The Sewanhaka Central High School District packed a lot of pride into a single Tuesday evening.
At the March 24 board of education meeting, superintendents, administrators, and board members gathered to recognize athletes, coaches, scholars, artists, and even a group of student architects who turned a real school need into a classroom project. It was the kind of night that reminds you why local education boards exist beyond the budget votes and policy debates.
Superintendent Regina Agrusa opened the recognitions by honoring Anthony Brancato, the athletic director and physical education and health chairperson at H. Frank Carey High School in Franklin Square. Brancato received the 2026 Section VIII Athletic Administrator of the Year award at the New York State Athletic Administrators Association’s annual conference. His resume within Section VIII is substantial: boys golf coordinator, member of the sportsmanship committee, and participant on the council and planning committee. The award reflects years of sustained involvement, not just a single standout season.
The evening’s second major coaching honor went to Ahkeel Rodney, varsity boys soccer coach at Floral Park Memorial High School. Rodney was named the 2025 National High School Coach of the Year by the Black Soccer Coaches Leadership Team. Under his guidance, the Floral Park program has become one of the most decorated in the region. The team captured a New York State Soccer Championship in 2024 and followed it up with a second consecutive Nassau County Championship in 2025. That kind of sustained success at the high school level doesn’t happen by accident.
The spotlight then shifted to students. Five members of the Class of 2026 were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Program finalists, a distinction earned by fewer than one percent of the more than 1.5 million students who enter the competition each year. The finalists are Nathan Gee of Floral Park Memorial and four students from New Hyde Park Memorial: Anirudh Arvind, Shohom Chakraborty, Darsh Mirchandani, and Ava Su. Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Richard Faccio led the congratulations for the group.
Five student artists also received certificates of achievement for having their work selected for the 2026 Nassau All-County Art Exhibition, hosted by the Art Supervisors Association. The five were among 50 graduating seniors chosen for the ASA Senior Scholarship. Clara Pelissier of Elmont Memorial, Kelsey Werthmuller of Floral Park Memorial, Chloe Urban of H. Frank Carey, Theodora Doukas of New Hyde Park Memorial, and Marissa Ramirez of Sewanhaka High School all earned that recognition. Getting work into a county-level exhibition as a high school senior is a meaningful milestone, and these five students represent all five schools in the district.
Perhaps the most unexpected presentation of the night came from students in the Career and Technical Education architecture program. Working under teacher John Koscinski, these students developed detailed renderings and plans for a proposed new guidance suite at H. Frank Carey High School. The designs weren’t theoretical exercises. Students based their concepts on actual budget parameters and a real analysis of the building’s needs, then presented their work to industry professionals. It was a genuine test of applied skills, and from all accounts, they delivered.
The meeting opened with the Student Report from ex officio board member Kyara Ozil, a junior at Sewanhaka High School. Ozil highlighted districtwide events including P.S. I Love You Day celebrations across all five buildings and previewed the spring musicals coming up across the district.
Taken together, the evening painted a wide picture of what’s happening inside Sewanhaka’s schools right now. Athletic leadership, academic achievement, creative talent, and hands-on professional skills all shared the same stage. For a district spread across five communities in Nassau County, nights like this one do the work of pulling everything together under a single roof, at least for a few hours.