Huntington High School Science Honor Society members have embarked on a new initiative that has extended the organization’s reach into the district’s primary school buildings.
Co-chaired by seniors Julie Rogel and Nina Drakulich, the Science Storytime STEM reading initiative “is a wonderful opportunity to have members of the Science Honor Society read science related books to second and third grade students using Google Meet,” said Dame Forbes, a Huntington High School science teacher who serves as the organization’s faculty advisor. “The goal is to share our love for the STEM field and help open the elementary students’ eyes to all the possibilities and job openings in the field of STEM.”
The new initiative is off to a strong start. “Our first night of Science Storytime was a success,” Ms. Rogel said. “The elementary students were very engaged and eager to learn from our Science Honor Society members. We have some fun activities planned for the future and could not be more excited for the upcoming dates.”
The initiative is still gaining momentum and has been enhanced. Science Honor Society members have consulted with high school librarian Shannon Rucky on the project.
“We are extremely excited about our upcoming dates,” Ms. Drakulich said. “We are very happy with how our first session went. The kids were engaged and interested to follow along with the members of the Science Honor Society. We have added some additional activities for the kids to be able to complete and can’t wait to see how they will continue to engage. We hope to increase attendance as we go along.”
The Science Honor Society’s executive board consists of Rebecca Hoffmann (president), Kianna Criscuola (vice president), Emily Plachta (treasurer), Sophia Marchetta (recording secretary), Erin Ye (fundraising coordinator) and Carrie Kilgour (financial secretary). Teacher Dame Forbes is the group’s faculty advisor.
“The two chairs spent months coordinating dates and times, creating roles for our 30 committee members, discovering activities for the youth involved and making this as successful of an operation as possible during the pandemic,” Mrs. Forbes said.
Science Honor Society members are enthusiastic about the new initiative. “We hope that the read-along program will not only help our society in learning about others’ interest in science, but we hope it’ll leave lasting memories with the kids,” Ms. Hoffmann said. “Because of the current scenario we are in, we want to look for new and innovative ways to spread the love of science in fun ways and the read-along program we are starting will hopefully be one that can impact the future of events of our society.”
Books by children’s author Andrea Beaty are being utilized, including such titles as Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie, Revere, Engineer. Readings are being performed over two nights each for second and third graders at Jefferson, Southdown, Washington and Flower Hill primary schools.
“The read-along program is something the Science Honor society created for elementary school kids to immerse themselves in the science community at Huntington,” Ms. Marchetta said. “Spanish and English translations are available. I think this program is like no other and I’m happy to be a part of it. It just goes to show how Huntington can really bring a community together through different subjects and adorations for those parts of our lives.”
The program is enriching the educational lives of the primary school students. “I think this is a really great opportunity within the Science Honor Society to reach out to younger students in our community,” Ms. Plachta said. “We make presentations for the students in both English and Spanish and complete the read-along virtually. It’s a great way for students at different grade levels to interact.”
To register for the program visit this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_D5tqCmm7AJSfe4zVLATfJ54SnZ3AhnmjFqJV-QdhtY/prefill
The dates and times for each school are as follows:
Jefferson:
- January 7th
- English Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- Spanish Reading: 7:30-8 pm
- March 11th
- Spanish Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- English Reading: 7:30-8 pm
Southdown:
- January 21st
- English Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- Spanish Reading: 7:30-8 pm
- March 25th
- Spanish Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- English Reading: 7:30-8 pm
Flower Hill:
- February 2nd
- English Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- Spanish Reading: 7:30-8 pm
- April 8th
- Spanish Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- English Reading: 7:30-8 pm
Washington:
- February 25th
- English Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- Spanish Reading: 7:30-8 pm
- April 22nd
- Spanish Reading: 7-7:30 pm
- English Reading: 7:30-8 pm