Harvard Club Of LI Names Smithtown Resident Brian Belanger "Distinguished Teacher of 2015"

Smithtown resident Brian Belanger a teacher at Syosset High School has been named a “Distinguished Teacher of 2015” by the Harvard Club of Long Island. 

Brian Belanger“Our awards honor teachers who transform lives,” explained Dr. Judith Esterquest, Harvard Club of Long Island Chair of the Distinguished Teacher Selection Committee. “Dedicated teachers like Mr. Belanger offer Long Island students deep expertise, extraordinary talents, and countless hours of devotion. By capturing the minds and imaginations of our children, preparing them for challenges that were unknown even a few decades ago — academic, social, political, cultural — these teachers shape our country’s future.”    
One of 14 teachers from across Long Island to receive this award — from across the 150 public school districts and private schools on Long Island — Mr. Belanger will be honored at the Harvard Club of Long Island’s annual University Relations Luncheon on April 26. Following the award ceremony, Alyssa A. Goodman, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University, will highlight her work at the boundary of astrophysics and data visualization. Today’s scientific breakthroughs often depend on scientists employing visualization tools to gain insight and draw conclusions from tremendously large and diverse data sets. Professor Goodman’s lecture, entitled “Seeing Science,” will be structured as a historical saga, beginning with Galileo, and ending with how virtual reality and immersive tools are changing how we “see” stars forming and arteries hardening.

Mr. Belanger attended Syracuse University and received his graduate degree from Hofstra University. He worked on a lobster boat for 11 years before beginning his teaching career at Syosset High School, where he has worked for the last 29 years. He now teaches honors chemistry, remedial chemistry, and science research. One recent notable accomplishment was directly mentoring a project which was recognized as a Siemens Competition semifinalist in 2013. He estimates he has written about 800 student recommendation letters over the course of his career, including about 30 to Harvard College.

Married with three children, aged 12, 10, and 8, Mr. Belanger’s avocations include woodworking, gardening, guitar, and genealogy.

Karishma Minal Shah, a former Syosset High School student who is expected to graduate from Harvard College in May 2017, described Mr. Belanger as “a great research mentor” and “a fabulous teacher.” “I distinctly remember walking into my first class with him and receiving an 80-page bound book that contained the worksheets he had created and that we would need for the rest of the year to perform labs and review for exams. That day, he also performed fascinating experiments, which immediately sparked the students’ love for chemistry,” said Ms. Shah.

Added Ms. Shah, “With his organization, ability to engage the audience, and personality, he created a chemistry community that no other teacher could—that truly felt like a family. To this day, my friends and I in that class still interact and talk appreciatively about the fond memories we had shared.”
At the ceremony on April 26, the Harvard Club of Long Island will announce the Distinguished Teachers of 2015 who will also receive scholarships for a “Harvard experience” at the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass. Past winners of the scholarships have enhanced their teaching by sampling some of the resources available to Harvard students. They have met with faculty; visited research laboratories, rare book archives, and specialty museums; and enjoyed visual and performance art. The scholarships are funded by contributions from Harvard alumni living on Long Island.

“We are proud to honor these teachers, whose efforts enable our Long Island students to thrive at top universities and to be upstanding citizens,” said Dr. Rhonda Berger, Harvard Club of Long Island President.
When Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers learned of this award, he commented, “Mr. Belanger is considered by his students and colleagues alike as the consummate classroom professional.”
“His impact on students lasts way beyond their years at Syosset High School,” Dr. Rogers continued.
Syosset High School Principal Giovanni Durante further noted, “Brian Belanger personifies hard work, dedication, and excellence in teaching.”

This year’s 14 Distinguished Teacher Award winners were nominated by current Harvard undergraduates and then selected by Harvard Club of Long Island board members. This year’s award winners teach biology, chemistry, earth science, English, history, International Baccalaureate, Latin, math, music, science research, and Spanish. The winners teach in the Baldwin, Bay Shore, Bellmore-Merrick, East Meadow, Island Trees, Jericho, Plainedge, Sachem, Sewanhaka, Syosset and Three Villages school districts, as well as St. Anthony’s High School and The Stony Brook School.

Prior winners of this award in the Syosset Central School District have included math teacher Arthur Kalish in 2005, biology teacher Stephen Wolfson in 2006, and history teacher Allison Noonan, who was named an honorary member of the Harvard Club of Long Island and awarded a fellowship for a “Harvard experience” in 2014.

Harvard College has received 37,303 applications from the US and abroad for the Class of 2019 (almost 700 from Long Island) and will accept about 5%. “Over the past 20 years, Harvard has accepted students from more than two-thirds of the public, private, parochial, and charter high schools on Long Island,” remarked Carolyn Hughes, who chairs the Harvard Club of Long Island’s Schools & Scholarships Committee, which ensures that every Long Island applicant to Harvard gets a personal alumni interview. Mrs. Hughes noted that 70% of Harvard undergraduates receive financial aid, based exclusively on need, with Harvard providing above $180 million in scholarship aid this year.

Caleb Smith State Park And Preserve - History and Namesake

Event Reveals Interesting Anecdotes About Caleb Smith

    George Washington in the park? What is the history of the road? Caleb, a thorn in whose side? Did he run Cathy Ballthe gauntlet? Why was he robbed?
    These are some of the anecdotes that will be part of an inside look at the history of Smithtown’s Caleb Smith State Park Preserve on Sunday, April 19 at 1 p.m. at the Preserve on Jericho Turnpike in Smithtown. The free event will be presented by Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve. Pre-registration is required by calling 265-1054.
    Cathy Ball, supervising librarian of the Long Island Room at the Smithtown Library, will speak and illustrate, with some artifacts, historical stories about the 543-acre preserve and the families of Caleb Smith. The original house, which is located on the Preserve, was built in 1753 by Caleb Smith - a great-grandson of Smithtown’s founder Richard Smythe - and his father Daniel Smith II.
    “I have been thinking a lot about Caleb, his children and grandchildren, and the history of the park and the roads within the park and their purpose in earlier times,” said Mrs. Ball, noting that she will discuss the effects of the Revolutionary War on Caleb Smith and his family. Also, their life, the mills, and the property’s subsequent history as the Wyandanch Club before becoming a state park and preserve.
    Since 2004, Ms. Ball, a resident of Setauket, has worked in the Smithtown Library’s Long Island Room, which contains 8,000 books and 200 boxes of documents, including original manuscripts from the 17th century. Working alongside local historian and archivist Caren Zatyk, Ms. Ball conducts programs and exhibits supplemented with the archives. Currently they are working with the New York State Department of Transportation on the development of pocket parks for cyclists along Route 347 in Smithtown, providing information and  historical photo displays for each park that will depict the history of that particular area. The Long Island Room brings in a “continual stream of researchers and authors from long distance researching family and local history” Mrs. Ball said.

Arraignment - "Not Guilty" Plea For Smithtown's Highway Superintendent

Smithtown Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen was arraigned this morning in district court.  The 63 year-old Jorgensen entered a “not guilty” plea to all four felony charges and a misdemeanor charge.  According to Suffolk County District Attorney, “The Highway Superintendent of Smithtown is charged with tampering with public records, falsifying business records, filing false records, official misconduct and grand larceny.”

According to the DA, Jorgensen allegedly directed the altering of road construction reports to conceal his approval of paving of at least eight Smithtown streets in freezing temperatures last November. The contractor identified as doing the paving is Suffolk Asphalt Corporation of Selden. 

There are clear standards written by the DOT that prevent paving in freezing temperatures that were not followed. ““State Department of Transportation construction standards dictate asphalt must not be applied to a road surface in freezing temperatures; and in fact, the town’s own engineer has said repaving in freezing weather would result in the asphalt falling apart,” District Attorney Spota said.  “The repaving of a residential street doesn’t happen that often and when it does, residents are paying for a job done correctly, not a faulty repaving that will soon need pothole repair work.” 

“The misdemeanor grand larceny charge Jorgensen faces alleges the Superintendent stole work order for the improper repaving and took the official documents home.  District Attorney Detectives found the records in Jorgensen’s Hope Place residence, in his bedroom, under his bed.” statement issued by District Attorney Tom Spota. 

DA Spota Orders Smithtown Hgwy. Superintendent To Appear In Court

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota has directed the Smithtown Highway Superintendent to appear in First District court in Central Islip tomorrow morning.

Glenn Jorgensen, 63, the elected Superintendent of Highways since 2010, will appear in courtroom D-11 sometime after 11:00 am.

Jorgensen, a resident of St. James, is in charge of approximately 142 employees in a department with a $30 million annual operating budget to pay for snow removal and the paving, drainage and other maintenance of over 450 miles of roads and curbs in the township.

Jorgensen worked for the Smithtown Highway department for 37 years in various titles including foreman before retiring. He returned to the Highway Department in 2010 after winning election and becoming Highway Superintendent. Jorgensen was re-elected in 2013 his term of office expires December 31, 2017.

No other information is available at this time.

Theater Review - "A Chorus Line"

THEATER REVIEW

“A Chorus Line”

Produced by: The John W. Engeman Theater – Northport

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

“A Chorus Line” opened at New York’s Shubert Theatre in the summer of 1975 and, after logging more than six thousand performances, it became for a time the longest-running musical in Broadway history. The show, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, finally closed in the spring of 1990. It had garnered a dozen Tony nominations … winning nine! As if that were not achievement enough, “A Chorus Line” also nabbed the 1976 Pulitzer for Drama, and the Marvin Hamlisch triumph is still The Great White Way’s sixth most durable show ever. 

The story (whose all-important book was written by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante) delves into the aspirations, fears, and confessions, of seventeen dancers auditioning for some ‘forthcoming New York musical.’ Since all the action takes place on a bare stage in a Broadway theater, the easiest job for anyone on the production team is that assigned to Set Designer, Jon Collins, an artist who has proven time and again that he can handle anything requested of him. 

The Choreographer’s task (undertaken and achieved masterfully by Dena Digiacinto) is much more demanding, however. Indeed, the dancing synchronization required in this play is a challenge, as they say, ‘for the ages!’

As for Costume Design: “A Chorus Line” is an inherently flamboyant affair that shows us exactly how an assortment of young people might plausibly be dressed as they present themselves for evaluation by a big-time musical producer. Accordingly, stylist Tristan Raines uses the show’s colorfully clad dancers to create an ever-shifting, constantly pleasing, pastel mosaic. What results is sheer magic … especially since the dazzling troupe is so expertly illuminated by Cory Pattak’s ingenious lighting. Veteran director Drew Humphrey could not have asked for a more adept team to assist him. 

“A Chorus Line” attendees shouldn’t conclude early on that what they’re in for in this Engeman production is merely a group of eager young hoofers doing their thing in vibrant terpsichorean rehearsal togs. Actually, that would have been enough to make for a superb theatrical experience. But as we watch, the musical builds beyond our wildest expectations … until ultimately it becomes an unforgettable production that is lavish in every sense of the word. Credit costumer Raines, who dresses the dancers perfectly, first in appropriate tryout gear, and ultimately in the lush, matching outfits that mark the musical’s vivid climax. The resulting contrast is breathtaking.

It’s a radiant New York show through and through, this ‘Chorus Line’ phenomenon that’s currently mounted at Northport’s comfortable Engeman Theater. What, after all could be more representative of ‘The Big Apple’ a few miles west of us, than a diverse group of stage-struck performers seeking nothing more than an opportunity to strut their stuff before the world’s most sophisticated theater audience?

I cannot assign superlatives to any of the performers who’ll dance their way into your hearts between now and May 10th. To attempt such a thing would be unfair, even if it were possible. Nor can this critic point to a weak link in The Engeman’s “Chorus Line” … there simply isn’t one. Let it be said only that if anyone from the original cast of this groundbreaking musical were mystically to find themselves viewing the show presently being resurrected in Northport, they would likely turn to the person in the next seat and proudly say, “I was part of that award-winning ensemble in the 70’s … and these young men and women have it down cold.”

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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of nine novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. In his newest thriller, HARVEST, an American military doctor is seized by a sinister gang of organ traffickers in The Balkans, and ordered to perform illegal surgeries. Ladouceur’s upcoming spellbinder, THE QUANTUM SYNDROME, is based on the Atlanta child murders of the 80’s, and is due this spring.