Mepham MakerSpace: Holiday Ornaments

Please join us after school on December 12th in the Mepham MakerSpace to craft your own holiday ornament from plastic cups and permanent markers. All materials are provided and all students are welcome to attend. Please sign up here.
 

Crafting Holiday Cards for Our Local First Responders

On Monday, December 5, 2022, all students are welcome to join us in the school library after school to craft holiday cards for our local first responders. Let's show some love and support to those that care for us. All supplies will be provided including stickers, card stock, markers, crayons, glitter(!), holiday music, and so much more 

Community Service: Thanksgiving Placemats

On Monday. November 7th after school in the library, students will have the opportunity to decorate placemats that will be placed into the gift basket for our families in need from the Bellmore-Merrick Community Cupboard. This event draws students to contribute and give back to their community every year. As always, all materials are provided and all students are welcome. If you have any questions, please see Mrs. Stack. 

Update: Students from Mrs. Geller's School & Community Leadership classes produced beautiful placemats. See the photos below. 

Meeting Maddie

On Wellness Wednesday, we were visited by Maddie, a lab/Greyhound mix therapy dog. She greeted the students and spent time with them and her favorite chew toy. Dogs are the best medicine. She made many students and teachers smile on a day when we needed it the most. Thank you to Therapy Dogs of Long Island for arranging the visit and providing this important service to our community. A big thank you to Maddie for being patient and loving with us. 

Maddie

Maddie with her handler, Gail

Therapy Dogs of Long Island

Come meet Maddie a lab/Greyhound mix therapy dog. She will be waiting for you after school in the library on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at 2:15 pm. Her favorite activities include playing and laying in the sun. Students interested in attending must sign up with Mrs. Stack in the library and have a parent/guardian sign a permission slip.

Suncatchers

On Monday, May 9, 2022, the Mepham High School Library's MakerSpace will be hosting an ELITE Event after school. Students and faculty will have the opportunity to create suncatchers from plastic cups. By using permanent makers on #6 plastics, also known as polystyrene, we can bake them in the oven on broil and they melt down flat, creating our beautiful suncatchers. All materials will be provided and all students are welcome to attend. Let's start spring off right! Sign up by scanning the QR code or clicking this link here. 

Library Card Poems

On April 11, 2022, after school in the library, we will be hosting an ELITE Event for National Poetry Month. All materials will be supplied and all students are welcome to attend. Sign up by scanning the QR code on the bottom of the flyer or by clicking here. 

There's A Poem in This Place

It's National Poetry Month and we are celebrating in the Mepham High School Library! On Monday, April 11th join us after school in the library to make your own Library Card Poem. Don't know what that means? Neither do we. It can be anything you want it to be. We will supply old-fashioned library cards and writing implements (pen, pencil, marker, crayon, colored pencil, etc.) and you write down your poem. When you are finished, you can take it with you or we can display it in the library. Perhaps you will write a sonnet or a haiku. It's entirely up to you! 

About National Poetry Month:

Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month reminds the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets, marking poetry's important place in our lives.

Crafting Holiday Cards

Join us on Monday, December 9th in the school library's MakerSpace right after school to craft cards for our Bellmore-Merrick Community Cupboard. All materials are provided and all students are welcome. This is a school sponsored ELITE Event.

Thanksgiving Placemats

Mepham's MakerSpace will be hosting an ELITE event on Monday, November 4th in the school library at 2:15 pm. Students will have the opportunity to decorate Thanksgiving Day placemats that will be used in our Thanksgiving baskets. Our goal is to have at least 2 placemats in each basket. We give over 100 baskets to our local community through the Bellmore-Merrick Community Cupboard. This is a tall order. We need all the help we can get! So stop and give back.

Who Done It? Open Mic Night 2019

Open Mic Night will be held on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, at 7 pm in the West Cafeteria.

Paint Chip Poetry

Made with Canva

Join us in the Mepham High School Library on Monday, April 8 at 2:15 pm for our next ELITE event! Composing a poem is easy and fun in this colorful and creative way! Students will have an opportunity to select a paint chip in any color they choose, then pen a poem while incorporating the paint chip color. As always, all materials will be provided. All students are welcome to attend.

Neema's Reason to Smile

POSTPONED DUE TO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES BEING CANCELLED DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS. NEW DATE: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6th at 2:15 PM IN THE SCHOOL LIBRARY.  

Book based on the Jambo Jipya School in Mtwapa, Kenya

This year's author visit is a little unconventional - there is no author. There is no illustrator either. This year we are hosting Donna Rosenblum, a former librarian and now the supervisor of School Library Services for Nassau BOCES and the Executive Director of Reason2Smile, a non-profit organization on a mission to help provide educational opportunities for children attending the Jambo Jipya School in Mtqapa, Kenya. This organization also supports the needs of children living at the Jambo Jipya children’s home with food, clothing and healthcare.

This note is from the author, Patrica Newman of Neema's Reason to Smile.

"Story ideas come from a lot of different places. The idea for Neema's Reason to Smile grew out of a phone call with Donna Rosenblum, a librarian from New York. One of my author friends suggested to Donna that I would be a good fit for a project about the power of education. Donna picked up the phone and called me."

This year's visit focuses on research and how much of it goes into writing a book like this. Although Neema's Reason to Smile is a work of fiction, it is based on the real-life students at Jambo Jipya School. Author, Patrica Newman spent countless hours asking hundreds of questions to Donna and others associated with Jambo Jipya School to get a true understanding of the school, its teachers and students, and the surrounding community.

Mrs. Rosenblum will speak to our students about the conception of this book and how it came to be published. There will be an reading from the book. She will show us photos and videos of the students at Jambo Jipya School. She will discuss primary source interviews from the students in Kenya. Our students will have an opportunity to ask questions and color in their own dream basket (which we will display in the school library).

This visit will take place on Tuesday, February 12 at 2:15 pm in the school library. It is open to ALL of our students. It is an ELITE event. You can sign up here to attend.

Holiday Cheer

Flyer created using Canva.com

Join us in the school library in our MakerSpace to craft holiday cards for Mercy Haven’s network of families. Mercy Haven is  a non-sectarian, non-profit organization located in Islip Terrace that offers assistance to over 3,000 Long Islanders, approximately half of which are children. Mercy Haven’s mission is to acknowledge the dignity and potential of people who are homeless, living with mental illness, or living in poverty by providing housing, advocacy, education, and life skills development. All craft supplies will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Kindness Rocks

Some rocks from the Kindness Rocks ELITE event. 

Mepham students always find a way to give back. This past Monday, students showed up to the Mepham MakerSpace in the school library to paint rocks for the Kindness Rocks Project. We plan to place the rocks all around Mepham High School. Students are encouraged to take one when you need it, or share it with a friend.

Kindness Rocks Project

The Kindness Rocks Project is designed to "cultivate connections within communities and lift others up through simple acts of kindness." In honor of the release of founder, Megan Murphy's new book,
A Pebble for Your Thoughts: How One Kindness Rock At the Right Moment Can Change Your Life, we are hosting a Kindness Rocks Project here in the school library on Monday, November 19th at 2:15 pm. The Kindness Rocks Project encourages people to spread positivity by leaving a rock with an inspirational saying in public for someone to find. So come paint your own rock to leave around Mepham High School. All materials will be provided. It is an ELITE event. You can sign up here to attend.

Kindness Rocks Project @MephamHS

About the book (being released on November 15): 

It all started with a single stone on a beach in Cape Cod and now spans the globe. The Kindness Rocks Project, founded by Megan Murphy, is based on the profound truth that one message at the right moment can change someone’s day, their outlook, and, indeed, their whole life. The messages on these thoughtful pebbles take many forms: gratitude, affirmations, encouragement, and offers of hope—all signposts along the way for someone to find at exactly the right time.

"Adopt Me" Bandanas

ELITE Event in the school library

On Monday, October 15th in the school library's MakerSpace at 2:15 pm, we will be creating "Adopt Me" Bandanas for cats and dogs up for adoption at the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter. All materials will be provided. This is an ELITE event. Sign up here.

UPDATE: We were able to donate over 80 "Adopt Me" Bandanas to the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter. #mephamgivesback

Mepham Dad Turned Author Speaks to Students

This year we had the great honor to host author Joseph J. Lozito, who is also the father of Mepham senior, Joe Lozito and freshman, Dominic Lozito. Mr. Lozito's autobiography, The New York Subway Hero: My Battle with Evil...and a Spree-Killer!! tells about his experience on a New York City subway car in 2011 when he came face-to-face with convicted serial killer Maksim Gelman. Mr. Lozito discussed the natural fight-or-flight response, which is also called hyper-arousal, or the acute stress response, which is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. He shared with students the most difficult part of his ordeal, which happened during a phone call to his wife while in the hospital. His presentation was engaging, thoughtful and captivated our students.

Packed library to hear Mr. Lozito speak.

Mr. Lozito raffles off 10 copies of his autobiography. 

Mr. Lozito autographs copies of his book for students.

We are so grateful to be able to bring in authors and provide our students with these type of opportunities to hear from real people about their life experiences.

Open Mic Night 2018

Open Mic Night will be held in the West Cafeteria this year on Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $5.00 and can be purchased at the door. Refreshments will also be on sale to benefit the literary magazine, Fragments.  All students and their families are welcome to attend. This is one of the best events at Mepham High School. You don't want to miss it!

Heartfelt Holiday Cards

Many students, including those in the National Art Honor Society and Mrs. Geller's School & Community Leadership classes, joined us in the school library's MakerSpace this past Monday to craft holiday cards for Mercy Haven’s network of families. Mercy Haven is a non-sectarian, non-profit organization located in Islip Terrace that offers assistance to over 3,000 Long Islanders, approximately half of which are children. Mercy Haven’s mission is to acknowledge the dignity and potential of people who are homeless, living with mental illness, or living in poverty by providing housing, advocacy, education, and life skills development.

The cards crafted from our students were truly touching. Many said that it is important to remember those less fortunate than you, especially at this time of year. #mephamgivesback

Sampling of holiday cards crafted in the MakerSpace.