HuntingtonNow

Schools: Graduations; Audit; Museum Student Support

By Pam Robinson,

8 hours ago

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A state audit found that the Half Hollow Hills District did not always appropriately track, inventory and safeguard IT equipment and IT department staff did not maintain complete inventory records.

As a result, district officials cannot assure taxpayers that all IT equipment is adequately accounted for and would be detected if lost, stolen or misused, the audit by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli found. Auditors selected 100 pieces of equipment (devices) costing $88,223 to confirm their location and that they were properly inventoried and determined that 23% of the equipment was not properly accounted for.

Specifically, three IT devices, worth a total of $3,012 could not be located. Another 20 IT devices that cost $19,914 were not listed in the district’s accounting detail report.

However, the district, in a prepared statement, said,

“The District maintains a dynamic and comprehensive inventory database for all of its information technology equipment, and in addition has a third-party organization maintain an inventory report – used for insurance purposes only – that only captures equipment items valued at or above the District’s capitalization threshold as set by Board Policy.

“As outlined in the Comptroller’s Technology Equipment Inventory report, the two key findings were that only three old devices could not be located and that 20 devices were not listed in the 3 ^rd -party inventory report.

”For the 20 devices not listed in the 3 ^rd -party inventory report – none of these devices were missing. The district’s database clearly reflects the accurate status of all of these devices. The 3 ^rd -party indicated that they were not included in their inventory report because they were either below the capitalization threshold (therefore keeping the report in compliance with what the insurance company needs for pricing various policies), or because they do not provide specific individual item detail on equipment which they “bundle” (i.e., bulk purchases which get recorded as one “bundled” item by the 3rd-party).”

”For the three devices that were missing, one from 2008 had long ago been taken out of service however the database hadn’t been updated, one had been reported stolen in 2010 and a notation was added to the database and was communicated to the 3 ^rd party, and one from 2007 was reported lost by an employee but not to the correct department and therefore wasn’t reflected in the database.

“The District will continue to rely on its own comprehensive database of 8,144 devices to manage and maintain its complete, accurate and up-to-date inventory of information technology equipment.”

Support for Scholars

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has announced an opportunity for Long Island museums and historical societies to offer employment and receive assistance from students through the 2024 Gardiner Young Scholars Program.

The foundation created the Gardiner Young Scholars Program to bring youthful energy, skills and interest to local historic sites. The program enables applying historic organizations to engage students between the ages of 15 and 22 to assist them with daily operations. The program requires a selected Young Scholar to complete 100 hours of service and provides a stipend of $1,600 to be paid to the scholar. Gardiner Young Scholars are selected at the discretion of the individual historical society which oversees their hours and activities.

To apply for the program, organizations must submit a hard copy letter of request along with an IRS determination letter establishing them as a 501(c)(3) organization (three year minimum) and a copy of their mission statement. Organizations should send the letter of request to:

Gardiner Young Scholars,

Terry Tirado

30 West Main Street, Suite 309

Riverhead, NY 11901

Applying organizations must support the study, stewardship and promotion of education relating to Long Island’s and New York’s role in American history, as well as scholarships and historic preservation.

At the completion of a Gardiner Young Scholar’s term, the historical society is required to submit a short video presentation created by the Scholar on their experience, along with a timesheet showing the hours worked by the Scholar, a letter from the historical society describing the work performed by the Scholar, and a copy of the cancelled checks paying the scholar.

College Graduations

Hobart and William Smith

Jared X. Leake, of Huntington received an M.A. degree in Higher Education Leadership during the 2024 Commencement Ceremonies of Hobart and William Smith Colleges on May19.

University of Buffalo

Joseph Glatz of Commack graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the School of Architecture and Planning.

Justin Bernak of Dix Hills graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the School of Architecture and Planning.

Sophia Etline of Commack graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Jessie Seidner of Melville graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing science from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Michael Calobrisi of Northport graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Enrique Ramos of Huntington graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the School of Nursing.

Josh Lee of Huntington Station graduated cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the School of Public Health and Health Professions..

Yagmur Aykanat of Huntington Station graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Aaron Schnitzer of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in communication from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Jack Cassidy of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in communication from the College of Arts and Sciences.

GG Singh of Huntington graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Brandon Monegro of Huntington Station graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in geological sciences from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cayla Salti of Melville graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in health and human services from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Monica Adam of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in history from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Christopher McLaughlin of Dix Hills, graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in international trade from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dino Galanoudis of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Jonathan Nguyen of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cayla Werner of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Zoe Lattuca of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Elliot Angus of Huntington graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Juliana Guerra of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Michael Schlaugies of Cold Spring Harbor graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Jake Rogers of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Jared Vallen of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Kyle Schmitt of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Maxwell Vagts of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Michael McGurk of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Michael Karpe of Commack graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Matt McKeon of Dix Hills graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Teddy Kavanagh of Northport, graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the School of Management.

Carsten Staehlin of Huntington graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in film studies from the College of Arts and Sciences. Staehlin’s conferral date was February 2024.

Kaitlyn Mah of Northport graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in political science from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cora Soupios of Northport, graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Lauren Berg of Huntington, graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Julie Jacobs of Dix Hills graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing science from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Hope Levin of Huntington Station graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in urban and public policy studies from the College of Arts and Sciences

Brendan Roller of Melville, graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Rachel Williams of Fort Salonga graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Abby Pace of Commack graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the School of Nursing.

High School Graduation Season

Students are mostly out of school for several weeks though many have reading lists and other tasks to complete over the summer.

Huntington’s public school districts wrapped up the school year with commencement exercises for their senior classes. Here are photos from several recent graduations, supplied by the districts.

Huntington High School