Community News, January 16

Chefs in the kitchen at the spaghetti dinner to benefit the Southampton Fire Department Hockey Team on Saturday are: Lieutenant Jeremy McMahon, Captain Rick Fowler, Lt. James Duryea and Steve Iecensoha. TOM KOCHIE

A spaghetti dinner to benefit the Southampton Fire Department Hockey Team on Saturday. TOM KOCHIE

Southampton Montessori School "Stepping Stones" students recently welcomed the New Year with big smiles.

Caroline Doctorow and friends performed at the Masonic Temple located in Sag Harbor Whaling Museum on Saturday night. MICHAEL HELLER

Hampton Bays High School seniors Skye McMorris, left, and Gabrielle Caine have been named National Merit Commended Students. In addition to their studies, both students are involved in their school. Gabrielle is a member of the Interact and Rotary Youth Leadership clubs. She also sings, plays the cello and is the founder of the Healthy Harmony Club, a group of student musicians who perform at area nursing homes. She intends to pursue studies in the music industry in college. Skye is a science research student and a member of her school’s Key Club, Interact Club and Science Olympiad team. She also plays volleyball. She plans to study biochemistry in college.

Hampton Bays High School senior Julia Heming earned third place in the New York State VFW Voice of Democracy essay contest for her entry, “What Makes America Great.” In her essay, she argued that America is great for one single reason, its diversity. The daughter of a U.S. Navy vet, she has ancestors on both parents’ sides who can be traced back to the Mayflower, as well as an ancestor who was an original signer of the Declaration of Independence. She is editor-in-chief of her school’s newspaper, The Tide, has been an intern for The Southampton Press. She is also a member of her school’s Key Club and coaches cheer at Our Lady of the Hamptons Regional Catholic School and plans to study journalism in college.

Eighth-graders at Hampton Bays Middle School learned about a variety of colleges from visiting Hampton Bays High School alumni during the middle school’s 12th annual College Awareness Day. Back row, left to right, Sean Noonan (Penn State University), Thomas O’Connell (Binghamton University), Bridget Hughes (University of South Carolina) and Jared Strecker (Syracuse University), front, Sarah Fassino (University of Rhode Island), Christina Coulton (Binghamton University) Maryrose O’Connell (SUNY Cortland), and Meghan Long (James Madison University).

Susan Hovdesven and Brianna Ottati, real estate agents at the Southampton office of Douglas Elliman enlisted the help of their colleagues to bring some holiday cheer to the children at the nonprofit Southampton Day Care Center, which serves as safe, nurturing, low-cost day care service for low income working families. They brought special gifts to all 21 children and hosted a pizza party, with pizza donated by Paul's Italian American Restaurant, to hand them out.

Susan Hovdesven and Brianna Ottati, real estate agents at the Southampton office of Douglas Elliman enlisted the help of their colleagues to bring some holiday cheer to the children at the nonprofit Southampton Day Care Center, which serves as safe, nurturing, low-cost day care service for low income working families. They brought special gifts to all 21 children and hosted a pizza party, with pizza donated by Paul's Italian American Restaurant, to hand them out.

Under the light of a full moon, Birder Joe Giunta uses his cell phone to play a eastern screech owl call, hoping to attract one of the species as he leads a group along a trail near Mashashimuet Park during a Nightttime Owl Prowl sponsored by the South Fork Natural History Museum on Friday night. MICHAEL HELLER

Southampton Police Officer Tiffany Lubold presented Our Lady of the Hamptons School fifth-graders with certificates of completion at the DARE graduation on January 10. Also attending the ceremony were Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren, right, Southampton Village Police Detective Herman Lamison, left, and Southampton Village Trustee Richard Yastrzemski. Essay contest winners Lucy Tillotson and Oliver Nielsen read their essays on the lessons learned in the program.

Raphael Mizrahi and Athen Tsibiridis took advantage of the unusually warm weather to enjoy a pickup game of basketball at Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor on Sunday. MICHAEL HELLER