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Principal's Newsletter-May 2025

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

May is here, the weather is finally cooperating, and the days left in the school year are quickly passing by.  This is a great time for students to start thinking about organizing their notes, reviewing material from earlier in the year, and starting to prep for end-of-year finals.  Next week also ushers in the start of College Board Advanced Placement (AP) testing.  Please refer to my previous email for AP testing and attendance guidance.

A special note regarding NY State Regents testing on JUNE 10.  Please mark your calendar, as this will be a testing day for students in Earth & Space Science and Biology.  A special testing day schedule will be sent out separately, detailing which students are expected to be in attendance on June 10 and the schedule for the day.  Please keep in mind there will be several activities throughout the day, including workshops and Senior Internship Presentations.  A more detailed schedule will be sent out later this month.

Over the past week, we have had some amazing achievements by Westlake High School students:

  • Mr. D’Ippolito’s Creative Writing students were honored by having their original stories published.  Twenty-three (23) students who had submitted their stories to the Young Writers Organization were selected for publication! 

    • Maya Abbatantuono

    • Aleena Abraham

    • Makayla Battista

    • Shayla Cassidy

    • Isabel Cohen

    • Tara Connolly

    • Chloe Deur

    • Jacquelyn DiPaolo

    • Riley Edwards

    • Holly Elespuru

    • Elise Hurdis

    • Isabella Miele

    • Matias Obando Gomez

    • Michael Newell

    • Isabella Pastilha

    • Maria Paternostro

    • Amelia Pintavalle

    • Abigail Ryan

    • Sean Samoyedny

    • Madelyn Sergeant

    • Connor Smith

    • Marc Studer

    • Lauren Vinci

Congratulations to our young authors, and thank you to Mr. D’Ippolito for mentoring these students!

This past weekend, both our Band and Chorus programs competed in the Annual Music in the Parks performance.  Concert Band earned a superior rating and placed 2nd in their division.  Chorus received a rating of excellent and placed 3rd in their division.  Blendors earned a rating of superior and placed 1st in their division.  Outstanding performances by all!  Thank you, Ms. Denler and Mr. Torres, for leading our Performing Arts Programs.

On an equally impressive front, we just learned that the prestigious Eastern Student Artist Guild announced their award winners for best comedy, and our Westlake Players had several honorees for the production, You Can’t Take It With You.  Congratulations to the following:

  • Best Actors:  Gabriel McCab and Alyssa Occhiogrossi     

  • Best Supporting Actors:--Gianna Occhiogrossi and Henry Sliss

 And, congratulations to all and especially our Directors Toni Williams and Michael Williams for being named a “Best Comedy Production.”

In the world of Science Research, once again, Westlake Science Research students had an impressive showing in the Tri-County Science and Engineering Fair with over 160 students competing from across our region.  These students were selected for the following honors:

  • Christina Rodrigues won 1st Place in the category Biology.
  • Isabelle Chacko won 3rd Place in the category Medicine and Medical Science & Technology, and was chosen as an alternate to compete at the New York State Science Congress as one of the top 9 high school projects. 

  • Keira Borello won 3rd Place in the category Environment.

  • Giana Marchese won 3rd Place in the category Biology. 

Thank you to Mr. McIntyre for his continued guidance and mentoring of our young science researchers.

And, if that wasn’t enough, I had the pleasure of attending the Eagle Scout Court of Honor this past Sunday to recognize and celebrate the incredible accomplishments of two Westlake seniors.  Congratulations to the following students for earning the rank of Eagle Scout:

  • Paul Occhiogrossi

  • Leonardo Trapani

These two students had an impressive list of achievements recognized during the ceremony by dignitaries from all around our region.  Impressive accomplishment by two impressive young men!

In honor of our friend and colleague Betsy Groat, we will be having the first annual "Betsy Groat Wellness Day" that will take place at Westlake High School on Sunday, May 18th, to raise money for scholarship funds. 

So please, come join us for the 5k, kids fun run, pickleball tournament, and a day all about positivity!  For further information, please see the attached flyer.  If you are unable to attend but would like to donate to the scholarship fund, please do so through https://fbgs.betterworld.org

Westlake High School May Events

May 5 -16:   WHS AP Exams

Wednesday, May 14:  WHS 4th Quarter Midpoint

May 23 and 26:  School Closed for Memorial Day

June 10:   Testing Day -- Earth Science & Biology Regents