Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent of the Amagansett School District, 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."

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 Wednesday, 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.

For three South Fork high school graduates featured in this paper in June, the path to college was not the gilded walkway it is for so many young Americans. Life for this trio was defined by setbacks, and after a semester at college it seems that success can be determined by the ability to rebound. 

During the winter break, The Star caught up with Francesca Denaro, Santiago Saldivar, and Cristina Guadalupe Espinoza Paucar.

Francesca, a native of East Hampton who graduated from East Hampton High School in June, entered Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in the fall and is studying finance. Francesca’s mother died when she was 2, and her father followed during her freshman year of high school. Her brother, then 21 and a fisherman, was thrust into the role of parent, a responsibility he took very seriously and for which Francesca is eternally grateful. 

Getting into college meant relying on a financial aid package, and it took the then-17-year-old all the skills she had learned as the family bookkeeper to present Marist with a strong case for the financial help she needed.

“The first two weeks was definitely the hardest,” she said, sitting in Starbucks in East Hampton. “Mostly because you don’t know what to do with yourself when you’re not in class.” 

At home during the break, she worked at the Hampton Chutney Company in Amagansett, where she has been employed for several years.

At college, she played intramural soccer and joined the business club, as well as an outdoor club with which she hikes the surrounding area. The extracurricular activities soon meant there were many familiar faces around campus.

She was lucky, she said, that her roommate is not only personable and fun to hang out with but respectful, too, of her personal space and the need for separate time.

“Most of my free time, though, is spent working. The workload is heavy, and I did really well at the end of the first semester.” 

Somehow, that doesn’t come as a big surprise. 

Santiago graduated from Pierson High School in Sag Harbor after a life of curveballs: His mother left when he was 5, and his father was an alcoholic. Santiago had to work since the age of 10, and home was three cramped rooms in Sag Harbor shared with nine family members from Mexico. 

With the help of dedicated guidance counselors and teachers — especially Linda Sendlenski, his math teacher whom he credits with turning him into the “total math geek” he is today — Santiago got into a two-year program at Suffolk Community College in Riverhead through the State University’s Education Opportunity Program, which offers academic support and financial aid to those lacking the grades necessary for a four-year college but who show academic promise. 

He dived headfirst into college life, beaming as he told of his role as vice president of the student government. The position requires that he visit the various students clubs on campus, discuss students’ needs, and attend meetings for student governments from the college’s other two campuses, in Selden and Brentwood.

“It’s a great way to meet people,” he said. “It’s funny, once I started to get to know others here I could see how many people really struggled in their lives. Suddenly, my story didn’t seem that unique at all.”

With several teenage mothers on campus, Santiago is especially proud that he convinced the college to install a changing table on the premises, before which, he said, young mothers would take their babies to their cars to change their diapers.

He was also instrumental in leading a fund-raising effort for victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in which the student government raised $600.

Academically, Santiago was aiming for a 3.5 grade-point average in order to apply to the Alpha Beta Gamma business honors society. He fell just short, he said, with a 3.2, because “my accounting class was brutal.” On weekends, he works at Wolffer Kitchen in Sag Harbor.

Will he try to raise his grades next semester? “Absolutely!” he said. “I know I can do it.”

And this from a student who ended 11th grade with a C-minus average.

When Cristina arrived from Ecuador and started attending the Bridgehampton School in 10th grade, she spoke no English. Yet with the help of the small school’s intensive immersion program for English language learners, she graduated on track last year and enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan as one of only 25 students selected for the textile/surface design program.

“Everything is going very well. My teachers were the best for my first semester!” Cristina wrote by email from Ecuador, where she spent her winter break. One of the advantages of attending college in bustling Manhattan, she said, was that she has made many new friends from all over the world. 

English continues to be her biggest challenge, especially at the college level, she said. But she was encouraged to find that “I was not the only one in this situation, and that gave me strength and courage to communicate with my teachers and friends.”

Cristina conceded that she misses her Bridgehampton teachers and friends, and admitted that homework in high school was nothing compared to what’s assigned in college. “But it’s okay,” she wrote. “I just have to do it. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that if I work hard and put effort in what I like to do, the results will be rewarding.”

At a time when high school seniors around the nation find themselves in the swirl of admissions mania, and the frenzy to garner college acceptances grows ever crazier and more corrosive, here are three recent high school graduates who regard college not as a fortress to be conquered but rather a land to be inhabited and tilled for all it’s worth.

Perhaps when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation compiled last year’s water quality assessment report for Long Island Sound, it should have hired Kevin Chabla, then a Springs eighth grader and a regional spelling bee runner-up, to write the report. The district plans a March 6 vote on issuing bonds for the installation of a state-of-the-art, nitrogen-reducing septic system to replace a malfunctioning and outdated one and had applied for a D.E.C. grant to help pay for the project. 

Officials believed they were in good standing to receive the grant because parts of the surrounding water body, Accabonac Harbor, had been identified as severely polluted. In December, however, Debra Winter, the school superintendent, announced that the grant had been denied and that after inquiring why and asking for a written explanation, she had learned that Accabonac Harbor, which the school had cited as a main reason for the nitrogen-reducing septic system, was not listed by the D.E.C as an at-risk water body. 

Baffled, Ms. Winter asked State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. for help, and he discovered that the reason the grant was denied was a spelling error. The D.E.C. had  spelled Accabonac as “Accabonack,” which was not listed as at risk.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Thiele met with the commissioner of the D.E.C. and although it was a positive meeting and he remained hopeful, he could not promise anything. 

“For me the award of the grant before the [March 6] bond vote would be extremely beneficial,” Ms. Winter said.

The local nonprofit youth organization I-Tri has teamed up with Long Island Against Domestic Violence, New York State Assemblywoman Christine Pellegrino, and Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn to bring Tarana Burke, the #MeToo founder, to Stony Brook University on Sunday. The event, which is free to the public, will be dedicated to building support for the safety and empowerment of women and girls who live and work in Suffolk and Nassau Counties. 

According to a press release from I-Tri, an East Hampton program that fosters empowerment of middle school-age girls through triathlons, a series of meetings will be held with legislators, the public, and students, to discuss how to best advocate eliminating the sexual abuse that affects women and children living and working on Long Island.

The day will begin with a student breakfast with Ms. Burke, a civil rights advocate who promotes empowerment through empathy and created the MeToo movement in 2006 to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault. She is now a senior director at Girls for Gender Equality, a Brooklyn nonprofit. 

Following the breakfast, a closed legislators round-table with Ms. Burke will take place from 10:15 a.m. to noon. Approximately 30 local elected officials and politicians are expected to attend.

Finally, a public forum with Ms. Burke will be held in the university’s student activity center from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The discussion will focus on how young people can make lasting social and cultural changes and will be led by girls in the I-Tri program. Because the 600-seat auditorium is already sold out, the program will be broadcast live on Facebook.

Theresa Roden, the founder and executive director of I-Tri, said, “This event couldn’t be more timely. We strive to empower young women, and the three alumnae who will facilitate the conversation onstage with Ms. Burke are a testament to those efforts.”

“I hope this event is a spark that will help spread this movement throughout Long Island and take the conversation to the next level,” State Assemblywoman Pellegrino said. “I’m happy to add my voice to the chorus of courageous women and men who speak out against this predatory behavior and envision a world where sexual harassment and assault are no longer.”

Writing, Art, Movies, and More

A writing workshop for teens will be held on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

Kids ages 4 and up can stop by the library at 4 p.m. Tuesday for polka dot sticker art inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama, while on Wednesday between 4 and 5 p.m., children ages 4 to 6 can enjoy a polar bear story and a craft-making activity.

Middle schoolers can make their own corkboard next Thursday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Looking ahead to Feb. 3, teenagers have been invited to meet at the East Hampton Cinema at 1 p.m. to see the third installment of “The Maze Runner” film series, this one called “The Death Cure.” Space is limited to the first eight teens who sign up. After the movie an optional discussion about the differences and similarities between the book and the movie will be held at the library with snacks provided. Teens must make their own way to the theater and the library.

Advance registration is required for most library programs. 

Kaleidoscopes, Pollock, Portraits

Kids ages 9 to 12 can design and build a kaleidoscope during a program at the Amagansett Library on Saturday that encourages the use of science, technology, engineering, art, and math skills. The program runs from 3 to 3:45 p.m. 

On Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Montauk Library, kids in third grade and above can paint portraits of adoptable animals currently at the ARF shelter in East Hampton, in the hope of helping them get adopted. 

It’s popcorn and movie time next Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. The library will celebrate African-American History Month with a screening of the documentary “March On!”

At the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor the “Book of Life,” an animated film with a PG rating, will be screened on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Popcorn and drinks will be provided. The family event is free, but registration is required. Families can stop by the children’s desk on Sunday between 1 and 2 p.m. to learn about online library resources.

Next Thursday, John Jermain will celebrate World Read Aloud day with a visit from Emma Walton Hamilton, an author of numerous children’s books. She will read from her collection — suitable for kids ages 4 to 10 — at 4 p.m.

Improv Class at Bay Street

A mixed-level workshop for kids 10 to 18 interested in the art of improv will be held at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. Students will learn the basic techniques of improv through a series of games and exercises overseen by Bethany Dellapolla of NexGen Youth Theatre, while focusing on active listening and quick thinking. The price is $100 and registration is required through Bay Street.

Poetry and Portfolio Reviews 

Guild Hall will present “Word Up!” — a middle school celebration of poetry — on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The event is free, but registration is encouraged.

A free portfolio review workshop for students in 10th to 12th grade will be held on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. Steve Miller, a multi-media artist whose work has been shown around the world, will review the work and offer critiques and suggestions. Advance registration is a must.

Art From Trash

Ashley Federici, a South Fork Natural History Museum nature educator, will lead a program for families on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. on the difference between marine debris and harmful beach trash. After the talk, items found during SoFo’s many beach-cleaning sessions this fall will be turned into art. 

Tara Smith, a painter and a certified art teacher, will help young nature painters to identify trees by the shapes of their leaves during a craft workshop on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Children 3 to 7 will use tempera to mix as many different greens as possible and then paint a variety of leaf shapes. Smocks or painting clothes are a must. There is a $5 materials fee and advance reservations with the museum are required.

Golden Eagle Workshops

The Golden Eagle is offering regular classes for kids on Saturdays and Mondays at its new location on North Main Street in East Hampton. 

Virva Hinnemo teaches workshops for kids 6 to 10 on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Michele Mott steps in from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. to teach a class for ages 6 to 12. The cost is $25 per class or $175 for an eight-class card that can be used for any of the $25 classes. 

A kids community art class will be offered on Mondays from 4 to 5 p.m. This one, for ages 6 to 14, is by donation. 

In all cases, participants have been advised to dress for a mess.

“Think of it as an arts colony for credit.”

So reads the online directive of Southampton arts, a department of the State University at Stony Brook that offers graduate programs in creative writing, children’s literature, audio podcasting, and film.

It is, in fact, one of three colonies that exists at former Long Island University’s former Southampton College, which Stony Brook acquired in 2006. In addition to the arts program, undergraduate and graduate courses in marine sciences and graduate and postgraduate degrees in health care technology and management are offered at the 82-acre campus tucked between the old and the new Montauk Highways in the hills of Shinnecock.

“The Southampton campus never closed,” said Matthew Whelan, the vice president for strategic initiatives at Stony Brook University, referring to 2010, when the university, citing an $82 million loss, suspended its undergraduate programs in Southampton.

That the campus has been continuously operational is not a surprise — the summer writers conference is well known, as is the annual Young Artists and Writers Project — but just how vibrant and innovate Southampton’s institution of higher education is may come as news to many residents east of the Shinnecock Canal.

Approximately 590 students were enrolled last year at the Southampton campus, which together with the main campus at Stony Brook and an outpost in Manhattan form the university’s triumvirate. Approximately 60 students live in dormitory rooms in Southampton; the maximum capacity is about 200. The Amagansett Food Institute operates the South Fork Kitchens Cafe at the student center, serving freshly prepared farm-to-table meals. The cafe’s kitchen is part of a food incubator program, which offers culinary entrepreneurs the use of a commercial kitchen for little capital outlay. In fact, Carissa’s Bakery, the successful East Hampton enterprise, started in this kitchen.

Of the three academic disciplines offered in Southampton, perhaps the best known is the school’s graduate arts program, at the helm of which sits Robert Reeves, its associate provost.

Mr. Reeves, who worked in a similar capacity during the Long Island University days, is one of four faculty members who stayed on after the college’s reincarnation. He has initiated and overseen the evolution of the department, which today offers a dizzying selection of courses in poetry, fiction writing, literature, nonfiction, publishing and editing, screenwriting, television writing, directing, and producing.

The M.F.A. creative writing program is the crown jewel of the college. It has drawn a panoply of lauded authors to Southampton: Amy Hempel, Meg Wolitzer, Paul Harding, Susan Minot, Roger Rosenblatt, and Cornelius Eady are among the faculty roster. Another faculty member, Ibi Zoboi, was selected as a finalist for a 2017 National Book Award. Julie Sheehan, a celebrated poet who is a professor and the director of the creative writing and literature department, recently won a coveted residency at Cornell University, where she will teach this spring.

Stony Brook’s M.F.A. film program is primarily centered in Manhattan, but the Southampton campus also offers courses in what the website describes as “the only graduate program in the SUNY system fiercely dedicated to independent filmmaking.” In other words, according to Christine Vachon, the program’s powerhouse artistic director and the founder of Killer Films, her roughly 150 students receive hands-on, experiential learning in film and television writing and programming from faculty who have made their careers in the field — and all of this at state university prices.

Mr. Reeves, who has introduced “about one new entrepreneurial program a year,” wants to see Southampton’s creative offerings continue to grow. Last year, the Food Lab at Stony Brook Southampton was introduced, with the goal of becoming a center of food education and enterprise. August will see the launch of a one-year fellows program in audio podcasting, in association with WSHU Public Radio. Touted as “the first of its kind in the U.S.,” the podcast program will be under the direction of Kathleen Russo, a producer of Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s the Thing” podcast, and offer 12 students advanced training in all aspects of podcasting, from development through to the pitch.

“We’re like sharks,” said Mr. Reeves, sitting behind a wall of books stacked on his office desk. “We have to keep swimming to survive.”

The watery metaphor is somehow fitting. A few hundred yards down the hill, across Old Montauk Highway, sits the university’s $10-million, state-of-the-art School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, which offers undergraduate and graduate degree courses in marine sciences.

Approximately 100 undergraduates and 20 graduate students are currently enrolled. As with the creative arts, nationally and internationally renowned experts in the field teach here. Four faculty and emeritus faculty were involved in the intergovernmental panel on climate change with Al Gore that won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007.

The impressive Gobler Laboratory, spearheaded by Christopher Gobler, a professor specializing in coastal ecosystem ecology and climate change, sits at the edge of the Shinnecock Bay. It is an epicenter of scientific research, with more than 150 species of phytoplankton and zooplankton in culture and giant vats where bivalves and finfish are raised and studied. An entire wall is lined with enormous tanks of rust, brown, and blue-green water — stores of the various harmful algal blooms the lab continues to monitor. In addition, the center owns a fleet of small research vessels, used for students who sign up for semesters by the sea.

Dr. Gobler, who began teaching at the center in 1999, when it was still owned by Long Island University, plays a lead role in the Long Island Clean Water Partnership and has been contracted by the East Hampton Town Trustees to monitor dozens of waterways, including Georgica and Wainscott Ponds. He also leads the Shinnecock Bay restoration program, an initiative that aims to cleanse the water in the western side of the bay through the introduction of shellfish. In 2015, the program seeded its millionth clam.

Last summer’s merger of Southampton and Stony Brook University hospitals suddenly offered access to job opportunities in the medical world to the 225-plus graduate and postgraduate students enrolled in Southampton’s health sciences programs. 

The introduction in 2013 of Southampton’s first health science degree, a doctorate in physical therapy, has since been augmented by master’s programs in occupational therapy and applied health informatics, a new discipline that focuses on health care management. In addition, a new master’s in health care administration was added last year as a hybrid program of online courses and on-site lectures.

“Health services is a high-demand field,” said Dr. Whelan, who joined Stony Brook University in 2006 and was called upon by Samuel L. Stanley, the school’s president, in 2013 to “ensure that we are using Southampton to its fullest potential.” The resurgence of the university after the fiscal setback of 2010 bears testament to all three Southampton departments recognizing the changing face of education and offering “high-needs, high-demands” courses, said Dr. Whelan.

That sentiment was echoed by Mr. Reeves, who is a novelist, essayist, and literary critic. “We will keep trying to respond to demand,” he said, “and implement programs where students get something more than just credits.”

Student Art Festival

Guild Hall’s annual Student Art Festival, featuring the work of students from kindergarten through 12th grade, will open with a reception on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. and remain on view through Feb. 11.

The opening festivities will include performances by the Bridgehampton High School marimba ensemble, East Hampton High School and Middle School dance teams, the Amagansett School chorus, and Abigail Loos of the East Hampton home school group.

Guild Hall’s Teen Arts Council and curatorial department will recognize outstanding works by student-artists in the following categories: best photographic portrait, best painted or drawn portrait, best landscape, best photograph, best mixed-media work, best abstract work, best sculpture, and best print. Winners will receive certificates of creative excellence.

Every student attending Saturday’s opening reception will receive a Guild Hall Let Artists Lead the Way drawstring sports bag designed by Anna Rafferty, a student at East Hampton High School. The bags will also be for sale in the shop.

Movie Time, Chess 

The Montauk and Amagansett Libraries will show movies on Saturday. In Amagansett, “Moana” will be on the screen and in Montauk it will be “The Lego Ninjago Movie.” Show time is 2 p.m. for both movies, and popcorn and refreshments will be served. 

At the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, a new Monday chess club for ages 7 and up with Hampton Chess will get underway this week from 4 to 5 p.m. Players at any level, from beginner to expert, will be welcomed. 

Advance registration is requested. 

Rubber Ducks and Legos

In case you missed National Rubber Duck Day last Saturday, it’s not too late to do something special. The Children’s Museum of the East End will celebrate on Saturday from 10 to 10:45 a.m. with a cookie workshop that will have kids 3 to 6 measuring, mixing, rolling dough, and shaping it with special rubber duck cookie cutters before a staff member does the baking. The fee is $17 per child, including museum admission, $5 for members.

CMEE is dedicating a week to Legos beginning on Monday and ending on Jan. 27. Parents and caregivers with children of all ages can stop by every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to enjoy free play, guided activities, a pirate ship zip line, and even Lego cookies. There will be guided play on Tuesday and next Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. The weeklong event is free with museum admission.

Summer Fun, Bird Feeders

High school students can enjoy summer in January with ice cream sundaes, seashell crafts, and summer tunes at the East Hampton Library on Sunday between 3 and 4:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, children 4 and up will make easy bird feeders at the library between 4 and 5 p.m. 

Seven sessions of a Snap Circuits electronics program will be offered for kids 7 and up beginning Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. Kids need not attend all sessions of the program. 

Middle schoolers can stop by next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. to make unique and customized bookmarks with beads.

Looking ahead to Jan. 27, the library will give a practice SAT for high school students from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The test and results are free, but space is limited, and registration is required. While library programs are open to all, priority in this case will be given to East Hampton Library district residents, including those from the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts. All others will be put on a waiting list and can attend if space is available.

SoFo Frogs and Winter Stories

Crystal Oakes, a South Fork Natural History Museum educator, will teach kids 8 and up all about South Fork frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. After the presentation, the group will dissect a specially prepared frog to further understand how these creatures survive in aquatic and terrestrial environments. There is a materials fee of $15 per frog.

A nature story time for kids 3 to 5 on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. will have participants helping Eleni Nikolopoulos as she tells a story about animals that live in Vineyard Field behind the museum. 

On Sunday at 1 p.m., kids 10 and up can join Taylor Ruhle, another SoFo nature educator, to learn how various animals adapt to survive the winter. Following the discussion, children will paint a winter wonderland scene and sip hot cocoa. There is a materials fee of $5 per child.

Advance registration is required for all SoFo events.

STEAM Saturdays at the Y

On Saturdays through March, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter will offer a series of free drop-in workshops for kids 4 to 13 exploring concepts in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. The programs run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature different projects each week, subject to change. Icy salt paint and magic aqua sand are on this week’s schedule. On Jan. 27, it’s paper plate mazes. Other projects through March include lava lamps, crystal experiments, cardboard robots, wind chimes, and slime. 

Origami, Collages, Community Service

On Saturday at 3 p.m., at the Amagansett Library, kids ages 9 to 12 can make their own owl or monster origami bookmarks.

Children ages 5 to 8 can be dropped off on Tuesday between 4 and 4:45 p.m. to create tissue paper collages following a story time featuring books by Eric Carle.

Teens and preteens ages 12 to 18 ­who are interested in helping the Young Adult librarian develop teen appropriate programs throughout the year should stop by on Friday, Jan. 19, between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. Teen advisers will receive community service credits.

Clay Play at Wharf Shop

Saturday is Come Play Day at the Wharf Shop on Main Street in Sag Harbor. Parents and caregivers of kids of all ages have been invited to stop by the toy store between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. to sample a new clay by Green Toys. 

M.L.K. Weekend at CMEE 

The Children’s Museum of the East End will celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On each day, after a noon reading of “We March” by Shane W. Evans, children will add their handprints to CMEE’s commUNITY canvas. Participants will learn about the civil rights leader’s impact with a specially curated collection of age-appropriate books. 

The activities are free with museum admission. 

Wednesday is the international Museum Selfie Day, and visitors have been invited to take part by snapping selfies in their favorite corners of CMEE and sharing them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Those who do are asked to include #MuseumSelfieDay and #CMEESelfie in the caption. 

More Selfies, 3D Pens, Xbox

The East Hampton Library will host an Instagram selfie contest for teens beginning tomorrow and ending Friday, Jan. 19. Participants must visit the library between those dates, check out a book or a graphic novel, then take a selfie with the book and post it on Instagram.

High school students can stop by on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. to make their own stained glass candle holders.

Kids ages 7 and up will construct circuits that will light up, sound off, and power an accessory on Tuesday between 4 and 5 p.m. 

Teens can learn how to use 3-D pens, which work by extruding heated plastic that cools almost instantly into a solid, stable structure, Tuesday through Jan. 22 from 4 to 5 p.m. The pens allow for the free-hand creation of three-dimensional objects.

On Wednesday, the Xbox One S will be fired up with games for teens to try between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Snacks will be provided. 

Middle schoolers can celebrate national popcorn day and enjoy a screening of “The Day After Tomorrow” next Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. Popcorn and other snacks will be provided. 

Advance registration is required for most programs.

Dogs, Frogs, and Floats

At several libraries kids can learn about how some animals get through the winter, read to a dog, or enjoy a treat while chatting about books. 

An educator from the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will visit the Montauk Library on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. for a program on how animals stay safe and warm through the colder months of the year. Kids will meet a box turtle, corn snake, tiger salamander, and grey tree frog from the museum’s collection. The program is best for kids in sixth grade and under. 

Hampton Library in Bridgehampton has invited kids in sixth grade and up to stop in on Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. to make root beer floats and offer their peers some book recommendations. 

Wally the dog will be at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon to listen to kids as they practice their reading. 

The libraries ask that people sign up in advance for their programs, as space is limited.

Amphibians at SoFo

Crystal Oakes, a South Fork Natural History Museum educator, will teach kids 8 and up all about local frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. After the presentation, the group will dissect specially prepared frogs to further understand how they survive in aquatic and terrestrial environments. There is a fee of $15 per frog.

Also on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. children ages 3 to 5 can attend a presentation on owls led by Ashley Federici. Kids will learn all about the elusive owls that live on the East End and then make an owl eyesight craft. There will be a material fee of $2 for each participant.

Advance registration is requested.

After-School Art at the Parrish

Registration begins Monday for a series of after-school art workshops at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill designed to help children learn about artists and be inspired to create their own masterpieces.

Ages 4 and 5 will meet between 2 and 2:45 p.m. on Thursdays beginning Jan. 25, and continuing on Feb. 1, 8, and 15, and March 1, 8, 15, and 22.

Kindergartners through fifth graders will meet from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, from Jan. 22 through March 22.

The workshop is free but advance registration is required.

P.J. Brabant, a fourth grader at the Springs School, has started a program called One Makes a Smile whereby presents received over the holidays that were unwanted or age-inappropriate, for example, can be dropped off at the school. They will then be donated to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital to offer children something to play with during their stays there.

Boxes in the school’s front foyer and by the back door will be available for drop-offs until tomorrow.

Selfies, Xbox, and Crafts

At the East Hampton Library on Wednesday between 4 and 5 p.m., kids 4 and up can learn how to create a selfie with paint, or their own self-portrait. Children under 7 must be accompanied by an adult.

The library has its very own Xbox One S and it will share it with teens who stop by on Wednesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Snacks will be provided.

For ages 4 to 6, there will be a winter story and craft-making session next Thursday from  4 and 5 p.m. Advance registration is requested for this one, and the self-portrait workshop.

Baby Beats and Ozobots

Today from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. at Sag Harbor’s John Jermain Memorial Library, parents and caregivers of babies from newborn to age 3 can join in a new class offering a fun-filled musical experience for all. The class is free but advance registration is required.

Every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. beginning this week, kids 8 to 11 can meet to draw colored lines and codes on paper, then watch palm-size robots, or Ozobots, follow the lines and do tricks. This week’s workshop is part of the library’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) Sundays program.

Whoo’s Whoo at SoFo

Melanie Meade, a South Fork Natural History Museum nature educator, will teach kids 8 and up all about owls on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Children will learn to identify local owls and those that merely visit. There will be a $3 material fee and, as enrollment is limited, registration is required. 

Snow Globes and Stories

Children 4 and up can capture a snowy scene for years to come in a handmade snow globe tomorrow at 4 p.m. at the Hampton Library on Main Street in Bridgehampton. 

At the Amagansett Library, a weekly early literacy story time created especially for children 2 to 4 years old will begin today at 11 a.m. Each class will include read-aloud picture books, songs, and an age-appropriate craft. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

And Don’t Forget

January Girls, an art and performance workshop for girls “6 to 106” run by the Neo-Political Cowgirls, will meet for the first time on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Guild Hall in East Hampton. The free program, which runs on Sundays throughout the month, will be led by different artists each week. Advance registration is required at npcowgirls.com.