Teen Film Contest

The young adult department at the East Hampton Library has invited students to shoot and edit a film for a teen film festival on March 6.

Filming after hours at the library will be permitted tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. Interested filmmakers have been asked to email Lisa Michne for rules and other information at [email protected]. The winner will be announced at a screening and awards program later in March.

Kids 7 and up can stop by the East Hampton Library for another Snap Circuits electronics programs on Wednesday and on Feb. 21 and 28, all from 4 to 5 p.m.  

Today from 4 to 5 p.m. middle school students can decorate a matchbox with festive duct tape and stickers, then fill it with candy provided or a message for their valentines.

A practice ACT test, which is part of the college application process, will be offered to high school students on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The test and results are free but registration is required, with preference given to residents of East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott.

Teens will join together on Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. to read, hear, and shine a spotlight on literature written by African-American authors. Reading lists and books will be available in the Black History Month display. Refreshments will be served.

On Sunday between 3 and 4:30 p.m. high school students can stop by the young adult room to create Valentine’s Day cards using watercolors.

Kids ages 4 to 6 and accompanied by an adult can listen to a Valentine’s Day story and make a craft on Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m.

The movie “Descendants” will be screened next Thursday at 4 p.m. and is suitable for all ages.

Kids ages 4 and up can stop by on Friday, Feb. 16, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. to discover famous artists who invent their own creatures, and then build one from their imagination using cardboard, pipe cleaners, wire, and other fun stuff.

Trashy Talks, Recycled Valentines

An interactive performance by Bash the Trash, a band that builds, performs, and educates with musical instruments made from repurposed material, will be the highlight of a family night at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill on Friday, Feb. 16, at 6. Participants will get to make their own recycled instruments and join in a performance with the band. The performance and workshop are free with the price of admission. Advance registration is required.

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, Cindy Pease Roe, an artist, will host an instructional workshop tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. on art making with repurposed materials. The project: heart-shape valentine sculptures from marine debris. 

3-D Fun, Dancing, Valentine Pillows

Seventh through 12th graders can learn how to create a 3-D file using Tinkercad, a simple, online 3-D design and printing app, on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. Registration is required, and teens who have attended a past workshop and would like to have files printed have been asked to stop by the teen space or email [email protected].

At the Montauk Library, kids 1 to 5 can celebrate Valentine’s Day with a dance on Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Registration is required, as space is limited.

Kids in third grade and above can learn how to make lip balm and lip scrub using essential oils and coconut oil on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. at the library. 

Heart pillows made from felt will be the project of the day for kids 9 to 12 on Saturday at 2 at the Amagansett Library. 

Olympics Week at CMEE

Kids ages 3 to 7 and grown-ups have been invited to channel their inner cupids in an art workshop on Saturday from 10 to 10:45 a.m. at the Children’s Museum of the East End. Participants will create a unique work of “(he)art” just in time for Valentine’s Day. The cost is $17 including museum admission, $5 for members.

Children inspired by watching the Winter Olympics on TV can take part in a lineup of Olympics-theme games, crafts, and activities from Monday through Feb. 18 at the museum. The fun is free with museum admission.

The school break may be a week and a half away, but now is the time to plan for it. There are a number of options for kids who are not heading out of town for the week.

Working parents in need of full-day activities and care for school-age children might look to the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, which will offer a vacation camp for ages 4 to 14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Feb. 19 through 23, with an extended-day option of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost is $32 per child, or $42 for an extended day. Registration is by email to [email protected].

Young theater lovers can turn the everyday into something to sing about in Bay Street Theater’s My Life: The Musical vacation camp. Participants will get instruction in singing, acting, dance, and musical theater history from Bethany Dellapolla as they develop scripts for pieces to be staged for friends and family at the end of the week. The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Feb. 19 through 23 and will be offered again from April 2 to 6, during spring break. The cost is $470 per child for a week, $825 for both weeks. Advance registration at baystreet.org is required. 

The East Hampton Town Parks and Recreation Department will oversee a free program of morning recreation and crafts at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton and the Montauk School. From 9 a.m. to noon on Feb. 20 through 23, kids in kindergarten through sixth grade can burn off some physical and creative energy. Registration takes place at the schools each morning at drop-off. Participants need not be residents of East Hampton Town.

At the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, kids 4 to 7 can explore different themes each day during a Winter Kids Club that will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon, Feb. 19 through 23. The cost is $60 per day, $45 for museum members, and registration ahead of time has been suggested. 

Across the street at the South Fork Natural History Museum, nature will be the focus of hourlong programs beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 20 through the 24th. Each day will bring a different topic, from “sleeping trees and wandering seeds” to snowflakes to spiders. 

At the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, vacation art workshops from Feb. 10 to 23 will delve into weaving, abstract printmaking, Model Magic sculpture, portraits, and landscape painting. Workshops for 5 and 6-year-olds will be from 10 a.m. to noon; those for kids 7 and older will be from 1 to 3 p.m. All materials will be provided, and workshops will begin with a tour of the galleries. The cost is $40 per session, $30 for members of the museum, and advance registration at parrishart.org has been strongly suggested.

While President Trump’s “great, great wall” to keep immigrants out has yet to be erected, two East Hampton High School seniors quietly proved the value of breaking down barriers and investing in young immigrants instead.

Alexander Sigua Pintado, who is called Nick, has been named valedictorian of East Hampton’s class of 2018, which has 215 students, while Jonathan Gomez Barrientos has been chosen as the salutatorian. Both are children of immigrants. They became the first Latino pair in the school’s history to finish in the top two spots in the same year. In 2006, J. Sebastian Pineda was the first Latino valedictorian and in 2012 a Latina was the school’s salutatorian.

“I could not be more proud of these two young men,” said Adam Fine, East Hampton’s principal. “They are excellent students and great boys. They represent our school with class and dignity.”

Dignity is indeed a word that comes to mind when speaking with Nick. Sitting in Starbucks on Monday, the 17- year-old exuded humility and grace. He shared, after much coaxing, his staggering high school grades that landed him the top spot. “I think my weighted average is around 101.4 percent. Maybe a little higher now.”

Which basically means he never, ever flunked anything. Or even faltered. But his story goes beyond the numbers. After all, plenty of young Americans today tout impressive test scores and G.P.A.s, often thanks to a retinue of hired help contracted over several years with the express purpose of getting kids into elite colleges. There are test tutors, life skills coaches, college counselors, essay consultants, and even psychologists to perform evaluations needed to get students extra time on college application tests.

“We definitely couldn’t afford a tutor,” said Nick, whose parents are from Ecuador and moved to Springs 20 years ago. His mother works in the cafeteria at the Ross School in East Hampton, and his father is a carpenter and landscaper. “I would use online resources to help me practice for the ACT and ask my English teachers for help with my essay.”

He said he learned the value of working hard during the summers when he would help his father with manual labor. His essay, incidentally, was not about his underprivileged immigrant life but about how being short defined his life.

Nick applied to Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, and Columbia. In early January, only a couple of weeks after submitting his applications, he got a call from the Yale admissions office. “I thought I had forgotten to send something with my application,” he said, smiling. Instead, the coveted university, with an acceptance rate of about 6 percent, told Nick he had been accepted and would be receiving a “likely” letter, sent to applicants the admissions office wishes to secure early. Each year about 300 athletes and approximately 100 regular students receive such a letter.

He said he would wait to hear back from the other schools before deciding, as much will depend on the financial aid he hopes to receive. He wants to study political science and hopes to become a political analyst, and would like to go to law school. He dismissed his impressive story as simply “chasing the American dream,” and said he was shocked to learn that he had been named valedictorian, as everyone thought it would be Jonathan, who was named the salutatorian instead.

Jonathan, an academic superstar since middle school, left Guatemala for East Hampton at the age of 5 with his mother and three sisters. None of them spoke any English.

“Only a couple of months after we moved here the recession hit and my mom couldn’t find a job,” he said. She worked as a housekeeper, and the fatherless household struggled mightily. “It was really tough,” Jonathan remembered. “The responsibility of raising four kids was all on my mom. I don’t know how she did it.”

Today, his mother works as a caretaker for young children. His eldest sister is pursuing an online degree in psychology and works at the Springs School, while another sister will graduate this year from Medaille College in Buffalo. His youngest sister is a sophomore at the high school. He said he hasn’t seen his father in about 10 years and has no contact with him. During the summers, Jonathan works at La Fondita and Townline BBQ restaurants.

He scored in the 97th percentile on his SAT test, with no tutoring. He was accepted early into Cornell University — his first and only choice — where he plans to study astronomy with a minor in physics. His goal is to work for NASA one day.

“I was pretty confident that I would get in,” he said of receiving the good news from Cornell. “Not cocky but confident.” In addition, the university was “very generous and offered a lot of money.”

Jonathan is sharp, direct, and looks you straight in the eye when he speaks. He smiles a lot, too, and seems really happy to sit and talk for as long as you will listen. He spoke about how his curiosity for astronomy was launched when NASA landed a rover on Mars and about going on a school trip to Malawi in his junior year to help build a primary school. He was in the African nation for 10 days, which he described as a throwback to his life in Guatemala. “There was no internet, no TV, no phones, kids just playing soccer, and I thought, ‘I remember that.’ ”

He also spoke passionately about wanting to provide a better example to young Latinos, whose culture, he explained, is deeply rooted in the importance of getting a job rather than an education. “I want to be a role model for the future generation,” he said. With an acceptance to his dream college in the bag, his plan for the rest of the year is to focus a little more on his social life. Maybe, he conceded, he didn’t spend enough time with his friends during his pursuit of academic excellence.

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Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Alexander Sigua Pintado was East Hampton High School's first Latino valedictorian. In fact, that distinction belongs to J. Sebastian Pineda in 2006. 

Trashy Fun at the Parrish

An interactive performance by Bash the Trash, a band that builds, performs, and educates with musical instruments made from repurposed material, will be the highlight of a family night at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill tomorrow at 6. Participants will get to make their own recycled instruments and join in a performance with the band.

The trash theme continues with the documentary “Landfill Harmonic,” which will be screened on Friday, Feb. 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. Suitable for the entire family, the film follows the true story of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage. Both events are free with the price of admission, but advance registration is required.

Winter vacation week art workshops will be held from Monday through Friday, Feb. 23, at the Parrish — from 10 a.m. to noon for kids ages 5 and 6, and from 1 to 3 p.m. for ages 7 and up. The cost is $40 per session, or $30 for museum members.

Animals and Emojis

Animals from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge will be in the Amagansett Library’s community room on Saturday at 2 p.m. An array of critters, including a snake, a turtle, a bird of prey, and various creepy crawlies, will be available to meet.

Also for the winter break, children ages 5 to 8 can stop by to hear stories about kindness on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and make a shiny rainbow fish to take home. Then at 4, they can go back dressed in pajamas for more stories, this time about penguins. It’s family matinee time at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, with “The Emoji Movie.”

Dog Tales at John Jermain

Wally the extra-friendly dog who loves kids and listening to stories will be back at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor from 11 a.m. to noon tomorrow.

Vacation Activities Galore

The Disney made-for-TV movie “Descendants,” a fantasy that follows the teenage offspring of an assortment of evil characters, will be screened at the East Hampton Library today at 4 p.m. 

Tomorrow from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., kids 4 and up can discover famous artists who invented their own creatures, before creating their own imaginary animals using cardboard, pipe cleaners, wire, and other items.

A Netflix marathon is set for teens on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Snacks will be provided. Also on Tuesday, middle schoolers have been invited to celebrate the Chinese New Year by making paper fortune cookies from 4 to 5 p.m. And then on Wednesday from 2 to 3 p.m., ages 4 and up can make 3-D sculptures using Kandinsky’s circle paintings as inspiration.

Next Thursday is pajama day for high schoolers, who have been invited to lounge all day in their pajamas, sip hot cocoa, eat doughnuts, and listen to a bedtime story. At 1 that day, “The Lego Ninjago Movie” will be screened.

Winter Olympics Tribute

The Winter Olympics are being celebrated through Sunday at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. Games with an Olympic theme, crafts, and other activities will be open to parents, caregivers, and children of all ages. Admission is $12, free for museum members.

And as those Olympics are taking place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, February’s “In the Kitchen” on Saturday at 10 a.m. will be dedicated to learning how to make “pajeon,” the Korean name for green onion pancakes. Open to children ages 3 to 6 with an adult, the program costs $17 per child, or $5 per child for museum members.

From 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, the East Hampton High School baseball team will host a morning of classic carnival games at CMEE. Admission is $12, free for museum members. This fund-raising event is to benefit the Bonackers’ spring training camp in Florida in April. Donations will be accepted.

The museum’s second annual Engineers Week will begin on Monday and end on Feb. 24. Families can participate in a different science-based activity designed to excite, entertain, and educate while encouraging kids to explore science at home. Free for members, $12 for nonmembers.

From Monday to Friday, Feb. 23, 9:30 a.m. to noon, a winter kids club will be offered for ages 4 to 7. The cost is $60 per day, per child, $45 for museum members.

The Recess at SoFo

Children can participate in winter school recess programs at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton, beginning on Tuesday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. with a workshop on sleeping trees and wandering seeds. Wednesday brings sleepy spiders and other snug bugs, next Thursday snow clues, and Friday, Feb. 23, winter weather and snowflakes in the vineyard field behind the museum.

Chill With Parks and Rec

The East Hampton Town Parks and Recreation Department will host playtime and crafts for kindergartners through sixth graders from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Friday, Feb. 23, at the John M. Marshall Elementary in East Hampton and the Montauk School. There is no charge to participate, and students can register at the school on the day of. Participants need not be residents of East Hampton Town.

Presidents Week at SoulGrow

Camp SoulGrow in Montauk is offering a lineup of “fun, productive, inspiring, and pressure-free” workshops for the vacation week. For ages 7 and up, they run from Monday to Friday, Feb. 23, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the SoulGrow studio at 7 the Plaza. Monday is music, Tuesday is recycled art, Wednesday is fitness, Thursday is crafting, and Friday is baking.

The workshops are supported by donations, and sign-up is by email to [email protected].

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced this week that he had helped pass the New York State Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act to expand access to higher education for the children of immigrants. The legislation is the State Assembly’s version of the DREAM Act, which already provides college financial aid for children of undocumented immigrants. It was pushed through in order to secure financial aid for the roughly 4,500 undocumented students who graduate from New York high schools each year and hope to attend colleges in the state, the assemblyman said.

Under New York’s bill, students will also be eligible for general awards, merit-based awards, and the state’s Tuition Assistance Program if they meet certain criteria, such as having attended an approved in-state high school for two or more years, graduated from such a school, and applied to an in-state college or university within five years of receiving a high school diploma.

“Children should not be punished because their parents brought them here in search of a better life, making sacrifices, and experiencing hardships many of us couldn’t even imagine,” Assemblyman Thiele said. “Let me be clear, these are children who know no other home and we are proud to have them here. We will not turn our backs on them. We will not push them into the shadows. To all ‘Dreamers’: You are New Yorkers, you are valued, and you are worthy.” 

The bill also would establish a DREAM scholarship fund through private donations, and will expand access to the New York State College Savings 529 Program, so that parents of undocumented immigrant children with a valid taxpayer identification number can set up tuition savings accounts.

“Even though the federal administration is shamefully targeting ‘Dreamers’ by dismantling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, New Yorkers know that America was built on dreams,” Assemblyman Thiele said.

“Expanding access to higher education for the children of immigrants is the right thing to do. They have worked hard, and they deserve every chance to soar and make this state stronger.” 

Minerva Perez, the executive director of the Organizacion Latino-Americana, said she was “actually quite pleased” that Mr. Thiele is engaged on this topic, noting that in the past he had rarely commented on immigration. “Some of the content of this act already exists but given the fact it is in terrible jeopardy, his support is greatly needed and appreciated. Financial assistance for undocumented students is huge and making them eligible for the various programs is amazing,” she said. 

Undocumented students in South Fork schools have been advised to speak with their guidance counselors to learn more about programs for which they might be eligible.

A version of the New York DREAM bill is pending in the State Senate.

Artful Headdresses

Children 5 and up can learn about African tribal headdresses that are true pieces of art on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Montauk Library. Kids will then build their own artful headdresses.

Family Tech

To learn about the online resources available at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, families can stop by the children’s desk on Sunday between 1 and 2 p.m. They have been encouraged to have their devices with them.

Also on Sunday, from 3 to 4 p.m., children ages 8 to 11 will get to experiment with special pens used to draw three-dimensional objects.

Lego Ninjas and Ponies

Snap Circuits is back at the East Hampton Library on Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for kids 7 and up, incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math to help make learning about electronics fun. 

High schoolers have been invited to show up dressed in their pajamas today and relax all day in the young-adult room, where they can sip hot cocoa, eat doughnuts, and listen to a bedtime story.

“The Lego Ninjago Movie” will be screened today at 1 p.m. and is suitable for all ages. Ages 4 and up can stop by tomorrow at 1 p.m. to paint a winter sunset using watercolors. The movie “My Little Pony” will be shown on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

High school students interested in writing an original fairy tale can get some tips and prompts on Sunday between 3 and 4 p.m. Snacks will be provided.

There will be a story time and craft activity with a penguin theme for kids ages 4 to 6 on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Safe Talk for Teens

Also at the East Hampton Library, a suicide awareness and training seminar for teens from 15 to 19 only will be held on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This is not a support group and may be emotionally difficult for those who have been affected by suicide. It is not recommended for anyone who has experienced a loss within the last six months. 

Interested participants are required to register with Liliana Rodriguez at the East Hampton Town Human Resources Department at 631-329-6939 or [email protected]. East Hampton High School students can contact Aubrey Peterson, the school’s social worker, to sign up.

Vacation Week at CMEE

The second annual Engineers Week at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton continues through Saturday. Workshops are held daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and open to parents and caregivers with children of all ages. Participants can engage in a variety of science-based activities designed to excite, entertain, educate, and encourage an exploration of science at home. The classes are $12 per child for nonmembers, free for members.

Tomorrow is the last day for kids ages 4 to 7 to participate in the winter kids club from 9:30 a.m. to noon. A morning of themed crafts and activities, a healthy snack, and playtime in the exhibit gallery is offered for $60 a day per child, or $45 a day per child for museum members. Space is limited, so registration has been strongly recommended. 

SoFo Snow Talks

Children of all ages can join two South Fork History Museum nature educators, Ashley Federici and Eleni Nikolopoulos, today and tomorrow from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. to learn all about winter weather patterns and snowflakes.

Imagine going to see your doctor only to be told that he or she cannot say what is going on with your body because there’s no name for it. Or, if your disorder can be diagnosed, they tell you that there is no cure or treatment available. No medical professional can predict what your future looks like because they don’t know. 

Imagine what it would be like to live without answers to your most basic questions. That is the harsh reality not only for many patients with rare diseases, but especially for their families.

Yesterday was Rare Disease Day, an international awareness-raising campaign to help those coping with a rare disease or disorder, defined as rare in the United States when it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time.

Rowland Egerton-Warburton, who is 5, lives in Water Mill. At one time, his parents, Genie and Jamie Egerton-Warburton, were told he suffered only “global developmental delays.” At other times, he was placed on the autism spectrum. And yet another time, in an attempt to stay positive, a doctor half-jokingly said that he must have the “Rowland syndrome,” since, despite a battery of genetic tests, they were unable to come up with a label.

It wasn’t until 2016 that Rowland was diagnosed with ADNP syndrome, also known as Helsmoortel-VanDerAa syndrome. At present there are 59 diagnosed cases of ADNP in the U.S. and 146 worldwide. This extremely rare neurodevelopmental disorder is caused by a mutation in the activity-dependent neuroprotective protein gene that regulates brain formation, development, and function. In addition, the ADNP gene can cause problems with the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal systems, vision, hearing, growth, feeding, and sleep. It can also cause mild to severe delays in intelligence, speech, and gross motor, fine motor, and oral motor planning. In a substantial proportion of cases, it causes behavior disorders related to autism.

ADNP became official in the U.S. in 2014, when Sandra Sermone’s son, Tony, became the first person in the country to be diagnosed with it and only the 11th worldwide. Today, Ms. Sermone, who lives in Washington State, is the founder and president of the ADNP Kids Research Foundation, the goal of which is to advance awareness of the syndrome and accelerate its treatment. Ms. Egerton-Warburton, Rowland’s mother, is the foundation’s vice president.

Rowland is mostly nonverbal, although recently he has started to mimic sounds such as “mmm” as a way to ask for more. But his lack of vocabulary is made up for by giggling and chirping his way through the day, despite the fact that his days are filled by a tag team of specialists who arrive between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. each weekday. 

“Rowland, where’s your shirt?” asked Lisa Macaluso, a licensed applied-behavior analyst who is known as “the autism whisperer” among parents of autistic children on the East End. As recommended by Alexander Kolevzon, M.D., of the Seaver Autism Center, part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, Ms. Macaluso spends 40 hours a week at the family’s home in Water Mill, utilizing specialized applied behavior analysis, or ABA, techniques, which incorporate a system of rewards to teach children new skills. For Rowland, as for any child, learning life skills such as dressing himself will help him become more independent in the future.

Ms. Macaluso had placed a shirt and a pair of pants on the floor in Roland’s room. “Can you get your shirt, Rowlie?” she asked again. Rowland stood for a moment in front of the clothing before picking up the shirt and squealing with delight.

“Good listening, Rowland!” Ms. Macaluso exclaimed before giving him a kiss.

“I never use punishment as a way of teaching,” explained the therapist, who has a master’s degree from Columbia University. “I give him a kiss as a reward. Or a piece of pretzel, or a toy that he’s particularly fond of.”

And so the boy’s day continues. Ms. Macaluso is replaced by an ABA-instructor she is training. Then comes Nick Marchand, a physical therapist Rowland is delighted to see. “It’s more play than work with me,” Mr. Marchand said as his chirping patient bounced on a large exercise ball.

After a two-hour nap following lunch, it’s off to North Haven for occupational and speech therapy. On some days, Rowland is accompanied by his babysitter, Dora Reyes, who has been with the family for 16 years. Often, his 7-year-old sister, Charlotte, tags along to his sessions after her school day is done. 

The Egerton-Warburton family is a “blended family,” as Ms. Egerton-Warburton calls it. There are 16-year-old twins from Mr. Egerton-Warburton’s first marriage, a 14-year-old son from Ms. Egerton-Warburton’s previous marriage, and biological siblings, Rowland and Charlotte. 

While the three older siblings attend boarding schools, Charlotte is left to learn, often the hard way, that the household revolves around her little brother’s schedules, needs, and wants. 

“We have to monitor Rowlie’s every waking minute,” his mother said. “Including how many people can be in the kitchen while he’s eating so he doesn’t get overly stimulated.” Charlotte has to work with Ms. Macaluso, the ABA-specialist, to learn how to deal with him when he tries to get her attention.

“He usually pulls my hair when he wants my attention,” Charlotte said, “but I still play with him.” Recently, she visited the Seaver Autism Center, where she donated five vials of blood toward stem cell research, which the research center hopes will lead to a cure for ADNP one day.

Ms. Egerton-Warburton and her husband continue to push for increased awareness and research to help more doctors identify the disorder, find innovative treatments, and to help families living with ADNP receive the right treatment. The husband and wife team have opened an “ADNP hub” at the Seaver Autism Center to help facilitate future clinical research on the syndrome. Their goal is to raise $200,000 by October to cover the cost of extensive evaluations to be performed on 10 children and families. To date, they have raised $60,000 but aim to raise $2 million in the future so that 20 families can participate in the study.

With that in mind, Mr. Egerton-Warburton will take a yearlong sabbatical from his job in finance and embark upon “a massive fund-raising and awareness campaign,” the details of which he’s not yet ready to disclose except that it will involve his traversing the country from coast to coast.

Ms. Egerton-Warburton’s tireless quest to find the best services led her to Sidney Baker, M.D., who practices on North Haven and specializes in autism spectrum disorders. “Actually, in autistic children,” he corrected himself. 

He has agreed to work with Rowland, who is his first ADNP patient. “I agreed not only because he’s cute,” he said, “but I feel especially obliged to help people nearby who have children with complex chronic illnesses.” He said he would work to determine Rowland’s strengths, which are often overlooked when a scary label has been applied. 

It seems to be the common goal for most parents of children with a rare disease: that everyone can see that behind the symptoms, lab tests, biochemistry, immunology, toxicology, and genetic data is a human being. And by showing doctors not only what they are treating, but who they are treating, then perhaps they can be better health care providers. And until society no longer sees children who look or act different as being in crisis, but as children having a life, will they begin to see the person beyond the diagnosis.

Parrish Student Exhibition

The Parrish Art Museum’s annual Student Exhibition, which opens on Saturday, will include the work of more than 1,000 young artists from across the East End. This year’s collection includes work created by students with Bastienne Schmidt of Bridgehampton, an artist in residence, at the museum. 

An opening reception for elementary artists will take place on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., and a second reception for high school artists is planned from 3 to 5 p.m. Refreshments from the Golden Pear Cafe will be served.

The show will be on view through Feb. 4. 

Cindy Pease Roe, an artist, will host a presentation and instructional workshop for families on art making with repurposed materials on Friday, Feb. 9, from 6 and 8 p.m. Participants will build their own heart-shaped Valentine’s sculpture out of collected marine debris and rope. There is a limit of one sculpture per person and registration is required. The workshop is free with museum admission. 

Something for Everyone in East Hampton

It may be quiet outside, but there is a busy week ahead at the East Hampton Library, beginning with a mini field trip for teens to see the third installment of “The Maze Runner” film series, this one called “The Death Cure,” at the East Hampton Cinema on Saturday at 1 p.m. Space is limited to just eight participants. Following the movie a conversation will be held at the library, with snacks provided. Those attending the movie must find their own way there and back to the library. 

The first in a month-long series of Snap Circuits electronics workshops will be on Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for kids 7 and up. Additional workshops will be held at the same hours on Feb. 14, 21, and 28. Participants may join in as many workshops as they like.

Kids ages 4 and up can stop by the library on Wednesday at 4 p.m. to create a colorful still life painting and learn about female artists in history who broke through the male-dominated world of still-life art.

Middle schoolers can decorate a matchbox with festive duct tape and stickers next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. The box can then be filled with candy provided or a message for a special valentine.

Looking ahead to Feb. 10, high school students can take a practice ACT test in preparation for college admissions from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. While the test and results are free, space is limited and registration is required, with preference given to residents of the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts. 

Makers Club, Book Club

Middle school students can work with their peers on hands-on creative art and technology projects as part of a new Makers Club at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. The first meeting is on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m., with subsequent gatherings on Feb. 10, 17, and 24, and for four consecutive Saturdays every other month. In February students will have the opportunity to experiment with 3-D pens and printers. Advance registration is recommended. 

High schoolers can participate in a new monthly book club beginning Sunday at noon. Copies of the selected book are available at the teen desk.

Make a Valentine’s Gift

Kids ages 5 to 12 can get a head start on Valentine’s Day gifts on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Montauk Library. Using soft sculpture felt techniques, children will create a one-of-a-kind heart-shaped pillow, which can be decorated with pompoms, ribbons, stickers, sequins, and more. Advance registration is requested. 

Octopus and Fish at SoFo

Children ages 5 and up will learn all about octopuses at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Ashley Federici, a SoFo nature educator, will begin by reading from the book “Octopus Escapes Again!” by Laurie Ellen Angus. The group will then do an experiment to see how octopuses use their ink and make an octopus craft to take home. There will be a material fee of $3.

On Sunday Melanie Meade, also a SoFo educator, will focus on fish in a family workshop at 10:30 a.m. After learning some fishy facts, kids will get to create their own zany aquatic creature with materials provided. The fee is $3 per child.

Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent of the Amagansett School District, has informed the school board and the community that she will not seek to extend her contract, which expires in June.

In a letter addressed to parents and residents, Ms. Tritt said that her decision to leave Amagansett is “inspired only by a desire to move on to the next phase of life.” 

“I am retiring and looking forward to traveling and spending time with my grandchildren in Israel and California,” she wrote in an email on Tuesday to The Star.

Ms. Tritt first joined the tiny school district in 2001 as interim superintendent and ultimately became superintendent in 2008. Today, the district serves approximately 93 students from prekindergarten through sixth grade, with additional students at the East Hampton Middle School and East Hampton High School. During her tenure at Amagansett, Ms. Tritt said, she has “worn many hats” and has served as the school business official and personnel official, as well as the principal.

The superintendent has often come under fire from Amagansett residents and parents who have griped openly and sometimes combatively over issues that ranged from her seemingly robust compensation package — which includes free housing — to a lack of transparency in business decisions, to a school board that appears to work for the superintendent rather than vice versa.

However, in her letter, which was made public on Jan. 24, she wrote, “I love Amagansett and the Amagansett School. I truly appreciate the respect, grace, warmth, and compassion you have shown me and our staff over these many years. . . . The supportive environment we have in Amagansett is recognized by many — and should never be taken for granted.”

Ms. Tritt has promised to assist the school board with the transition over the next few months. At this time, there is no confirmation from the board as to exactly what that would entail.

On many counts, young people’s lives seem to be improving. Nationwide statistics show that drinking, smoking, and overall drug use are down, and teen pregnancies are at the lowest rate in nearly half a century. Yet it has been reported that anxiety and depression in high school kids have been on the rise since 2012, with growing evidence that teenagers are in the grip of a mental health crisis. It is as if, rather than acting out, young people today are turning in on themselves.

Hence the formation of an East Hampton Town-funded Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Use Task Force, made up of school officials from East Hampton, Montauk, Amagansett, Springs, and Sag Harbor, as well as clergy and representatives of police departments. It will be overseen by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who organized the task force, together with Adam Fine, the East Hampton High School principal.

The problem of teenage mental health is not anecdotal. In 2015, about three million high schoolers in America had suffered at least one major depressive episode in the past year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. More than two million report experiencing depression that impairs them daily. According to data from the National Institute of Mental Health, 6.3 million teens have had an anxiety disorder.

In East Hampton, Aubrey Peterson, a social worker at the high school, echoed these statistics. “I have seen an uptick in recent years of students reporting stress, anxiety, and feelings of depression,” he said. “Our youth are under an enormous amount of pressure, both academically and socially. Social media often contributes to feelings of isolation and is a breeding ground for conflict. Unfortunately, contemplation of suicide has become part of teens’ battery of choices as to how to cope with many of these feelings.”

The goal of the task force, as stated in the resolution, which the town board adopted on Jan. 18, is for “increased awareness and understanding among our parents, young people, and other community members of adolescent mental health and substance use-related issues and behaviors.”

“We have had two high school deaths by suicide since 2013,” said Mr. Fine, who has been the school’s principal since 2010. “I knew we had to all come together to do something.”

Sitting in his office on Friday, flanked by Ms. Burke-Gonzalez and Officer Ken Alversa, the town police liaison to the high school and its resource officer, Mr. Fine spoke openly about the school, which, like almost any other across the country, is struggling to stay ahead of the cornucopia of unconventional drugs available to students, the pervasiveness of social media, and unprecedented levels of academic and social pressures facing teens today. But in Suffolk County, there’s another element that looms large: an opioid epidemic, with the county dentified as New York State’s epicenter.

Mr. Fine has four young boys who attend schools near his Center Moriches home, while the councilwoman has a daughter at East Hampton High School and a son in college. They spoke passionately and hurriedly about their goals for the newly formed task force, often making it difficult to separate the group’s actual functions from any responsible parent’s wish list.

Of the tangibles, the group will hold monthly meetings at East Hampton Town Hall and regular parent forums at the high school. The task force will work in conjunction with Sources of Strength, a youth-led initiative with a chapter at the high school that aims to change unhealthy norms and culture with the goal of preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse. The group facilitated the training of 17 high schoolers to administer Narcan, the medication used to block the effects of opioids in the case of an overdose. Officer Alversa said there were seven Narcan saves in East Hampton in 2017.

In addition, through a grant received from the Anna Lytton Foundation, the school has added yoga and meditation classes to the curriculum to help students relax and practice mindfulness.

Looking ahead, the task force hopes to televise meetings or informational segments for parents and community members unable to attend discussions. 

On Feb. 28, a Wednesday, a drug forum will be held at the high school from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Scheduled to speak is Becky Savage, an Indiana mother whose two sons died on the same night in 2015 from an accidental overdose of oxycodone and alcohol. Ms. Savage started the 525 Foundation as part of her mission to talk about the dangers of opioid abuse to anyone who will listen.

The task force trio also acknowledged that they must ask hard questions about why children feel so at odds with a world that ought, after all, to be all about them and their future. A recent New York Times article portrayed today’s American teenagers as beset by rigorous high school demands and pressure to get into certain colleges and land prestigious jobs. All of this, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez believes, leaves teenagers especially vulnerable to self-medication with drugs and alcohol.

Bettina Volz, a clinical psychologist in Amagansett who works mainly with children and adolescents, agreed. “Not only do I see an increase in anxiety disorders, I have also seen an increased and related level of depression in adolescents during the last 10 years,” she said. “These issues are multisourced: The high speed of often anxiety-producing global news, the competitiveness social media can fuel, as well as the personal and economic pressures to attain a college education are making it extremely difficult for teenagers to imagine their own place in the world.”

Perhaps South Fork students can follow the lead of a public high school in a seaside Massachusetts town, where crying jags over test scores were common, and the sleep-deprived student body reported that earning Bs was seen as dashing college dreams. Last year, small rocks began appearing in common spaces around Lexington High School, The New York Times reported. Collected from nearby beaches, the rocks were painted with such messages as “I am more than my GPA and SAT score,” “You are not stuck,” and “Don’t let them get to you.” 

The idea for these maxim-laden stones started with a small group of students who were worried about rising anxiety and depression among their peers. This was their way to spread calm, they said, in a turbocharged suburban school.

Only 180 miles down the coastline, the East Hampton landscape is alarmingly similar. Kristin Guarino, a licensed social worker with mostly teenage clients, inadvertently captured the scene in a hurried email she wrote to The Star in response to a request for her opinion on the subject: “I am so sorry for the late reply. Since last night I have been fielding one emergency after another: suicidal thoughts, extreme eating disorders, suspensions. I am working till 9 tonight.”