South Shore Record 02-12-2026

RecoRD South Shore

Hewlett students take charge

The Lawrence High School Music and Drama Department transported audience members back to 1920s Russia with their production of “Anastasia” last week.

“Anastasia” follows a young amnesiac woman who may be the long-lost daughter of Russia’s last royal family, as she journeys from post-revolutionary Russia to Paris in search of her true identity. Along the way, she teams up with two con men planning to

pass her off as the missing princess, only to discover that her connection to the Romanovs may be real.

Director Shelly Goldman said she felt an immediate pull to this story the first time she saw it as her family is from Russia and her first language is Russian.

“This is definitely a story that need story be told,” Goldman said. “Not only historically and what it meant to live in Russia during that time. But, it’s also

fascinating because the story of ‘Anastasia’ is real, there have been people throughout history that believe they were here.”

Arbi Corbita, a senior who plays Anastasia, said she watched the movie two days before auditions and fell in love with the songs, the score and staging.

“When I found out I was Anastasia I was really happy,” Corbita said. “I didn’t really know what to expect or step into with this role. I feel like I went into this as a challenge in my senior year and I wanted it to be beautiful and wonderful on stage.”

— Melissa Berman

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Hewlett High School sophomores unite against Blood Cancer

By AIDAN WARSHAVSKY awarshavsky@liherald.com

Sophia Abramovich and Jenna Shvartsshteyn, two sophomores from Hewlett High School, are leading a fundraiser. Commonly known as the Blood Cancer United Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign , the seven-week fundraiser began on Feb. 2.

The process began over the summer, when Abramovich and Shvartsshteyn— friends since childhood— agreed to partner up on their team, Hearts for Hope. After a friend familiarized Shvartsshteyn with the visionaries campaign while at summer camp, she knew Abramovich would be a good person to ask for help.

“I knew that she would kind of be the right person for this job,” Shvartsshteyn said. “I knew with her dedication and hard work she’d be good at it.”

The girls met with adviser Clara Leyendecker, the 2017 runner-up who is now a staff worker at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society—the organization which runs the campaign. While working together, Leyendecker, 25, said their passion and desire to be difference makers stand out.

“This program is a lot of extra work,” Leyendecker said. “It’s not something that the average student would sign up for and really go after as aggressively as they have, and as successfully as they have.”

Students are tasked with raising as much money as possible for patient advocacy, research and blood cancer awareness—a personal battle for both girls. Russell Shvartsshteyn, Sophia’s father, is currently battling colon cancer. For Abramovich and her family, they’ve experienced hardships with

breast cancer and prostate cancer, as well as melanoma.

To start, the girls orchestrated Super Bowl Boxes for the big game this past Sunday, going door-to-door in the community asking for donations. They’ve also printed T-shirts with their fundraiser QR codes on the back, which they will

wear in public places outside of school to raise awareness.

During the process, Leyendecker said that she tries to give the students a hands-on experience, allowing them to build skills that will transfer to a professional setting. She said that many of them tell her that they haven’t written an email, or cold-called someone before.

“My job is to give them all the tools, resources, and support I possibly can,” Leyendecker said. “But they are the ones doing the actual work and receiving that experience and building those skills.”

As part of Hearts for Hope, Abramovich and Shvartsshteyn lead a team of 13 other sophomores and juniors. For the two girls, they said they’ve developed skills that they’ll carry with them beyond high school.

Abramovich said the campaign has helped her develop stronger social skills like leadership, teamwork, and working with others. For Shvartsshteyn, she noted the importance of presenting herself in a professional matter.

“It’s helped me learn how to speak to people,” Shvartsshteyn said. “People may see me as a kid, but I’m doing something much bigger than that.”

Those interested in donating can visit pages.lls.org/svoy/li/svoyli26/TeamSophiaandJenna. The winners of this year’s campaign will be announced at the Student Visionaries of The Year’s Grand Visionary Gala on Mar. 19.

HWPL showcases “Threaded Visions” quilt gallery

By MELISSA BERMAN mberman@liherald.com

The Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library is showcasing Patricia Schust’s handcrafted quilts in their gallery, throughout February and March.

Schust, 69, a Uniondale School District alumna who resides in North Merrick, has been quilting for 40 years.

Her gallery “Threaded Visions” features three pieces made out of neck ties, one large piece draped over a pole and numerous quilts, which fill the walls and display cases. Along with decoupage plates and shells with a Valentine’s theme.

“These are truly some of the most beautiful quilts I’ve ever seen,” said Michelle Young, director of the HWPL.

Schuster was not the original artist to be featured during these months, and filled in on a last-minute notice.

“She’s the best backup showing we’ve ever had,” Young said. “She’s an incredible person and extremely talented.”

The library will be hosting an artist reception on March 7 from 1 to 3 p.m. for the community to personally meet with Schuster.

“It Means a lot to the library to not just showcase traditional art but different kinds of art being expressed,” she added. “I feel like her quilts are on a level of an oil painting because they are all so unique and beautiful.”

Young said that Schust uses texture in her pieces and was creative within the

pieces along with on top of them.

“It’s such a joy to see her pieces,” Young said. “Every time I go downstairs, It’s like I’m seeing it for the first time because it’s that stunning.”

Librarian Diana Brewster organized Schust’s art gallery and reached out to her after hearing about her quilt show at

the North Bellmore Public Library.

“I found out Patricia was having a quilt show at the library so I reached out to her to do a virtual art show here at the library,” Brewster said. “She wanted to do a physical show and we had a last minute opening for the February and March time slot for 2026. “

Brewster said her artwork is amazing and that the quilts were different and intricate.

“I’m happy that the library was able to host an art show for Patricia,” she said.

Schuster had been encouraged to do art since she was in elementary school and her mother bought her first set of oil paints.

“My mother always encouraged anything that had to do with art,” Schuster said. “From what I remember, whenever there was something that had to be done in school artistically I was always chosen to do it.”

She continued to pursue art throughout her time in school and always knew she would go to college for art.

Schust went to Adelphi University where she was in the fine arts program. She has held numerous jobs in the art field over the years.

As a retired librarian, Schust is dedicated all of her time to quilting and spends her days in her quilt room.

“I just create every single say, in one way or another,” she said.

This is her third consecutive year of showcasing her talents in art galleries in libraries across Long Island.

“Oftentimes I hear people looking at a quilt exhibit saying things like ‘look at all of these beautiful blankets,” Schust said. “Quilts are more than blankets, each one tells a story. From early times when they were pieced with love from wellworn clothing carrying with it memories from those who wore the items.”

Black History is Long Island history

Every February, Black History Month arrives with familiar names and stories. We rightly honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and other giants whose courage reshaped the nation. Their legacies deserve remembrance.

But for many people on Long Island, those stories might feel distant — heroic, yes, but abstract, having unfolded somewhere else, in another place at another time.

What often goes missing is the understanding that Black history did not only happen on the National Mall or in Southern courtrooms. It happened here. It happened in the neighborhoods we walk every day, in the schools our children attend, in churches tucked onto residential blocks, and in town halls where decisions quietly shaped who could live where, who could teach, who could lead and who could serve.

On Long Island, Black residents confronted segregated housing patterns long after the law said discrimination was over. Veterans returned home from fighting for democracy abroad only to find out that it did not fully extend to them in their own communities. Black educators pushed open doors in school districts where they were once excluded from classrooms except as students. Black churches became organizing centers, social safety nets and sources of political power when other institutions shut their doors.

King spoke at Rockville Centre’s South Side Junior High School — now South Side Middle School — on March 26, 1968, just nine

days before he was assassinated in Memphis. In his remarks, he spoke of poverty and injustice, and urged unity. People like Roslyn’s Hazel Dukes, who served as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1990 to 1992, made it their life’s work to combat pervasive housing discrimination in many of our communities.

These are not footnotes to history. They are history.

Local athletes who broke color barriers on high school fields, teachers who became the first Black faces in faculty rooms, small-business owners who built livelihoods despite limited access to credit, and community leaders who advocated for basic services all helped shape what our communities look like today. Their contributions did not always come with applause or recognition. Many are remembered only by those who lived through the changes, if they are remembered at all.

That absence matters. When history is presented only as something that happened “somewhere else,” it becomes easier to disconnect from it. It becomes symbolic rather than instructive.

But when Black history is grounded in familiar places — the elementary school you attended, the block where you grew up, the library or park you pass without a second thought — it becomes harder to ignore and easier to understand.

It also forces uncomfortable but necessary questions. Why do some figures receive plaques and street names while others fade

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from memory? Why are certain struggles celebrated as defining moments, while local battles for fairness are overlooked? And what does it say about us if we fail to acknowledge the people who made our own communities more just, more open and more representative?

Black History Month should be an invitation to look closer, not just farther away. It should prompt school districts to examine whose stories are included in local curriculums. It should challenge libraries, historical societies and news organizations to document and elevate the experiences of Black residents who helped build these communities. It should encourage towns, villages and neighborhoods to ask whether public recognition truly reflects their full history.

This is not about diminishing national heroes. It is about completing the picture. National change is always the sum of local actions, people showing up to meetings, organizing neighbors, mentoring students, opening businesses and insisting on dignity in places where they were told to wait their turn.

For Black history to matter, it cannot live only in textbooks or documentaries. It must live where people live.

On Long Island, Black history did not unfold at a distance. It unfolded on our blocks, in our schools and in our town halls. Remembering that truth honors the past, helps us understand the present and reminds us that the next chapter of history is still being written, right here.

Celebrating ‘Box Week’ at Gan Chamesh for Tu B’Shevat

Classrooms at Gan Chamesh, the Chabad of the Five Towns Early Childhood Center, recently transformed into hubs of creativity and imagination as students took part in the school’s annual “Box Week.”

Inspired by the holiday of Tu B’Shevat and themes of caring for the environment through recycling, the program invited preschoolers to col-

lect and bring in boxes of various shapes and sizes to use in open-ended play and building activities.

During the week, traditional classroom toys were temporarily set aside as boxes became the focus of learning and play. Students used the materials to construct towers, houses, rocket ships and even railroad stations, while empty food boxes and containers were

incorporated into dramatic play and kitchen areas.

Teachers said the activity encouraged early engineering and architectural thinking as children experimented with which boxes provided the strongest foundations for their structures. The experience also fostered cooperation and problem-solving skills as students worked together, discuss-

ing how different materials could be used to achieve their designs.

Following the program’s success, school officials said many classrooms plan to continue incorporating boxbuilding activities into lessons in the coming weeks, allowing students to further develop creativity and collaborative skills through hands-on play.

— Melissa Berman

LCFD’s Robert Hicks honored

LCFD’s Robert Hicks honored by Cedarhurst Village

The Village of Cedarhurst Board of Trustees honored Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department member Robert Hicks

The Village of Cedarhurst Board of Trustees honored Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department member Robert Hicks for his valor and commitment to the safety of residents, on Feb. 2.

He was presented a citation on behalf of the village and from Assemblyman Ari Brown.

Hicks, 19, sustained serious burned to his legs while operating the nozzle at a house fire on Spring Street in Lawrence on Dec. 20. He joined the LCFD on Feb. 6, 2024.

He was presented a citation on behalf of the village and from Assemblyman Hicks, 19, sustained serious burned a house fire on Spring Street in LawFeb. 6, 2024.

“From the moment he took the oath, he proved himself to be a dedicated, dependable and selfless member of the department,” said Trustee Daniel Plaut. “In a remarkably short time, firefighter Hicks has responded to a significant number of alarms and consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic, commitment to fellow firefighters and a deep

Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department

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Melissa Berman/Herald Village of Cedarhurst Trustees Israel Wasser, left, and Daniel Plaut honored Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department member Robert Hicks, middle, on Feb. 2.

sense of responsibility to the community he serves.”

— Melissa Berman

“From the moment he took the oath, dependable and selfless member of the “In a remarkably short time, firefighter number of alarms and consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic, commitment to fellow firefighters and a deep sense of responsibility to the community he serves.”

Celebrating ‘Box Week’ at

Celebrating ‘Box Week’ at Gan Chamesh for Tu B’Shevat

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Classrooms at Gan Chamesh, the Chabad of the Five Towns Early Childhood Center, recently transformed into hubs of creativity and imagination as students took part in the school’s annual “Box Week.”

Classrooms at Gan Chamesh, the hood Center, recently transformed into students took part in the school’s annual “Box Week.”

boxes and containers were incorporated into dramatic play and kitchen areas.

Inspired by the holiday of Tu B’Shevat and themes of caring for the environment through recycling, the program invited preschoolers to collect and bring use in open-ended play and building

Inspired by the holiday of Tu B’Shevat and themes of caring for the environment through recycling, the program invited preschoolers to collect and bring in boxes of various shapes and sizes to use in open-ended play and building activities.

During the week, traditional classroom toys were temporarily set aside as boxes became the focus of learning and play. Students used the materials to construct towers, houses, rocket ships and even railroad stations, while empty food

During the week, traditional class play. Students used the materials to coneven railroad stations, while empty food

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Teachers said the activity encouraged early engineering and architectural thinking as children experimented with which boxes provided the strongest foundations for their structures. The experience also fostered cooperation and problem-solving skills as students worked together, discussing how different materials could be used to achieve their designs.

Teachers said the activity encouraged thinking as children experimented with dations for their structures. The experience also fostered cooperation and problem-solving skills as students worked together, discussing how different materi-

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Following the program’s success, school officials said many classrooms plan to continue incorporating boxbuilding activities into lessons in the ther develop creativity and collaborative

Following the program’s success, school officials said many classrooms plan to continue incorporating boxbuilding activities into lessons in the coming weeks, allowing students to further develop creativity and collaborative skills through hands-on play.

— Melissa Berman

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