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Vol. 29 No. 8
FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2026
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Seniors drive safety change Student leaders secure new school zone signs near Mepham H.S. After discussing the idea with their teacher, the students began researching the issue Two seniors at Wellington C. and reaching out to officials. Mepham High School turned a Wilson said they first consulted classroom leadership assign- school administrators, includment into real-world change, ing principal Anthony DeMarsuccessfully advocating for new tinis, before contacting local school zone signage representatives and on Stewart Avenue working with Chris to improve traffic Schneider of the safety near the camTown of Hempstead. pus. Wilson said SchJake Wilson, 18, neider and his staff and Brayden Selighelped guide them man, 17, spearheadthrough the process, ed the effort which included multhrough Pirate for a tiple phone calls and Purpose, an initiaattending a town t ive w i t h i n t h e meeting to underschool’s Senior stand how municiSchool and Commupal decisions are nity Leadership made. BRAYDEN class that challenges “Getting to see students to identify how the town meetSEliGMAN community needs ing works and the and take action. people who repreThe pair said they first sent me helped me personally,” became concerned about speed- Wilson said. “Something that ing vehicles while parking directly impacts me and that along the street as students. Brayden and I thought of — “Seeing some students or seeing them put that into even parents picking up kids action was definitely a privijust kind of flying down these lege.” roads, I thought it was pretty Their advocacy paid of f dangerous,” Seligman said, not- when multiple school zone ing that limited visibility and signs were installed along frequent traffic near dismissal CoNTINuEd oN PAGE 24 added to the risk.
By HERNESTo GAlDAMEZ
hgaldamez@liherald.com
Courtesy Kristen Goldstein
Isabella Zaikowski, far left, Saylor Goldstein, Marlow Esmay and Carson Levine are the four Chatterton students moving on to the state level of the National Parent Teacher Association’s annual Reflections Arts Program.
Chatterton artists advance in contest By JoSEPH D’AlESSANDRo jdalessandro@liherald.com
Four young artists from Merrick’s Chatterton School are moving up in the National Parent Teacher Association’s annual Reflections Arts Program, an extracurricular art contest that supports creative and social growth. After rising through the competition’s school-level qualification round, 16 Chatterton students became county-level finalists. Four found out they would be advancing to to the state-level competition on Feb. 3: fourth-grader Saylor Goldstein, in dance choreography; fourth-grader Marlow Esmay, in film production; first-grader Carson Levine, in film production; and sixth-grader Isabella Zaikowski, in visual arts, all of whom were judged to have captured the com-
petition’s central theme, “I belong.” “I’m so proud,” said Marlow. “This is my first year as a winner.” Isabella said she saw the competition as an opportunity to use her special skills. “Participating in this year’s PTA Reflections Program helped me use my love of sewing to create something that shows that there are many different ways and places that I belong and we all belong,” she said. “We are all different but together we make something beautiful.” For Carson, being a part of the process was its own reward. “My experience with the Reflections contest was fun,” he said. “I liked my video because it made me feel happy. I hoped it would make people smile, too.” “We’re really excited,” said Kerry Esmay, CoNTINuEd oN PAGE 19