Phillips
Ave. Elem. School
141 Phillips Avenue
Flanders, NY 11901
Principal Thomas Payton
631.369.6787 
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| Phillips
Avenue News |
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Phillips
Avenue School Receives 21st Century Grant |
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Pictured are Phillips families
and staff from the LI ScienCenter at the Kickoff Event of
the 21st Century Grant--Phillips
Avenue Family Science Night
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Phillips Avenue School Received a
NY State 21st Century Grant for $241,000 Annually.
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Funded
by the grant, Project E.N.R.I.C.H. (Experience
New Riverhead Initiatives for Community Harmony) offers
enrichment opportunities afterschool and during vacations and
summers for Phillips Avenue students. It will create a Community
Center at Phillips Avenue providing homework help, remediation
in content areas and enrichment through sports, drama, music
and hands-on science, math and technology.
Family evening activities will promote literacy, health and
well being and build self-esteem. Additional community involvement
will come from the Riverhead Public Library, Central Suffolk
Hospital, Historical Society, Arts Council and Big Brothers/Big
Sisters.
The LI ScienCenter and the Riverhead Central School District
have had a long-standing partnership. The LI ScienCenter has
worked recently with the Riverhead School District on the “Galaxy
Program”, “Women and Girls in Science”, “The
Science of Nutrition” and “DNA extraction”.
The LI ScienCenter has also been active in providing, in conjunction
with other community agencies, a collaborative program “Art
& Science & History in Riverhead”.
When it became apparent that an enrichment program was needed,
Dr. Denise Lowe, Principal of Phillips Avenue School, met with
Delia Gibbs, Executive director of the LI ScienCenter for an
exploratory meeting. A meeting of school and ScienCenter staff
followed and, working with Kim Benkert from Phillips Avenue
School and Madelyn Asperas from the LISC, a needs assessment
was developed along all grade and subject lines and the grant
became a reality. Phillips Avenue was the only school in the
district that met the qualifications for the grant.
“Receiving the 21st Century Grant
is a dream come true for us,” explains Phillips Avenue
principal Dr. Denise Lowe. “We have been working very
hard to build a ‘learning community’ at Phillips,”
Dr. Lowe continues. “This grant gives us the funding to
reinstate our after school programs, our School Success Club,
which provides our students with homework help and enrichment
programs, and provide community outreach programs for the entire
family, a hospital-sponsored community health fair, trips to
and programs at the Riverhead Library and the LI ScienCenter.
These efforts will get the whole family involved in the learning
process! We’re very excited,” concludes Dr. Lowe.
The project kickoff was a Family
Science Night at Phillips. This evening provided students
and their families with a hands-on fun science experience. Families
took a trip to the planets in Starlab, the ScienCenter’s
inflatable planetarium. Students and parents explored aerodynamics
as they tested their paper planes and created and ate the phases
of the moon in the nutrition workshop. In the library, students
learned about some of the animals from the Science Center. Finally,
students began planning their science fair projects with Madelyn
Asperas from the ScienCenter.Anyone who attended received a
display board for their project.The district's Science Fair
is scheduled for March 4th.
"The Family Science Night was a huge success," shared
Dr. Lowe. "We had so many people attend that we had to
send out for more pizza." (Pizza came with the evening's
festivities.)
"This grant program will enhance the student’s academic,
social and personal growth while creating a positive self-image.
This project will provide families with a comfortable community
support structure that they can access as needed," wrote
Delia Gibbs from the ScienCenter, who helped write the grant. |
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