Education

Seventy-one seniors graduated from Pierson High School on Saturday in a ceremony filled with all the pomp-and-circumstance that a traditional Whaler ceremony entails, including the "alma mater" school song, cap-toss at the top of Pierson Hill, and wise remarks from a speaker prominent in the Sag Harbor community.

Saturday’s concert at the Arts Center at Duck Creek in Springs will feature the Hannah Marks Quartet leading a journey through jazz history for children and their families.

Elle Reidlinger, a sixth grader at the Montauk School, recently received an honorable mention award — equivalent to second place — at the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Elementary School Science Fair for a project on Fort Pond's bacteria.

Lights up on center stage — summer means showtime for kids and teens who want to immerse themselves in the performing arts. Four regional institutions can help students become a triple or quadruple threat, with acting, dancing, singing, and all sorts of stagecraft.

Morgan Johnson Quamina, a 2022 Ross School graduate, is headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall to study math, but she was also accepted at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Northwestern, Duke, and Boston University — all among the top 30 colleges with the lowest publicized 2022 acceptance rates — and at Princeton, the University of Chicago, the University of Connecticut, University of North Carolina, and the State University at Binghamton.

The East Hampton School Board on Tuesday approved a new five-year agreement with the district’s teachers, granting pay raises, dictating their share of health insurance costs, and clarifying components of prior years’ contracts.

Twelve Bridgehampton High School seniors earned diplomas on Saturday in a ceremony filled with inspirational words and advice along with well-wishes and warm moments of humor.

More than 40 Pierson High School seniors are facing disciplinary action after pulling off a "prank" on Monday night, Sag Harbor School District's chief school administrator confirmed this week.

The fact that Our Fabulous Variety Show’s latest tap-dance production happens to coincide almost exactly with Juneteenth is not intentional, but it does, perhaps, make it a good time to talk about the origins of tap dancing.

Two major transitions at the Springs School this year, a return to a nine-period schedule and the implementation of a “restorative justice” discipline policy, have met or exceeded expectations, school officials reported during a school board meeting on Tuesday.

The East End Fund for Children, a coalition of seven local nonprofits dedicated to meeting the needs of the community’s most vulnerable, will once again partner with Citarella, the gourmet food market, in a fund-raising campaign between June 23 and Labor Day weekend.

Drag queen story hour, summer reading at libraries, movie screenings, and more fun stuff coming up for kids and teens.

James Farrell of East Hampton and Troy Remkus of Sag Harbor are the latest local teens to achieve the highest honor the Boy Scouts community has to offer — that of the Eagle Scout.

The nonprofit organization East End Arts presented the annual Teeny Awards on Sunday to students named outstanding performers in school plays and musicals, including four from the South Fork.

Andrea Rivera Sagbay and Joey Suter of East Hampton High School have received prestigious scholarships in recognition of their achievements.

Parents and guardians of students who attend the Springs School and John M. Marshall Elementary School can now register their children for Project Most's after-school program for the 2022-23 school year.

This week's activities for kids and teens include a virtual visit with Carl Hiaasen, an award-winning YA author, as well as dance shows, games, Fathers Day crafts, and a "Big Bubble Bonanza."

When DanceHampton embarks on its annual recital and competition showcase this weekend, Kelly Hren will celebrate two milestones: the 15th anniversary of her East Hampton dance studio and the graduation of her daughter, Emma Hren, the studio’s only senior, who has been dancing there since its inception.

Applications are open for New York State's Excelsior Scholarship, through which students from families that earn up to $125,000 in annual, adjusted gross income can attend two or four-year public colleges in the state tuition-free.

This weekend it's house lights down, stage lights up for the students of South Fork Performing Arts, who will present the plays "Shuddersome: Tales of Poe" and "Peter and the Starcatcher" at LTV Studios in Wainscott.

At noon on Thursday, students across the nation, including at East Hampton High School, walked out of their schools to send a message on gun control to elected officials: "Enough is enough."

Drip-painting workshops are back in person for kids at the Pollock-Krasner House, plus trivia games, gardening, chess, and more in store for kids and teens.

In the aftermath of the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo on May 14, the New York State Education Department announced this week that it is canceling this year's Regents exam in United States history because of concerns that some of the test's content "has the potential to compound student trauma caused by the violence in Buffalo, which created an unexpected and unintended context for the planned assessment."

It’s the time of year when recognition pours in for students, giving standout kids credit where credit is due in the arts, academics, sports, and other areas in which they excel. Here’s the latest round of honors for South Fork kids — and stay tuned, more is sure to come.

Another mass shooting has claimed the lives of school children, with at least 19 students and two teachers dead in Uvalde, Tex., after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday. The deadly attack has police and schools on the South Fork on high alert, though no specific threats have been identified.

Monday's basketball game between East Hampton High School and Patchogue-Medford — the first home contest for Bonac's unified basketball program — had all the thrill of a varsity playoff game and all the heart a community could muster, showcasing the meaningful moments that can happen when players with developmental disabilities are given the same opportunity to do what many of their non-disabled peers do.

The changes have been subtle, but nevertheless troubling, Marrina Jacka and Morgan Johnson Quamina alleged this week, ever since the Ross School brought in Charlie Abelmann as its interim head-of-school. In response to the change in administrators, Marrina and Morgan, co-presidents of the school's student body, led a walkout on Monday, during which 50 or so students streamed out of classroom buildings and walked around the campus, holding signs and chanting: "Hey hey, ho ho, this head of school has got to go!"

Kids will be very busy this week, if the lineup of fun, local activities for teens and younger children is any indication.

Gabe Jaffe has launched Teen Hampton, an online community of young adults who want to work as babysitters and sports coaches this summer on the East End.

Voters across the South Fork approved their districts' 2022-23 budgets in Tuesday's vote. In the only districts with contested school board races, Springs and Sag Harbor, Emma Field and Erik Fredrickson were elected to the Springs board and Grainne Coen and Ronald Reed won seats in Sag Harbor.