competition.
The American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) is dedicated to the goal of strengthening the mathematical capabilities of our nation’s youth.
AMC Level 10: Malcolm Pelletier
AMC Level 12 (Three way tie)
Mackenzie Carroll, Jonathan Grossman, Bei Bei Liu

Lakeland High School FBLA Successful in State Competition: Congratulations to the Lakeland High School Future Business Leaders of America.  Recently, LHS FBLA members attended and competed at the New York State Leadership Conference in Ellenville, NY.  The accomplishments of our students were extraordinary.  They included:
Humanitarian Award
This is a special award given to one student in all of New York State, who has demonstrated all the aspects of a good leader and given back to his or her community through volunteering.  Christian Hall is the recipient of this award.
Business Achievement Awards
The Business Achievement Awards are set up into levels. Each level consists of business, education and service components.  Lakeland is proud to have nine recipients of the Future Level Achievement Award.  They are Patrick Cheung, Emily Gomez, Christian Hall, Mike Ioannou, Akhil Neti, Nikhil Neti, Raj Pandya, Ronak Patel, and Jessica Varghese.

Stormwater Management Meeting: The Lakeland Central School District will hold a public meeting on Stormwater Management in the district on Tuesday, May 20 at Van Cortlandtville Elementary School, Route 6, Mohegan Lake at 7:00 p.m. The public will have the opportunity to ask questions at that time.  Click here for more information.

Lakeland SEPTA Fundraiser Tuesday, May 13: The Lakeland Special Education PTA will hold a fundraiser at the Cortlandt Town Center McDonalds on Tuesday May 13, 2008 from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Proceeds from the event will help fund graduation awards and teacher grants in the school district. Click here for more information.

Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School and Bobcat Productions Presents "The Odd Couple” MAY 8-10:  The performances will be held at Lakeland High School on Thursday, May 8 & Friday, May 9 (Male Versions), at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 10 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (Female Versions.)  Tickets will be available at the door.  The ticket cost is $8:00 for adults and $5.00 dollars for children/students.

Forum on Dangers of Alcohol and Drugs May 8 at Walter Panas High School: On Thursday, May 8, Walter Panas High School and the Cortlandt Community Coalition will present a forum for parents, students, athletes, and coaches on the dangers of alcohol and drugs. Dennis O'Sullivan, VP for Professional and College Development, American Athletic Institute will present "Pure Performance" in the Performing Arts Center at Walter Panas High School beginning at 7:00 pm. Mr. O'Sullivan is a former New York Jet and is the former Director of NYC Government Affairs for the NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services  For more information, contact Melissa Bianchini (914) 739-2823 x301.

The 2008 Northern Westchester College Night Tuesday, May 6: The event will be held at Fox Lane High School in Bedford from 6:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. Click here to view a list of the workshops being offered with details on the presenters and topics covered.

FBLA COMPETITION
For the competitions, the following students placed among the top in all of New York State.
CJ Bonifati and Ronak Patel (10th grade) placed first in Entrepreneurship Team**

**This event gave both students a $1,000 scholarship to Johnson & Wales

Raj Pandya, Christian Hall, and Mark Fitzgibbon placed first in Management Information Systems Team. Akhil Neti placed second and Nikhil Neti placed fourth  in Introduction To Parliamentary Procedure. Mark Fitzgibbon placed second and CJ Bonifati placed fourth in Introduction To Technology Concepts. Mike Ioannou placed fourth in Computer Problem Solving. Ajay Murthy placed fifth in Cyber Security.
OFFICERS
Two Lakeland students were elected to represent New York State: Courtney Ferguson – State Parliamentarian, and Jackie Rapetti – State Reporter .
We would like to acknowledge our outgoing New York State Officers for their outstanding work and contributions to FBLA for the 2007-2008 school year. Courtney Ferguson served as New York State Secretary, and Emily Gomez  as State Vice President for District 3S. 
Only one student from New York State is supported in pursuing a position as a national officer.  This year NYS is supporting Courtney Ferguson as our NYS National Candidate for National FBLA Secretary. Charlene Nigro is the advisor for the Lakeland High School FBLA.

Panas Gymnast DiMarco Competes in State Tournament: Walter Panas’Amanda DiMarco qualified for the New York State Gymnastics championship and was a member of the Section One team that finished fourth. Additionally, she was named 2n d team All Section One.