Family, faculty and members of the administration came together on May 2 to honor the newest inductees of the school’s chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. The middle school chamber ensemble, led by Christian Neubert, provided musical accompaniment throughout the program, during which students in the seventh and eighth grades were recognized for their achievements.
The evening began with a warm welcome to all from middle school principal Antonio Santana, who told parents that they should be “extremely proud” of all that their children have accomplished. He noted that these accomplishments were “nothing short of remarkable,” adding, “Not only do they manage to maintain a 92 grade point average throughout all of their academic courses, but they also demonstrate characteristics of leadership, scholarship and character in their everyday activities.”
Current NJHS President Virginia Albinson spoke next, addressing and congratulating her peers. “Your hard work and dedication has paid off,” she said. “The Port Jefferson School District gives its students many opportunities to show their merits – whether they be accelerated classes, clubs or sports – and you are here because you have taken those opportunities and made them into something great.”
The service continued with NJHS adviser Michelle Landetta leading the ceremony of the candle lighting, where inductees lit their own individual candles from one of the five pillar candles representing scholarship, service, leadership, character and citizenship. During this time, inductees were also presented with a certificate, pin and official NJHS membership card. Additionally, an honorary National Junior Honor Society Award was granted to building representative Bonnie Kelsch for her service to the district and local community.
Concluding the evening was Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kenneth Bossert, who advised the new inductees to “take advantage of all the opportunities that you have available...become very active in the school, become very active in your community, and continue to exemplify all these wonderful traits that you have displayed thus far.”
Grade Eight Members:
Raquel Accardo, Virginia Albinson, Mary Alter, Nicholas Andriani, Lev Bershadsky, Jacklyn Brown, Sarah Buck, Hunter Buehler, Anthony Buono, Erin Burke, Nicole Callahan, Sean Cavanagh, Katie Chorao, Jillian Colucci, Emma D’Amario, Anna Desan, Vicki Fan, Jamie Gallo, Piper Heide, Xinyi Hong, Nicholas Kafeiti, Samara Kelson, Gillian Kenah, Michael Kennedy, Sarah Kirchner, Isabella Koutsantanou, Isabel Lebron, Courtney Lewis, Richard Liebert, Brian Mark, Neal Masone, Eve Milusich, Juliana Napoli, Clare O’Connor, Alessandro Perinuzzi, Siobhan Petracca, Alexander Preston, Chiara Rabeno, Anita Rescia, Arunima Roy, Vanessa Rubenstein, Amanda Sarubbi, Corinne Scannell, Emma Schoepflin, Aidan Schretzmayer, Chandler Sciara, Charles Scott, Bethany Seagraves, Alexander Senesi, Daniel Strehle, Victoria Sund, Elisa Ueno, Alexa Wakefield, Camryn Ward, Ji Won Woo, Mikayla Yannucci and Amelia Zamek.
Grade Eight Inductees:
John DiCarlo, Edward Finkelstein, Brandon Kafeiti, Julia Postol, Ryan Righi and Rebecca Stafford.
Grade Seven Inductees:
Allison Abbonizio, Samantha Acampora, Julie Albergo, Abigail Bossert, John Collins, Joseph Collins, Eli Doyle, Isabella Engelhardt-Apple, Nicholas Gertz, Jasmin Govits, Emma Gutmann, Olivia Hayde, Leland Held, Tamara Idir, Ibuki Iwasaki, Aidan Jordan, Connor Kaminska, James Kennedy, Cezanne Lojeski, Matthew Luca, Thomas Mark, Louis Martin-Deprez, Jack McGorry, Quinn Nenninger, John O’Connor, Max Okst, Matthew Pifko, Trey Pisano, Hailey Reale, Michael Ruggiero, William Scannell, Brianna Scarda, Michael Smith, Luigia Than, Eric Tischer, Alexandria VanOverberghe, Olivia Wennerod and Zoe Zeniou.