Parrish Student Exhibition

The Parrish Art Museum’s annual Student Exhibition, which opens on Saturday, will include the work of more than 1,000 young artists from across the East End. This year’s collection includes work created by students with Bastienne Schmidt of Bridgehampton, an artist in residence, at the museum. 

An opening reception for elementary artists will take place on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., and a second reception for high school artists is planned from 3 to 5 p.m. Refreshments from the Golden Pear Cafe will be served.

The show will be on view through Feb. 4. 

Cindy Pease Roe, an artist, will host a presentation and instructional workshop for families on art making with repurposed materials on Friday, Feb. 9, from 6 and 8 p.m. Participants will build their own heart-shaped Valentine’s sculpture out of collected marine debris and rope. There is a limit of one sculpture per person and registration is required. The workshop is free with museum admission. 

Something for Everyone in East Hampton

It may be quiet outside, but there is a busy week ahead at the East Hampton Library, beginning with a mini field trip for teens to see the third installment of “The Maze Runner” film series, this one called “The Death Cure,” at the East Hampton Cinema on Saturday at 1 p.m. Space is limited to just eight participants. Following the movie a conversation will be held at the library, with snacks provided. Those attending the movie must find their own way there and back to the library. 

The first in a month-long series of Snap Circuits electronics workshops will be on Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for kids 7 and up. Additional workshops will be held at the same hours on Feb. 14, 21, and 28. Participants may join in as many workshops as they like.

Kids ages 4 and up can stop by the library on Wednesday at 4 p.m. to create a colorful still life painting and learn about female artists in history who broke through the male-dominated world of still-life art.

Middle schoolers can decorate a matchbox with festive duct tape and stickers next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. The box can then be filled with candy provided or a message for a special valentine.

Looking ahead to Feb. 10, high school students can take a practice ACT test in preparation for college admissions from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. While the test and results are free, space is limited and registration is required, with preference given to residents of the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts. 

Makers Club, Book Club

Middle school students can work with their peers on hands-on creative art and technology projects as part of a new Makers Club at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. The first meeting is on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m., with subsequent gatherings on Feb. 10, 17, and 24, and for four consecutive Saturdays every other month. In February students will have the opportunity to experiment with 3-D pens and printers. Advance registration is recommended. 

High schoolers can participate in a new monthly book club beginning Sunday at noon. Copies of the selected book are available at the teen desk.

Make a Valentine’s Gift

Kids ages 5 to 12 can get a head start on Valentine’s Day gifts on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Montauk Library. Using soft sculpture felt techniques, children will create a one-of-a-kind heart-shaped pillow, which can be decorated with pompoms, ribbons, stickers, sequins, and more. Advance registration is requested. 

Octopus and Fish at SoFo

Children ages 5 and up will learn all about octopuses at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Ashley Federici, a SoFo nature educator, will begin by reading from the book “Octopus Escapes Again!” by Laurie Ellen Angus. The group will then do an experiment to see how octopuses use their ink and make an octopus craft to take home. There will be a material fee of $3.

On Sunday Melanie Meade, also a SoFo educator, will focus on fish in a family workshop at 10:30 a.m. After learning some fishy facts, kids will get to create their own zany aquatic creature with materials provided. The fee is $3 per child.

Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent of the Amagansett School District, has informed the school board and the community that she will not seek to extend her contract, which expires in June.

In a letter addressed to parents and residents, Ms. Tritt said that her decision to leave Amagansett is “inspired only by a desire to move on to the next phase of life.” 

“I am retiring and looking forward to traveling and spending time with my grandchildren in Israel and California,” she wrote in an email on Tuesday to The Star.

Ms. Tritt first joined the tiny school district in 2001 as interim superintendent and ultimately became superintendent in 2008. Today, the district serves approximately 93 students from prekindergarten through sixth grade, with additional students at the East Hampton Middle School and East Hampton High School. During her tenure at Amagansett, Ms. Tritt said, she has “worn many hats” and has served as the school business official and personnel official, as well as the principal.

The superintendent has often come under fire from Amagansett residents and parents who have griped openly and sometimes combatively over issues that ranged from her seemingly robust compensation package — which includes free housing — to a lack of transparency in business decisions, to a school board that appears to work for the superintendent rather than vice versa.

However, in her letter, which was made public on Jan. 24, she wrote, “I love Amagansett and the Amagansett School. I truly appreciate the respect, grace, warmth, and compassion you have shown me and our staff over these many years. . . . The supportive environment we have in Amagansett is recognized by many — and should never be taken for granted.”

Ms. Tritt has promised to assist the school board with the transition over the next few months. At this time, there is no confirmation from the board as to exactly what that would entail.

On many counts, young people’s lives seem to be improving. Nationwide statistics show that drinking, smoking, and overall drug use are down, and teen pregnancies are at the lowest rate in nearly half a century. Yet it has been reported that anxiety and depression in high school kids have been on the rise since 2012, with growing evidence that teenagers are in the grip of a mental health crisis. It is as if, rather than acting out, young people today are turning in on themselves.

Hence the formation of an East Hampton Town-funded Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Use Task Force, made up of school officials from East Hampton, Montauk, Amagansett, Springs, and Sag Harbor, as well as clergy and representatives of police departments. It will be overseen by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who organized the task force, together with Adam Fine, the East Hampton High School principal.

The problem of teenage mental health is not anecdotal. In 2015, about three million high schoolers in America had suffered at least one major depressive episode in the past year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. More than two million report experiencing depression that impairs them daily. According to data from the National Institute of Mental Health, 6.3 million teens have had an anxiety disorder.

In East Hampton, Aubrey Peterson, a social worker at the high school, echoed these statistics. “I have seen an uptick in recent years of students reporting stress, anxiety, and feelings of depression,” he said. “Our youth are under an enormous amount of pressure, both academically and socially. Social media often contributes to feelings of isolation and is a breeding ground for conflict. Unfortunately, contemplation of suicide has become part of teens’ battery of choices as to how to cope with many of these feelings.”

The goal of the task force, as stated in the resolution, which the town board adopted on Jan. 18, is for “increased awareness and understanding among our parents, young people, and other community members of adolescent mental health and substance use-related issues and behaviors.”

“We have had two high school deaths by suicide since 2013,” said Mr. Fine, who has been the school’s principal since 2010. “I knew we had to all come together to do something.”

Sitting in his office on Friday, flanked by Ms. Burke-Gonzalez and Officer Ken Alversa, the town police liaison to the high school and its resource officer, Mr. Fine spoke openly about the school, which, like almost any other across the country, is struggling to stay ahead of the cornucopia of unconventional drugs available to students, the pervasiveness of social media, and unprecedented levels of academic and social pressures facing teens today. But in Suffolk County, there’s another element that looms large: an opioid epidemic, with the county dentified as New York State’s epicenter.

Mr. Fine has four young boys who attend schools near his Center Moriches home, while the councilwoman has a daughter at East Hampton High School and a son in college. They spoke passionately and hurriedly about their goals for the newly formed task force, often making it difficult to separate the group’s actual functions from any responsible parent’s wish list.

Of the tangibles, the group will hold monthly meetings at East Hampton Town Hall and regular parent forums at the high school. The task force will work in conjunction with Sources of Strength, a youth-led initiative with a chapter at the high school that aims to change unhealthy norms and culture with the goal of preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse. The group facilitated the training of 17 high schoolers to administer Narcan, the medication used to block the effects of opioids in the case of an overdose. Officer Alversa said there were seven Narcan saves in East Hampton in 2017.

In addition, through a grant received from the Anna Lytton Foundation, the school has added yoga and meditation classes to the curriculum to help students relax and practice mindfulness.

Looking ahead, the task force hopes to televise meetings or informational segments for parents and community members unable to attend discussions. 

On Feb. 28, a Wednesday, a drug forum will be held at the high school from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Scheduled to speak is Becky Savage, an Indiana mother whose two sons died on the same night in 2015 from an accidental overdose of oxycodone and alcohol. Ms. Savage started the 525 Foundation as part of her mission to talk about the dangers of opioid abuse to anyone who will listen.

The task force trio also acknowledged that they must ask hard questions about why children feel so at odds with a world that ought, after all, to be all about them and their future. A recent New York Times article portrayed today’s American teenagers as beset by rigorous high school demands and pressure to get into certain colleges and land prestigious jobs. All of this, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez believes, leaves teenagers especially vulnerable to self-medication with drugs and alcohol.

Bettina Volz, a clinical psychologist in Amagansett who works mainly with children and adolescents, agreed. “Not only do I see an increase in anxiety disorders, I have also seen an increased and related level of depression in adolescents during the last 10 years,” she said. “These issues are multisourced: The high speed of often anxiety-producing global news, the competitiveness social media can fuel, as well as the personal and economic pressures to attain a college education are making it extremely difficult for teenagers to imagine their own place in the world.”

Perhaps South Fork students can follow the lead of a public high school in a seaside Massachusetts town, where crying jags over test scores were common, and the sleep-deprived student body reported that earning Bs was seen as dashing college dreams. Last year, small rocks began appearing in common spaces around Lexington High School, The New York Times reported. Collected from nearby beaches, the rocks were painted with such messages as “I am more than my GPA and SAT score,” “You are not stuck,” and “Don’t let them get to you.” 

The idea for these maxim-laden stones started with a small group of students who were worried about rising anxiety and depression among their peers. This was their way to spread calm, they said, in a turbocharged suburban school.

Only 180 miles down the coastline, the East Hampton landscape is alarmingly similar. Kristin Guarino, a licensed social worker with mostly teenage clients, inadvertently captured the scene in a hurried email she wrote to The Star in response to a request for her opinion on the subject: “I am so sorry for the late reply. Since last night I have been fielding one emergency after another: suicidal thoughts, extreme eating disorders, suspensions. I am working till 9 tonight.”

Thirty-four Long Island high school seniors were honored last week by Representative Lee Zeldin of the First Congressional District, who had nominated them for admission to one of the United States service academies, namely the Navy, Military, Air Force, and Merchant Marines. A nomination by a member of Congress is required in order for candidates to be considered.

One of those students, Eamon Spencer, a senior at East Hampton High School, received something more than a congratulatory handshake from the congressman that day: confirmation of his acceptance by the Naval Academy, which is in Annapolis where the Severn River flows into Chesapeake Bay, about an hour from Washington, D.C.

Eamon was one of only two students present that day to be accepted and the only student applying to a service academy from East Hampton, Sag Harbor, or Bridgehampton. It was a thrilling moment, he said, when Mr. Zeldin asked if anyone had heard back from their academies and no one raised a hand. Then Mr. Zeldin asked Eamon and another student to approach the podium, where he delivered the good news. “I’m still taking it all in,” the high schooler said following the event.

Acceptance into the Naval Academy is remarkable in itself. The average acceptance rate is about 9 percent, making it as challenging as some Ivy League colleges. Given the steep odds, Eamon applied to several colleges as well, which are expected to notify him of their decisions around the end of March. Only after that, he said, will he decide whether to become a midshipman, as naval undergraduates are called, or take a civilian route.

“I first started considering the Naval Academy near the end of my junior year,” he said. “I had listened to stories from my grandfather for years about his work in which he helped engineer planes for the Navy.” In addition, he said his father’s relatives, who are from England, served in the British military during both world wars.

Eamon was born in Singapore and raised in East Hampton, so he was “constantly surrounded by water,” he said, making the Navy a natural choice. He admitted that after visiting the campus in Annapolis, he could imagine himself there, something he did not experience while touring the other service institutions.

Instead of paying tuition for college, the young men and women who enter the Naval Academy receive a monthly stipend and then make a five-year military commitment as paid officers in the Navy or Marines. If they choose to leave the service to pursue a civilian career, the world awaits them. Graduates from service academies are in high demand and they regularly rank in the top 15 universities and colleges for salary potential.

According to Karen Kuneth, the counseling coordinator at East Hampton High School, only two East Hampton students since 2014 have attended one of the U. S. service academies. 

Asked what set him apart, Eamon said, “I think on top of being a strong student, my extracurriculars helped distance me. I have participated in sports every season all throughout high school, been involved in various clubs and community service, and I am captain of my volleyball and indoor track teams. I participated in leadership programs through the Rotary Youth Leadership Association, and I have worked full-time summer jobs since I was 14 years old.”

For high schoolers contemplating applying to one of the country’s service academies, his number-one piece of advice is to start early. “It is a very long application and deadlines come at you fast. So much time and effort has to go into this application and not only are you applying to the Naval Academy, but also to your congressperson and senators,” he said.

And if the infamously strict and sometimes conservative environment is offputting to many teenagers, it is not for Eamon who believes he is most productive when working in a highly disciplined environment.

Currently, the high-achieving senior is busy rehearsing for his role in East Hampton High School’s production of “Billy Elliot,” which will be staged in early March.

Selfies, Xbox, and Crafts

At the East Hampton Library on Wednesday between 4 and 5 p.m., kids 4 and up can learn how to create a selfie with paint, or their own self-portrait. Children under 7 must be accompanied by an adult.

The library has its very own Xbox One S and it will share it with teens who stop by on Wednesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Snacks will be provided.

For ages 4 to 6, there will be a winter story and craft-making session next Thursday from  4 and 5 p.m. Advance registration is requested for this one, and the self-portrait workshop.

Baby Beats and Ozobots

Today from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. at Sag Harbor’s John Jermain Memorial Library, parents and caregivers of babies from newborn to age 3 can join in a new class offering a fun-filled musical experience for all. The class is free but advance registration is required.

Every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. beginning this week, kids 8 to 11 can meet to draw colored lines and codes on paper, then watch palm-size robots, or Ozobots, follow the lines and do tricks. This week’s workshop is part of the library’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) Sundays program.

Whoo’s Whoo at SoFo

Melanie Meade, a South Fork Natural History Museum nature educator, will teach kids 8 and up all about owls on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Children will learn to identify local owls and those that merely visit. There will be a $3 material fee and, as enrollment is limited, registration is required. 

Snow Globes and Stories

Children 4 and up can capture a snowy scene for years to come in a handmade snow globe tomorrow at 4 p.m. at the Hampton Library on Main Street in Bridgehampton. 

At the Amagansett Library, a weekly early literacy story time created especially for children 2 to 4 years old will begin today at 11 a.m. Each class will include read-aloud picture books, songs, and an age-appropriate craft. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

And Don’t Forget

January Girls, an art and performance workshop for girls “6 to 106” run by the Neo-Political Cowgirls, will meet for the first time on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Guild Hall in East Hampton. The free program, which runs on Sundays throughout the month, will be led by different artists each week. Advance registration is required at npcowgirls.com.

P.J. Brabant, a fourth grader at the Springs School, has started a program called One Makes a Smile whereby presents received over the holidays that were unwanted or age-inappropriate, for example, can be dropped off at the school. They will then be donated to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital to offer children something to play with during their stays there.

Boxes in the school’s front foyer and by the back door will be available for drop-offs until tomorrow.

Origami, Collages, Community Service

On Saturday at 3 p.m., at the Amagansett Library, kids ages 9 to 12 can make their own owl or monster origami bookmarks.

Children ages 5 to 8 can be dropped off on Tuesday between 4 and 4:45 p.m. to create tissue paper collages following a story time featuring books by Eric Carle.

Teens and preteens ages 12 to 18 ­who are interested in helping the Young Adult librarian develop teen appropriate programs throughout the year should stop by on Friday, Jan. 19, between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. Teen advisers will receive community service credits.

Clay Play at Wharf Shop

Saturday is Come Play Day at the Wharf Shop on Main Street in Sag Harbor. Parents and caregivers of kids of all ages have been invited to stop by the toy store between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. to sample a new clay by Green Toys. 

M.L.K. Weekend at CMEE 

The Children’s Museum of the East End will celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On each day, after a noon reading of “We March” by Shane W. Evans, children will add their handprints to CMEE’s commUNITY canvas. Participants will learn about the civil rights leader’s impact with a specially curated collection of age-appropriate books. 

The activities are free with museum admission. 

Wednesday is the international Museum Selfie Day, and visitors have been invited to take part by snapping selfies in their favorite corners of CMEE and sharing them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Those who do are asked to include #MuseumSelfieDay and #CMEESelfie in the caption. 

More Selfies, 3D Pens, Xbox

The East Hampton Library will host an Instagram selfie contest for teens beginning tomorrow and ending Friday, Jan. 19. Participants must visit the library between those dates, check out a book or a graphic novel, then take a selfie with the book and post it on Instagram.

High school students can stop by on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. to make their own stained glass candle holders.

Kids ages 7 and up will construct circuits that will light up, sound off, and power an accessory on Tuesday between 4 and 5 p.m. 

Teens can learn how to use 3-D pens, which work by extruding heated plastic that cools almost instantly into a solid, stable structure, Tuesday through Jan. 22 from 4 to 5 p.m. The pens allow for the free-hand creation of three-dimensional objects.

On Wednesday, the Xbox One S will be fired up with games for teens to try between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Snacks will be provided. 

Middle schoolers can celebrate national popcorn day and enjoy a screening of “The Day After Tomorrow” next Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. Popcorn and other snacks will be provided. 

Advance registration is required for most programs.

Dogs, Frogs, and Floats

At several libraries kids can learn about how some animals get through the winter, read to a dog, or enjoy a treat while chatting about books. 

An educator from the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will visit the Montauk Library on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. for a program on how animals stay safe and warm through the colder months of the year. Kids will meet a box turtle, corn snake, tiger salamander, and grey tree frog from the museum’s collection. The program is best for kids in sixth grade and under. 

Hampton Library in Bridgehampton has invited kids in sixth grade and up to stop in on Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. to make root beer floats and offer their peers some book recommendations. 

Wally the dog will be at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon to listen to kids as they practice their reading. 

The libraries ask that people sign up in advance for their programs, as space is limited.

Amphibians at SoFo

Crystal Oakes, a South Fork Natural History Museum educator, will teach kids 8 and up all about local frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. After the presentation, the group will dissect specially prepared frogs to further understand how they survive in aquatic and terrestrial environments. There is a fee of $15 per frog.

Also on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. children ages 3 to 5 can attend a presentation on owls led by Ashley Federici. Kids will learn all about the elusive owls that live on the East End and then make an owl eyesight craft. There will be a material fee of $2 for each participant.

Advance registration is requested.

After-School Art at the Parrish

Registration begins Monday for a series of after-school art workshops at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill designed to help children learn about artists and be inspired to create their own masterpieces.

Ages 4 and 5 will meet between 2 and 2:45 p.m. on Thursdays beginning Jan. 25, and continuing on Feb. 1, 8, and 15, and March 1, 8, 15, and 22.

Kindergartners through fifth graders will meet from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, from Jan. 22 through March 22.

The workshop is free but advance registration is required.

Student Art Festival

Guild Hall’s annual Student Art Festival, featuring the work of students from kindergarten through 12th grade, will open with a reception on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. and remain on view through Feb. 11.

The opening festivities will include performances by the Bridgehampton High School marimba ensemble, East Hampton High School and Middle School dance teams, the Amagansett School chorus, and Abigail Loos of the East Hampton home school group.

Guild Hall’s Teen Arts Council and curatorial department will recognize outstanding works by student-artists in the following categories: best photographic portrait, best painted or drawn portrait, best landscape, best photograph, best mixed-media work, best abstract work, best sculpture, and best print. Winners will receive certificates of creative excellence.

Every student attending Saturday’s opening reception will receive a Guild Hall Let Artists Lead the Way drawstring sports bag designed by Anna Rafferty, a student at East Hampton High School. The bags will also be for sale in the shop.

Movie Time, Chess 

The Montauk and Amagansett Libraries will show movies on Saturday. In Amagansett, “Moana” will be on the screen and in Montauk it will be “The Lego Ninjago Movie.” Show time is 2 p.m. for both movies, and popcorn and refreshments will be served. 

At the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, a new Monday chess club for ages 7 and up with Hampton Chess will get underway this week from 4 to 5 p.m. Players at any level, from beginner to expert, will be welcomed. 

Advance registration is requested. 

Rubber Ducks and Legos

In case you missed National Rubber Duck Day last Saturday, it’s not too late to do something special. The Children’s Museum of the East End will celebrate on Saturday from 10 to 10:45 a.m. with a cookie workshop that will have kids 3 to 6 measuring, mixing, rolling dough, and shaping it with special rubber duck cookie cutters before a staff member does the baking. The fee is $17 per child, including museum admission, $5 for members.

CMEE is dedicating a week to Legos beginning on Monday and ending on Jan. 27. Parents and caregivers with children of all ages can stop by every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to enjoy free play, guided activities, a pirate ship zip line, and even Lego cookies. There will be guided play on Tuesday and next Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. The weeklong event is free with museum admission.

Summer Fun, Bird Feeders

High school students can enjoy summer in January with ice cream sundaes, seashell crafts, and summer tunes at the East Hampton Library on Sunday between 3 and 4:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, children 4 and up will make easy bird feeders at the library between 4 and 5 p.m. 

Seven sessions of a Snap Circuits electronics program will be offered for kids 7 and up beginning Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. Kids need not attend all sessions of the program. 

Middle schoolers can stop by next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. to make unique and customized bookmarks with beads.

Looking ahead to Jan. 27, the library will give a practice SAT for high school students from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The test and results are free, but space is limited, and registration is required. While library programs are open to all, priority in this case will be given to East Hampton Library district residents, including those from the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts. All others will be put on a waiting list and can attend if space is available.

SoFo Frogs and Winter Stories

Crystal Oakes, a South Fork Natural History Museum educator, will teach kids 8 and up all about South Fork frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. After the presentation, the group will dissect a specially prepared frog to further understand how these creatures survive in aquatic and terrestrial environments. There is a materials fee of $15 per frog.

A nature story time for kids 3 to 5 on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. will have participants helping Eleni Nikolopoulos as she tells a story about animals that live in Vineyard Field behind the museum. 

On Sunday at 1 p.m., kids 10 and up can join Taylor Ruhle, another SoFo nature educator, to learn how various animals adapt to survive the winter. Following the discussion, children will paint a winter wonderland scene and sip hot cocoa. There is a materials fee of $5 per child.

Advance registration is required for all SoFo events.

STEAM Saturdays at the Y

On Saturdays through March, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter will offer a series of free drop-in workshops for kids 4 to 13 exploring concepts in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. The programs run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature different projects each week, subject to change. Icy salt paint and magic aqua sand are on this week’s schedule. On Jan. 27, it’s paper plate mazes. Other projects through March include lava lamps, crystal experiments, cardboard robots, wind chimes, and slime. 

“Think of it as an arts colony for credit.”

So reads the online directive of Southampton arts, a department of the State University at Stony Brook that offers graduate programs in creative writing, children’s literature, audio podcasting, and film.

It is, in fact, one of three colonies that exists at former Long Island University’s former Southampton College, which Stony Brook acquired in 2006. In addition to the arts program, undergraduate and graduate courses in marine sciences and graduate and postgraduate degrees in health care technology and management are offered at the 82-acre campus tucked between the old and the new Montauk Highways in the hills of Shinnecock.

“The Southampton campus never closed,” said Matthew Whelan, the vice president for strategic initiatives at Stony Brook University, referring to 2010, when the university, citing an $82 million loss, suspended its undergraduate programs in Southampton.

That the campus has been continuously operational is not a surprise — the summer writers conference is well known, as is the annual Young Artists and Writers Project — but just how vibrant and innovate Southampton’s institution of higher education is may come as news to many residents east of the Shinnecock Canal.

Approximately 590 students were enrolled last year at the Southampton campus, which together with the main campus at Stony Brook and an outpost in Manhattan form the university’s triumvirate. Approximately 60 students live in dormitory rooms in Southampton; the maximum capacity is about 200. The Amagansett Food Institute operates the South Fork Kitchens Cafe at the student center, serving freshly prepared farm-to-table meals. The cafe’s kitchen is part of a food incubator program, which offers culinary entrepreneurs the use of a commercial kitchen for little capital outlay. In fact, Carissa’s Bakery, the successful East Hampton enterprise, started in this kitchen.

Of the three academic disciplines offered in Southampton, perhaps the best known is the school’s graduate arts program, at the helm of which sits Robert Reeves, its associate provost.

Mr. Reeves, who worked in a similar capacity during the Long Island University days, is one of four faculty members who stayed on after the college’s reincarnation. He has initiated and overseen the evolution of the department, which today offers a dizzying selection of courses in poetry, fiction writing, literature, nonfiction, publishing and editing, screenwriting, television writing, directing, and producing.

The M.F.A. creative writing program is the crown jewel of the college. It has drawn a panoply of lauded authors to Southampton: Amy Hempel, Meg Wolitzer, Paul Harding, Susan Minot, Roger Rosenblatt, and Cornelius Eady are among the faculty roster. Another faculty member, Ibi Zoboi, was selected as a finalist for a 2017 National Book Award. Julie Sheehan, a celebrated poet who is a professor and the director of the creative writing and literature department, recently won a coveted residency at Cornell University, where she will teach this spring.

Stony Brook’s M.F.A. film program is primarily centered in Manhattan, but the Southampton campus also offers courses in what the website describes as “the only graduate program in the SUNY system fiercely dedicated to independent filmmaking.” In other words, according to Christine Vachon, the program’s powerhouse artistic director and the founder of Killer Films, her roughly 150 students receive hands-on, experiential learning in film and television writing and programming from faculty who have made their careers in the field — and all of this at state university prices.

Mr. Reeves, who has introduced “about one new entrepreneurial program a year,” wants to see Southampton’s creative offerings continue to grow. Last year, the Food Lab at Stony Brook Southampton was introduced, with the goal of becoming a center of food education and enterprise. August will see the launch of a one-year fellows program in audio podcasting, in association with WSHU Public Radio. Touted as “the first of its kind in the U.S.,” the podcast program will be under the direction of Kathleen Russo, a producer of Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s the Thing” podcast, and offer 12 students advanced training in all aspects of podcasting, from development through to the pitch.

“We’re like sharks,” said Mr. Reeves, sitting behind a wall of books stacked on his office desk. “We have to keep swimming to survive.”

The watery metaphor is somehow fitting. A few hundred yards down the hill, across Old Montauk Highway, sits the university’s $10-million, state-of-the-art School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, which offers undergraduate and graduate degree courses in marine sciences.

Approximately 100 undergraduates and 20 graduate students are currently enrolled. As with the creative arts, nationally and internationally renowned experts in the field teach here. Four faculty and emeritus faculty were involved in the intergovernmental panel on climate change with Al Gore that won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007.

The impressive Gobler Laboratory, spearheaded by Christopher Gobler, a professor specializing in coastal ecosystem ecology and climate change, sits at the edge of the Shinnecock Bay. It is an epicenter of scientific research, with more than 150 species of phytoplankton and zooplankton in culture and giant vats where bivalves and finfish are raised and studied. An entire wall is lined with enormous tanks of rust, brown, and blue-green water — stores of the various harmful algal blooms the lab continues to monitor. In addition, the center owns a fleet of small research vessels, used for students who sign up for semesters by the sea.

Dr. Gobler, who began teaching at the center in 1999, when it was still owned by Long Island University, plays a lead role in the Long Island Clean Water Partnership and has been contracted by the East Hampton Town Trustees to monitor dozens of waterways, including Georgica and Wainscott Ponds. He also leads the Shinnecock Bay restoration program, an initiative that aims to cleanse the water in the western side of the bay through the introduction of shellfish. In 2015, the program seeded its millionth clam.

Last summer’s merger of Southampton and Stony Brook University hospitals suddenly offered access to job opportunities in the medical world to the 225-plus graduate and postgraduate students enrolled in Southampton’s health sciences programs. 

The introduction in 2013 of Southampton’s first health science degree, a doctorate in physical therapy, has since been augmented by master’s programs in occupational therapy and applied health informatics, a new discipline that focuses on health care management. In addition, a new master’s in health care administration was added last year as a hybrid program of online courses and on-site lectures.

“Health services is a high-demand field,” said Dr. Whelan, who joined Stony Brook University in 2006 and was called upon by Samuel L. Stanley, the school’s president, in 2013 to “ensure that we are using Southampton to its fullest potential.” The resurgence of the university after the fiscal setback of 2010 bears testament to all three Southampton departments recognizing the changing face of education and offering “high-needs, high-demands” courses, said Dr. Whelan.

That sentiment was echoed by Mr. Reeves, who is a novelist, essayist, and literary critic. “We will keep trying to respond to demand,” he said, “and implement programs where students get something more than just credits.”

Writing, Art, Movies, and More

A writing workshop for teens will be held on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

Kids ages 4 and up can stop by the library at 4 p.m. Tuesday for polka dot sticker art inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama, while on Wednesday between 4 and 5 p.m., children ages 4 to 6 can enjoy a polar bear story and a craft-making activity.

Middle schoolers can make their own corkboard next Thursday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Looking ahead to Feb. 3, teenagers have been invited to meet at the East Hampton Cinema at 1 p.m. to see the third installment of “The Maze Runner” film series, this one called “The Death Cure.” Space is limited to the first eight teens who sign up. After the movie an optional discussion about the differences and similarities between the book and the movie will be held at the library with snacks provided. Teens must make their own way to the theater and the library.

Advance registration is required for most library programs. 

Kaleidoscopes, Pollock, Portraits

Kids ages 9 to 12 can design and build a kaleidoscope during a program at the Amagansett Library on Saturday that encourages the use of science, technology, engineering, art, and math skills. The program runs from 3 to 3:45 p.m. 

On Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Montauk Library, kids in third grade and above can paint portraits of adoptable animals currently at the ARF shelter in East Hampton, in the hope of helping them get adopted. 

It’s popcorn and movie time next Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. The library will celebrate African-American History Month with a screening of the documentary “March On!”

At the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor the “Book of Life,” an animated film with a PG rating, will be screened on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Popcorn and drinks will be provided. The family event is free, but registration is required. Families can stop by the children’s desk on Sunday between 1 and 2 p.m. to learn about online library resources.

Next Thursday, John Jermain will celebrate World Read Aloud day with a visit from Emma Walton Hamilton, an author of numerous children’s books. She will read from her collection — suitable for kids ages 4 to 10 — at 4 p.m.

Improv Class at Bay Street

A mixed-level workshop for kids 10 to 18 interested in the art of improv will be held at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. Students will learn the basic techniques of improv through a series of games and exercises overseen by Bethany Dellapolla of NexGen Youth Theatre, while focusing on active listening and quick thinking. The price is $100 and registration is required through Bay Street.

Poetry and Portfolio Reviews 

Guild Hall will present “Word Up!” — a middle school celebration of poetry — on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The event is free, but registration is encouraged.

A free portfolio review workshop for students in 10th to 12th grade will be held on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. Steve Miller, a multi-media artist whose work has been shown around the world, will review the work and offer critiques and suggestions. Advance registration is a must.

Art From Trash

Ashley Federici, a South Fork Natural History Museum nature educator, will lead a program for families on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. on the difference between marine debris and harmful beach trash. After the talk, items found during SoFo’s many beach-cleaning sessions this fall will be turned into art. 

Tara Smith, a painter and a certified art teacher, will help young nature painters to identify trees by the shapes of their leaves during a craft workshop on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Children 3 to 7 will use tempera to mix as many different greens as possible and then paint a variety of leaf shapes. Smocks or painting clothes are a must. There is a $5 materials fee and advance reservations with the museum are required.

Golden Eagle Workshops

The Golden Eagle is offering regular classes for kids on Saturdays and Mondays at its new location on North Main Street in East Hampton. 

Virva Hinnemo teaches workshops for kids 6 to 10 on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Michele Mott steps in from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. to teach a class for ages 6 to 12. The cost is $25 per class or $175 for an eight-class card that can be used for any of the $25 classes. 

A kids community art class will be offered on Mondays from 4 to 5 p.m. This one, for ages 6 to 14, is by donation. 

In all cases, participants have been advised to dress for a mess.