Catch Up with our News

Director of Upper School, Harry Grzelewski, announced yesterday that Kayla Guo ‘18 has been named a Commended Student in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, was presented by the Director of Upper School to this scholastically talented senior.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2018 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2018 competition by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

“The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

On Saturday, September 16th, 2017, Portledge School celebrated the opening of the new Portledge Commons - a 28,000+ square foot facility located on the school’s picturesque 63-acre campus. The ceremony included remarks from Student Council President, Katharine Mulry ‘18, Board of Trustees President, Samara Meshel, and Head of School, Simon Owen-Williams. Current students, alumni, trustees, parents, and more came together to support this exciting milestone in Portledge’s history.

The construction of the Commons is a testament to the substantial growth the school has experienced in recent years and is a direct result of the generosity of many members of the Portledge community.

Highlights of this new building include an expansive dining and social area, seven new classrooms, a black box theatre, and a technology hub.

A cocktail party was also held on Friday evening for Donors, Board Members, and Administration.

On Monday, September 11, 2017, the Portledge Community came together to remember those who lost their lives at Ground Zero 16 years ago. Dean of Students, Jonathan Hastings, welcomed everyone to the ceremony and began by asking all in attendance to join him in a moment of silence. Peter Macchiarulo ‘18 and Oliver Gross ‘18 played their trumpets as the students, faculty, and staff recalled that tragic day that shook our nation.

Shay Mahon ‘18, who lost her father on September 11, courageously spoke about how she chooses to honor her father everyday by being a strong, young woman and constantly supporting those around her. Special guest, Doctor Anthony Colantonio, who rode his bicycle from his home in Garden City, NY to Ground Zero on September 11, 2001 to help with search and rescue, addressed the Portledge Community not with sorrow, but with hope for the future. He called on all students, faculty, and staff to move forward from this day treating others how they would like to be treated, and when in doubt, to always be kind.

The ceremony concluded with Mr. Schwartz and Cole Mastacciuola ‘18 performing a rendition of Imagine by John Lennon. Although a majority of our students are too young to remember the events that took place, Portledge holds this very touching annual ceremony to raise awareness and ensure that our loved ones may be gone, but they will never be forgotten.

Yesterday we welcomed back students and faculty, new and old, to the first day of another academic year here at Portledge School. The campus was filled with excitement and energy as students were bustling around the school grounds, particularly around the new Portledge Commons, the school’s first capital campaign since 2003. Students were able to eat lunch in the new Dining Hall and attend classes in the new classrooms. When speaking to some members of the 12th grade they spoke highly of the new building with one student saying, “This building is so amazing. We’re definitely bummed we’ll only get to enjoy it as students for one year, but can’t wait to come back as alumni and enjoy it more, especially to watch athletic games from the patio.”

The day concluded with an all-school assembly featuring speeches from Katharine Mulry ‘18, Student Council President, and Ryan Levy ‘22, Middle School Student Council President, who reflected on their time at Portledge and highlighted memories that made Portledge special to them. The assembly started a new tradition that involved those students in the Middle School and 12th grade, who have attended Portledge since 1st grade, handing out a pin to each student in the current 1st grade class. The pin features the 1st graders graduating year on it, and we look forward to building this tradition in order to strengthen the Portledge community. Head of School, Simon Owen-Williams, concluded the assembly by charging all students to keep in mind the theme for this school year - collaboration. We’re excited to see our students explore, create, and excel during this year at Portledge School.

 

The Portledge Arts Council was formed with the intent of enriching and growing the arts program for students at Portledge. The Council consists of alumni, parents, and faculty members, and meets regularly throughout the year to plan art-related events and outings.

Each year the Council invites an alumna/us to come back to campus and speak to the Middle School and Upper School students about her or his professional experience in the world of art. On February 3, we were honored to have Suzette Bishop ’02 speak to the students about her professional experience in the music industry in a Town Hall meeting.

It was a nerve wracking, yet exciting day for the Portledge robotics teams that attended the FIRST Tech Challenge Qualifier at Syosset High School on January 28th. Team 7417 had a successful, undefeated day (5-0) and was ranked number two out of twenty eight teams going into the semi-final elimination round. This seeding secured them an alliance captain spot. Team 11649 was ranked 9th after pool-play and was having a really solid day, too, which was thanks to some great driving skills and a reliable ball launching mechanism. Sadly, Team 8818 had major issues with their robot controllers and modules. Mechanically it was a sound robot, but some unknown issue kept causing an error. Though the students on Team 8818 were disappointed, they never gave up and spent the entire event trying to troubleshoot the various issues that kept popping up.

On Friday, January 20th Portledge alum Alexander Meshel '14 led the Columbia University EMS (CUEMS) team in the certification of the entire 10th grade class in CPR. Alexander is currently the Director of the CUEMS, having received his EMS certification in the time between his freshman and sophomore year. Currently a junior at Columbia, Alexander is on the pre-med track and was accepted into the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he will begin in 2018.

Alexander along with his sister Zoe Meshel '19 worked together to develop the plan to certify the 10th grade class.

The Key West Half Marathon® in Key West, Florida was run through Key West’s historic Old Town and waterfront areas on January 15, 2017, during the annual Key West Half Marathon®. The sporting challenge took place on a flat, fast 13.1-mile half-marathon course in the scenic island city. Now in its 19th year, there have been participants from all 50 States and 14 countries,  including Denmark, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Brazil to name a few to compete in Key West’s balmy January climate.

Portledge School US Science Bowl Team of Alexandra Boyatt '20, Luca Caviezel '20, Liam Pharr '20, Christian Dam '20 and Ansh Amin '20 will be representing Portledge at Brookhaven National Laboratory at the Regional Science Bowl on Saturday, January 28th. This year's coaches are Mrs Allen and Mr Johnson. Science Bowl is a tournament style competition where our team will compete against other local High Schools for an opportunity for prizes and to move on to the National Competition.

The Portledge campus offers an environment to both the students and faculty like no other.  From the stunning campus to the uniqueness and beauty of the Lower School, I have found myself able to think and plan freely while collaborating with administrators to help make wonderful things happen at Portledge for our students. One of the wonderful things that has been created, as a result of the environment that Portledge has to offer, is the tumbling room in the Lower School.

 

In August, the tumbling room was a storage closet, with shelves fixed to the wall and various equipment from wall-to-wall. The maintenance crew and Athletic Department worked together to clean out the room and remove the mats, order custom mats to fit the walls, and then fix the mats to the wall. The tumbling room is now bright and colorful, and few Portledge seniors are working on potentially adding more color with a mural as a senior project!

 

The tumbling room is primarily used for the early childhood physical education classes as they explore various units, such as Kidnastics (modified gymnastics), in a safe environment. If a student takes a spill, you can rest assured they will not come home with a  bump or bruise as the room has wall-to-wall mat coverage on the floor, as well as on the walls (just as in the gymnasium)! This room has proved to be more than just a room for PE - some Lower School classes have been able to take advantage of the space for recess, etc. when the weather is not favorable. The upper grade levels also get to enjoy the tumbling room for special games/activities and future PE units, such as yoga.

 

I am beyond grateful to work in a place that has the ability to create such a useful room to benefit all of our students! I look forward to the tumbling room evolving to a final product with a beautiful mural and a word wall to encourage continued literacy development. Thank you to the administration, athletics department, and maintenance for bringing this room to life!

Portledge School’s Upper School robotics classes are nearing the end of building, coding, testing, and redesigning their competition robots before the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) qualifier competition on January 28th at Syosset High School.

This year’s competition is called Velocity Vortex and consists of three periods per round: “Autonomous,” “Driver Controlled” and “End Game.”

During the 30 second Autonomous period, student robots will execute preprogrammed routines to try to complete specific tasks, like parking in a designated area or moving game elements from one location to another.

Things get even more exciting in the Driver Controlled period when students pick up game controllers to drive their robots, attempting a number of new tasks, including shooting balls into an elevated target.

During the End Game, students can continue to try to score points available during the Driver Controlled period, or they can attempt to pick up and raise the Cap Ball (21 inches in diameter, weighing just under 2 pounds) completely Off of the Playing Field Floor and either keep it raised until the end of the Match or they can place it on a raised platform about 3 feet off the ground. They will receive points based on how high it is raised or if it is "capped."

This will be Portledge’s fourth year participating in the competition, but its first year bringing three teams. FTC Team 7417 is made up of students: Sander Davis '17, Josh Yoder '18, Taylor Della Vecchia '18, Max Murphy '17 and Kyle Chang '17. FTC Team 8818 is made up of students: Jordan DeCade '17, Nik Ereshkin '18, Ian Ross '17, David Yardeni '17, Nicolas Caviezel '17, Anthony Porrino '17. FTC Team 11649 is made up of Ke Cheng Yu '18, Andrew Herzig '18, Scotty Osani '17, Jeremy Berger '17, Ben Zemel '18. The teams are coached by Mr. Coleman and Mr. Nelson. Wish our students luck!

On Friday, December 2, 2016, students, teachers and parents at Portledge School in Locust Valley wore red sneakers (and other red apparel) in support of the Red Sneakers Foundation – a newly formed organization that was created by the parents of Oakley Debbs, an 11-year-old boy and friend of a Portledge family, who passed away just after Thanksgiving due to complications from a nut allergy.

Red sneakers were the only shoes Oakley liked to wear, and the Red Sneakers Foundation was created shortly after his death in an effort to help raise awareness of the danger of nut allergies through the creation of educational programs, research and public policy initiatives. The hope of the foundation is that one day red sneakers will serve to represent the dangers of nut allergies nationwide.

The support of the Portledge community on Friday was unparalleled, and 6th grade student Jack Fentress, who was a friend of Oakley’s, was overwhelmed by the support, “I'm really glad so many kids at school are supporting him, who didn't even know him. I'm really sad that he had to pass away and I'll miss him a lot."

While it is still in its beginning stages, The Red Sneakers Foundation hit home for many parents at Portledge. Lindsay Dubofsky, whose daughter suffers from nut allergies, stated, “It is amazing to see people come together to honor Oakley's memory and spread awareness of the dangers of food allergies by wearing red sneakers. I think that the most important thing to do as a parent of a food allergic child is to have complete knowledge of how severe an allergic reaction can be and to always be prepared with your medical action plan in case an incident occurs.” This sentiment was shared by other Portledge parents including Jami Friedman. “Our oldest son has life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs, tree nuts and sesame, as well as asthma, so this is a fear we live with on a daily basis. The Red Sneaker Foundation is a beautiful way to honor this young boy and bring awareness to the allergy epidemic.”

For more information about the Red Sneakers foundation visit redsneaker.org.

Over the festive season, Portledge Lower School held a holiday charitable effort, in which they continued a philanthropic project started in 2015, aimed at supporting some of our country’s most impoverished citizens.

Haysi, Virginia, has a per capita income of about $18,000 per year and a median household income of about $30,000 annually. The economy is based primarily on coal mining, and an 80% decline in the price of metallurgical coal over the last three years has shut down most of the area mines and devastated the community, with unemployment over 25%, based on last year’s numbers, and rising.

One of our Portledge families owns a company in the town of Haysi, and they are working rapidly to transform their factory into a nanotechnology center, which could revolutionize the community by supplying much needed jobs. In the meantime, the people of Haysi struggle to have enough food and adequate clothing on a daily basis.

This year, Portledge families donated an overwhelming supply of gently used clothing and toys that was delivered to the local Sandlick Elementary School. Sandlick school officials were incredibly grateful. We would like to thank you all for your support of Sandlick Elementary families again this year.