________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Student wins poster contest
Children learn bike safety
A wish list for Memorial Day
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Vol. 36 No. 20
MAY 15 - 21, 2025
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Making that first dance a little less scary and ballroom, and continued throughout high school. Afterward she attended BosIt’s wedding season in Long ton University, where she studBeach, and one local woman is ied journalism. For the first trying to make sure everyone semester of her sophomore feels ready for, and comfortable year, she studied abroad in Madrid for six months. While about, that first dance. Eileen Clarke, 58, grew up in there, she met a fellow BU stuAstoria, Queens, the daughter dent doing the same thing, Je r r y A m b ro i s e. of Irish immigrants They hit it off, and wh o u s e d m u s i c when they got back and dance as a way to Boston, they took to honor their heria ballroom dance tage. Clarke, who class together. Now has two sisters and they have been marone brother, began ried for more than learning Irish 30 years. d a n c e wh e n s h e After graduating was 5. EIlEEN ClARkE from BU in 1988, “We did a few First Dance Clarke interned at nights a week, and the Queens Trithe whole family Long Island bune, and her first did it,” she recalled. job was with F.I.G.S. “For them it was a way of just not feeling like they Form, a horse racing publicawere in such a foreign land. tion that rated thoroughbreds There was always music going to help bettors decide which on in the house, and we were horse to put their money on. the entertainment after dinner. She used the Spanish she The kids were brought out, and learned in Madrid from time to it was like, ‘Oh, give us a little time when she interviewed jockeys. show.’” She worked for New York Though it wasn’t her choice at first, she ended up loving magazine for four years as an dance, and explored more vari- editorial assistant, began freeeties as she got older. She tried lancing for Enter tainment jazz, contemporary, flamenco Continued on page 10
By BRENDAN CARPENTER
bcarpenter@liherald.com
Courtesy City of Long Beach
Who’s hitting the beach? She is. City Councilman Mike Reinhart, far left, City Manager Dan Creighton and Deputy City Manager Phil Ragona congratulated Robin Antila, who, for the second year in a row, was the first Long Beach resident to buy a beach pass for the season.
Long Beach teacher finds balance amid many others’ rising stress By ANGElINA ZINGARIEllo azingariello@liherald.com
A new national study by Prodigy Education reports that stress on teachers has reached alarming levels. According to the study, 95 percent of educators report some level of stress, and nearly half describe 2024-25 as the most stressful year of their careers. But for Edward Courtney, a WINGS teacher — What I Need to Grow as a Student — at Long Beach’s East Elementary School, the national narrative doesn’t entirely reflect his reality. “Yes, it is a stressful career path, but how you
use those challenges and those extra stressors can lead to many positive things,” Courtney, 38, said. “There is a potential there to do rewarding things.” The data from Prodigy Education, an educational game platform based in Canada, shows that 68 percent of teachers report moderate to extreme stress. Student behavior is the top stressor, followed by low salaries and administrative burdens. These findings match broader concerns, especially among public school teachers. Forty-five percent of teachers view this school year as their most stressful ever, more so Continued on page 7 MAY 15, 2025
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don’t want them ever to feel uncomfortable.