L&M Publications
Merrick Life • Bellmore Life • Freeport-Baldwin Leader • Wantagh-Seaford Citizen

MEGHAN CORLESS TALKS with a television crew during her elite trigonometry class. 

Since the beginning of the school year Mepham has been not-so-quietly hosting an ambitious program that applies the academics of what’s learned in the classroom to real-world experiences, providing students with an opportunity to relate their passions with the outside world in a new way.
   
The program, for Mepham students only, takes place several times a month after school, and has signed up several hundred students so far in a diversity of topics. Everything from Italian cooking, to jewelry making, to team building, to stock market evaluations, to Bollywood dancing, photoshop techniques, open mic night to glazing techniques to book talks and museum trips have been offered, and still more are on the way.
   
The program, called Enriching Learners In Tomorrow’s Education (ELITE),   encourages students to follow their passions and explore topics of genuine interest beyond the traditional classroom setting, remarked Mepham Principal Michael Harrington.
   
Maureen Welsh, chairwoman of the school’s math department and coordinator of the program, told Bellmore Life the program is an attempt to “get the students to think outside the box.”
   
It’s been a very successful program thus far, she said, noting that generally up to 30 students have attended each after-school session the school has held.
   
She said the program’s first class in October for kite-making drew over 100 students. Ms. Walsh said she and other teacher/volunteers had to scramble that day to make sure there was sufficient coverage for all the students.
   
“Students do things in these sessions they can’t do in regular class,” she said. She made it clear that while students receive excellent hands-on experience in a classroom setting, ELITE classes offer similar hands-on experience but in topics of specific interest to them.
   
Josh Haimson, in a waves and trigonometry ELITE class, was using an oscilloscope that visualized sine waves by hitting a tuning fork and placing it next to a microphone.
   
“Frequency is about the volume of crests in the waves representing the sound. Amplification is about how high or low the waves go,”  he said. As a musician, he is interested in working with sine waves to see if how it might better his guitar playing.
   
Meghan Corless was also interested to learn if visualizing sine waves could help her develop her singing voice. When asked how visualization of sine waves could help Meghan in developing her voice, physics teacher William Leacock said that by seeing the visual waves on an oscilloscope on a computer, as Meghan practiced she could see her progress toward a more perfect pitch, as an example.
   
Or, as she practiced a certain method, she could see if that method was leading toward a more perfect pitch or not. If it wasn’t, she could disgard that method. But it was the visualization of the sine waves that would help guide her.
   
While the program is promoted in the school, it requires signup on the school’s website, at www.bellmore-merrick.k-12.ny.us/mepham/index.htm.
   
The final topics of the year will also be posted for students on the website so they can sign up. They include:

April

• Intro to the guitar, Wednesday, April 13, Choral Room. Students will bring any guitar they or a relative has and will learn how to tune it by ear and by electronic tuner.  They will also learn how to read guitar tablature.  
• Art and transformations, Thursday, April 14, Room 349. Discover what happens when you apply transformation skills and properties to your favorite drawings. See how tangrams can bring out your artistic ability.
• Step Into Spring, Thursday, April 14, on the track field: Low impact walking wellness activity designed to promote overall health and wellness.
• Poem in your Pocket Day, Thursday, April 28, in the library. In celebration of National Poetry Month in April, Mepham is hosting Poem in Your Pocket Day.  Join in the excitement by carrying a poem in your pocket. You can write your own poem or borrow one from your favorite poet.

May

• Scavenger hunt, Tuesday, May 3, meet in West Cafeteria.  See what treasure you can find around Mepham’s campus using your local knowledge.
• Digital four-track recording Session, Thursday, May 5, Room 120, from 2:30-4 p.m. Record your own multi-layered four-track song, rap, improvisation or vocalization using basic digital recording equipment and a click track. Any sound can be music.  
• Speed and agility training, Tuesday, May 17, meet on the track field. Agility and quickness training designed to improve an athlete’s ability to change direction, brake suddenly and perform sport-specific skills with speed and dexterity.
• Creative writing in the courtyard, Thursday, May 19, at 2:30 p.m.  Sign up to take part in a creative writing class in the courtyard. Students from creative writing will discuss Ekphrasis and inspirational poetry. Participants will have the opportunity to craft original pieces while enjoying the beauty of the courtyard on a bamboo mat.
• Outdoor yoga, Friday, May 20, from 2:30-3:30 p.m., meet on the track field. Yoga is a scientific system of physical and mental practices that originated in India more than 3,000 years ago. Its purpose is to help each one of us achieve our highest potential and to experience enduring health and happiness.

By Doug Finlay

Doug Finlay is the assistant editor for Bellmore Life newspaper. He is also an award-winning writer for L&M Publications.