A banner year for Oceanside Schools

Dr. Herb Brown has been superintendent of the Oceanside School District for 15 years, and he has never seen a year quite like this one. Neither has Mark Secaur, Oceanside High School’s principal.

Never in their years in the district, they said, has there been one in which so many students excelled at so many different things.

That Oceanside schools are full of smart, talented kids isn’t really news to anyone. But this year, students brought armfuls of awards to the district — so many that, when listed, they fill about eight typed pages. And that’s not counting all the All County musicians and athletes, the A.P. Scholars, the Regents Diploma graduates and the other honors that are routinely heaped on Oceanside students.

For Brown, a few honors stood out. “The entire high school being rated by Newsweek as one of the top 2 percent of high schools in the nation, the middle school receiving the Schools to Watch award, which is very prestigious and reflects on the entire middle school,” he said. “Top 10 in the country in Google, Intel semifinalists, Siemens — I think we had some very prestigious science research winners, and I’m very proud of that because I started the science research program.

“I’m also very proud of our spellers,” Brown continued. “For three of the last five years, Long Island has been represented [at the Scripps National Spelling Bee] in Washington, D.C., by an Oceanside student. And knowing that there’s 120 school districts on Long Island, being represented by an Oceanside student three out of the last five years is pretty impressive.”

The honors that OHS’s science research class has received are impressive in and of themselves, but they are just part of a larger pattern of success. Students in the science research class earned top honors in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology; the Intel Science Talent Search; the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair; the Google Science Fair; the New York State Science and Engineering Fair; the Long Island Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair — just to name a few.

“It’s been quite remarkable,” said Secaur. “I’ve had to rewrite aspects of my graduation speech several times — gladly — because new awards are being heaped upon a very deserving group of students. The best way for me to put it is that this group is as nice as they are accomplished.”

Not to be outdone, Oceanside Middle School students also took home impressive honors. Arujan Illanges won first place in the Society for Science and the Public SSP Broadcom Masters Middle School Fair. Brian Cutler and Steven Picillo won highest honors at the Long Island Science Congress, as did Mitchell Plesser and Harshal Patel.

The district has also captured awards in the arts. The relatively new film program at the high school won two top awards at MSG Varsity’s V Awards, which received more than 2,100 entries from the tristate area. Oceanside had more than twice as many finalists than any other school on Long Island, and was the only district to bring home two top awards — $5,000 each for the school. And OHS senior Chelsea Borsack was honored as a Gold Medal winner in the national Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her photographs.

“I think a couple of things are at play: No. 1, you have to have great teachers, and we do,” said Bob Brace, the director of fine and performing arts. “Our teachers are great because they’re not only great at what they teach, but they’re really dedicated. So they’re there well after school, working with kids and really exciting kids. I think that’s the key: They get kids jazzed up about being great at something.”

Administrators, teachers and the Board of Education all deserve some of the credit for this year’s unparalleled success. But it’s really the students, they will all say, who deserve the recognition.

“I’m just absolutely proud of the students, and prouder of who they are,” said Secaur. “The awards are fantastic, and the level of awards is just jaw-dropping. But they’re great kids who are incredibly dedicated and driven, yet they maintain their humanity.”