Six Kennedy High School seniors recently competed in the prestigious Long Island Science & Engineering Fair, hoping to win one of 20 slots in the International Science & Engineering Fair, which began last Sunday in Pittsburgh. LISEF was held in two stages –– at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury in February, and at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale in March. All six Kennedy students, who were participants in the school’s three-year Authentic Science Research Program, were finalists in the competition. One of them, 18-year-old Brett Gossett of Bellmore, prevailed, winning a place at ISEF for a behavioral science project that he completed at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital last summer. more

Go beyond the call of the wild when prehistoric creatures appear in the area this weekend. Or check out our seals who winter in our waters during one of the Riverhead Foundation's seal cruises out of Freeport. If you prefer to stay indoors, Lynbrook-based Plaza Theatrical Productions offers Neil Simon's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" at its Bellmore stage. more

Frank Baum's world of Oz comes alive this weekend when Los Angeles-based Louise Reichlin & Dancers brings its acclaimed multi-media dance production to the East Coast for the first time, with a performance at Long Island Children's Museum. Other options for weekend fun include a seal cruise offered by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, and an operatic revue with singer-actress Naomi Zeitlin. more

Veolia Transportation Inc. recently signed a contract to take over operation of Long Island Bus, run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The Nassau County Attorney’s Office is reviewing the agreement before it is submitted to the county Legislature for a vote, but members of New York Public Interest Research Group Fund want the details now more

Kennedy senior Greg Manis describes himself as “chief geek” of the high school’s science club. To begin to understand Manis’s world, you probably have to be one of the club’s assistant geeks. more

Calhoun High School senior Jenny Wu understands pain. As a volunteer in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, the 17-year-old has seen the agony of injury and disease –– and, she said, she wants to help. more

To the Editor: As a Muslim American, I particularly enjoyed Scott Brinton’s column on American perceptions of Muslims, “When perception is reality in the Muslim world” (Sept. 16-22). more

Ninety of Long Island's top science and mathematics students recently convened at SUNY Stony Brook's Charles B. Wang Center to compete in the prestigious Long Island Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and in the crowd were five -- count 'em, five -- young Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District researchers, all seniors -- four from Kennedy High School and one from Calhoun. more

Students of all ages, parents and educators at Calhoun High School shaved their heads for a cause on March 16. The school's annual St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraiser brought in more than $30,000 to aid research into childhood cancers. The non-profit St. Baldrick's Foundation provided more than $12 million for research in 2009 alone. Participants in a St. Baldrick's fundraiser shave their heads in "solidarity with kids fighting cancer" and collect pledges in return for taking it all off. more

In her freshman year at Kennedy High School in 2007, Bellmorite Stefanie Busgang suddenly started to lose her memory. The then 14-year-old couldn't remember how she got from one room to the next. "I was sitting in one place, and I'd be wondering how I got there," she recalled. more