Franklin Square/Elmont
HERALD ambrosino begins prison sentence
Positive Covid case in Elmont UFSD
Mourning ‘Joe’ Cascella
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Vol. 22 No. 39
SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2020
$1.00
Elmont alumni give back Plan to start mentoring program at Elmont Memorial High School to be a student,” said Karl Valere, founder of the EAGLES network, with new protocols in Ever since a group of Elmont place at the high school to help Memorial High School alumni stop the spread of the coronavifounded the Elmont Alumni rus, and a rise in protests Growing Leaders through Edu- against police brutality. cation and Service, or EAGLES, Elmont was one of the hardnetwork in 2016, est-hit communithey wanted to ties during the establish a mencoronavirus pantorship program demic, Nassau at the high County Health school and give Department data back to the stushows, and is dents of their nearly 50 percent alma mater. They Black, according have since held to the census. annual career At the high days for students school, students in the Global can now only Links Club, and one way in TaMaR Paoli-BailEy walk provided the stue a ch h a l lw ay, dents with the Elmont alumna and the staircasresources they es are designated need to succeed, as “up” or while at the same time connect- “down.” Students are also dising alumni of the Sewanhaka missed on a staggered schedule Central High School District. to reduce hallway traffic, and But now that students are only half of the high school’s attending classes both in person student body is allowed to attend and remotely, the alumni decided school in person each day, while it was time to finally start the the other half learns remotely. mentorship program they had Additionally, students cannot originally envisioned at the high stop at their lockers, and lunches school. It is set to begin at the are socially distanced. Any stuend of October. “It’s just a really bizarre time Continued on page 5
By MEliSSa KoENig mkoenig@liherald.com
i
Courtesy Rita Cammarata
TRaCy MCgRaTh, SECoND from left, is survived by her children, from left, Kelly Ann, James, Patrick and Kimberly.
Remembering a ‘supermom’ H. Frank Carey mother dies of cancer at 51 By MEliSSa KoENig mkoenig@liherald.com
Balloons filled the air above Franklin Square last Saturday, as nearly 100 residents gathered at Rath Park to remember their friend Tracy McGrath and celebrate her life. McGrath died of colon cancer on Sept. 13 at age 51, and was buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park on Sept 18, after a service at St. Catherine of Sienna Church in Franklin
Square that residents waited hours to get into. “She left a big hole in a lot of people’s hearts,” said her friend Rita Cammarata. “To know her was to love her.” McGrath (nee Pfeifer) was born to Fran and John Pfeifer, also of Franklin Square. She grew up in Elmont with James “Jimmy” McGrath, whom she would later marry, and attended Sewanhaka High School with her good friend Stephen Cassese, who was dating a girl named
Melissa Albergo, from H. Frank Carey High. “The girls at Sewanhaka were not too thrilled this Carey girl was coming onto their turf,” Melissa Albergo C a s s e s e re c o u n t e d , bu t “Tracy accepted me into their tight-knight group . . . and always spread the word that I was a nice person who should be treated kindly.” After high school, McGrath got a job as a manager at Group Health IncorpoContinued on page 3
t’s always good to give back to where you came from — it’s just replenishing the well which you drank from.