For the second year in a row, students from Mepham High School’s Bellmore-Merrick Broadcasting program have earned second place in the NBC Universal and Adobe national contest “The Edit.” 

The Edit is a digital storytelling contest that challenges students to tell a story about the concept of Wellness.  

According to NBC, over 30,000 students from 600 schools nationwide participated in the contest.  

“The Edit is a great opportunity for BMB students to demonstrate the digital storytelling concepts they learn every day in the BMB program,” said teacher Matt Russell, whose class produced the winning entries both this year and last. 

Juniors Oliver Mattes, Nicole Saraceni, and Mia Haffner teamed up to create the winning entry, which combined interviews, graphics, and a B-roll to tell how physical activity and education help create balance and mental well-being and wellness. 

“Most of the stories we do for BMB focus on school and community events, working on a news story about an important topic like wellness was a different kind of challenge,” noted Haffner, who has been in the program since her freshman year.  

To complete the project the students combined materials provided by NBC and Adobe with curricular materials used daily in BMB.  

Junior Nicole Saraceni described the reporting and editing process during the contest. 

“We scheduled the interviews and crafted interview questions like on a normal BMB story, but this time we also created graphics using the footage NBC gave us,”she explained. 

The BMB program is currently in its ninth year at Mepham.  

Students from across the district can apply for entry in eighth grade. Over the course of their four years in the program, BMB students learn the basics of digital storytelling by creating short films and news packages, studio shows, and live sports coverage.  

You can view the winning story on the Friday, April 11, edition of the nationally recognized BMB Morning Announcements broadcast on BMB YouTube. 

Date Added: 4/22/2025

Students and teachers at Mepham High School collaborated to design a stellar mural to celebrate National Space Science Week.  

Space science requires innovative thinkers, and fostering this approach is a key goal in classrooms across the Central High School District. To highlight these thinkers, the science department included the names of all 1,400 ‘star’ students on the mural on the wall.  

“Students in our science classrooms work daily with their teachers to ‘think like scientists’ and learn to ask critical questions that advance innovative ideas,” noted Heather Bizewski, the science chairperson at Mepham and Grand Avenue Middle School. 

Space science and exploration advance scientific understanding and have many implications on Earth, a concept often discussed in classrooms.  

“Research on the International Space Station tests technologies that are critical to our return to the moon and contributing to medical and social breakthroughs that improve life on our home planet,” added Bizewski. 

Date Added: 4/4/2025

For the first time in school history, Mepham business students have joined DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), allowing them to compete regionally and advance to the State Career Conference (SCC) for a chance to qualify for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in April. This week, business teacher Mrs. Frend led seven qualifying students (Andrew Graf, Eloise Hannula, Luke Fischetti, Nick Pariag, Drew Erickson, Jenny Marmol, and Thomas Youssef) to Rochester to compete at SCC in events such as Principles of Entrepreneurship, Accounting Applications, Business Finance, Professional Selling, and Hospitality and Lodging Selling. The conference, which hosted over 3,100 students competing in over 50 performance events from across New York, required competitors to present to industry professionals, including entrepreneurs, sales managers, human resource managers, CEOs, and CFOs, demonstrating their business acumen and professionalism under pressure. 

The students dedicated months of preparation, showcasing their hard work and commitment to excellence. Their participation in DECA marks an exciting milestone for Mepham’s business program, setting a strong foundation for future competitions. Walking away with medals was Drew Erickson placing in the Top 10 for Accounting Series and Eloise Hannula with Top 10 and Best Overall for Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling. Each event held between 50 and 100 competitors!  The DECA team has made history by representing Mepham on a statewide stage and proving the strength of its business students. 

Congratulations to these amazing business students, and thank you to Ms. Frend for your leadership and guidance of our students.

Date Added: 3/20/2025

A team of 24 students from the Bellmore-Merrick Broadcasting program traveled to Tampa, FL for the Student Television Network (STN) annual convention in early March. 

The Student Television Network convention is an annual event that where 3,500 students studying broadcasting and film from nearly 200 schools across the country compete in a series of competitions that simulate professional conditions. 

BMB News Director Ryan Marr explained that during each competition, the students needed to watch each project through throughout before submitting.  

“In the Crazy Eights competition, teams of media students are tasked to create an 8-minute morning show broadcast in only eight hours, sending teams of young video journalists across the Gulf Coast city in search of stories to tell,” explained Stu Stein, one of the program's instructors. 

Along with Stein,  program's instructors Matt Russell, Lisa Kalish, as well as chaperone/English teacher Melanie Sirof attended the convention.

In addition to Crazy Eights, the BMB team competed in nine contests over the course of the conference.  

“Each contest followed the same format, where a prompt is announced on the STN website and the students competing in that contest sit and brainstorm ideas that fit the prompt,” explained Stein. “They then make cold call to a location that fits the prompt to get permission to record, quickly gather their gear and head off - on foot - to the location, often crossing paths with teams from other STN schools also racing to complete their stories.”  

After producing segments on location, other team members work four hours on polishing the video package. When they emerged from the editing room, they were met with cheers from their teammates who jointly hit the red UPLOAD button, thus submitting the finished project.  

 “I couldn't help but be impressed by the structure of the STN conference; giving the broadcast teams an on-demand task and a finite amount of time in which to deliver a polished product, created a sustainable energy rarely replicated in a 40-minute period,” noted Sirof.

The three days of contests created a trial that even industry professionals would find challenge, yet these young BMB students rose to the occasion. They started projects from scratch – and on foot in an unfamiliar city and state, at times averaging 10 miles per day. 

Junior Mya Passanisi went through three pairs of shoes as she reported from a Tampa pizza restaurant that imports New York water to make their dough on day one. She sought out student opinions on the campus of the University of Tampa the next and profiled a Tampa fraternity on the competition’s final day.  

“I knew we’d have to think on our feet to file everything in on deadline,” Passanisi noted. “I’m glad I was ready to walk – and work - fast as well.” 

Each of the 24 students ‘selected for a specific skill, the nature of the contests had them exchanging roles and experiencing different aspects of production every day,’ noted Stein. 

Junior Nikki Saraceni spent day one as a technician recording the anchors on location, was a movie actor one day two and spent day three as an editor. 

“At home in BMB we learn all the aspects of production, I just didn’t expect to do them all in three days,” she recanted. 

A highlight of the competition is the annual Broadcast Excellence Awards ceremony where programs from across the nation (including schools 400 STN member schools not in attendance) are recognized for the work their students do year-round.  

“For the third year in a row, BMB took home multiple Excellence Awards winning Silver Medals for Outstanding Achievement for BMB Sports Talk in the category of Best Sports Show and BMB’s newest show the Frontier in the category of Social Media,” added Stein. 

Frontier producer/senior Matthew Natof conceived the show at the 2024 STN Convention. 

 “Watching the winners last year in California, I knew that BMB could create something just as good,” Natof recalled.“I can’t wait to see where the show goes next year.”  

BMB also took home the bronze medal for Distinguished Merit in the categories of Best Podcast, Best News Magazine and Best News Show. 

BMB also earned an Honorable Mention nod for their Natural Sound Package capturing the sites and the sounds of Tampa’s TECO trolly line by seniors Matthew Natof, Jake Manno, Luke Yepez and Kyle McQuillan along with junior Lucas Paingankar and sophomore Brett McGovern. 

All the work created by the BMB - STN team can be seen on BMB’s award-winning news Midweek Update over the course of the next few weeks. The Midweek Update airs every Wednesday via https://www.youtube.com/@BMBCBroadcasting/videos.

Click here to view the Broadcasting Program Competes at National Convention 2025 slideshow.

Date Added: 3/11/2025

The Mepham High School cheerleading team had an exceptional 2024-25 season filled with milestones and triumphs. It was capped off with the squad clinching the Nassau County Class B championship on Feb. 16. 

This is a historic achievement for Mepham, marking a major milestone in the program's history.  

“In October, the squad made an impressive appearance at the Nassau County Championship for Game Day, showcasing their skill and determination,” noted Coach Ashely Yunker, who is also a special education teacher at Merrick Avenue Middle School. 

At the competitive Universal Cheerleaders Association’s Nationals in Orlando, FL, they placed 25th out of 97 teams in the Small Division 2. 

“These student athletes proved their strength among the best,” Yunker added.  

The team is now gearing up for their next challenge as they head to Binghamton on March 8 for the New York State Championship, aiming for the state title. 

Date Added: 2/27/2025