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Vol. 128 No. 8
FEBRUARY 20 - 26, 2026
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L.V. robotics team excels in Tech Challenge and Feb. 1, serving as volunteers rather than competitors. The Tech Challenge is one of Locust Valley High School’s several programs run by FIRST, robotics team, Kuiper, is pre- an organization that oversees paring for the next stage of the robotics competitions from eleFIRST — For Inspiration and mentary through high school Recognition of Science and across the country. At Locust Technology — Tech Challenge Valley, FTC is an after-school season after a club at the high strong showing at school and middle regional qualifying school levels. events and a busy “We meet after weekend hosting school, sometimes two of their own. on weekends, a lot The team of hours outside,” emerged from qual- AlAN StEllA one of Kuiper’s coifiers on Jan. 17 and Coach, coaches, Eva Pap18, at Sewanhaka Locust Valley pas said, “but we High School, with a High School robotics don’t have anything first-place Reach for mally in the Award and its first classroom.” Inspire Award win in a decade. The high school team curThe Inspire Award recognizes a rently has 14 members. Across team that displays professional- all levels in the district, includism and shares its experiences, ing its FIRST Lego League enthusiasm and knowledge teams in elementary and midwith others. The Reach Award dle school, co-coach Alan Stella, celebrates teams that recruit who has been with the high and introduce new participants school team since 2011, estimatto FIRST programs. ed that 70 to 75 students particiKuiper — named for the Kui- pate. per Belt in the outer solar sysKuiper’s members learned tem— advanced to the Tech the theme and rules of this Challenge’s state champion- year’s challenge last August, ships in March. when FIRST released a Meanwhile, the team hosted livestreamed video outlining back-to-back qualifiers at the game. The competition has Locust Valley High on Jan. 31 Continued on page 11
By WIll SHEElINE
wsheeline@liherald.com
I
Courtesy FBI
nazi sympathizers ran a summer camp, Camp Siegfiried, named after a mythological german hero, in Yaphank, which also provided cover for nazi espionage during World War ii.
Uncovering L.I.’s Nazi past The lingering impact of local fascism in the 1930s By WIll SHEElINE wsheeline@liherald.com
The North Shore Historical Museum welcomed historian Christopher Verga on Sunday for a presentation on homegrown fascism, foreign propaganda and its lingering impact on Long Island today. Titled “Nazis of Long Island: Sedition, Espionage & the Plot Against America,” the presentation examined the growth of the various far-right German nationalist movements active on Long Island, and across America, in the 1930s and ’40s. Verga, who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he specializes in
radicalization, framed his talk as both local history and national warning. “This is bigger than Long Island,” he said. “These guys were trying to flip the United States. ‘Der Tag’ — ‘the Day’ — that’s what they were trying to go for.” Attendees from across the North Shore, including Assemblyman Charles Lavine, asked Verga questions throughout. Drawing on archival research from institutions including the Longwood Public Library, in Middle Island, and the Suffolk County Historical Society, Verga traced the rise of the German American Bund, or Federation, and affiliated groups across Long Continued on page 6
t’s more than just robots.