Laura Perez, an East Hampton High School senior scholar-athlete who has applied for early admission to Yale University, recently received a $1,000 grant to underwrite volunteer work she’s doing at the Retreat from the Women’s Fund of Long Island.

    One of two students on Long Island to receive the Shapiro-McCormick Young Woman Leader Award, she said in her acceptance speech, given before a gathering of 700, that she had been “blessed to have always been supported and encouraged by my parents to go after my goals. . . . I believe everyone should be given a voice, regardless of one’s background. As Condoleeza Rice once said, ‘It doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going.’ ”

    Through volunteering at the Retreat — “a safe haven where women are given a voice” —  she had learned, she said, how greatly domestic violence could alter a life.

    “Many of these women, often young girls, never had the courage to stand up for themselves until it was too late. That is why I feel it is so important to get involved and aim to be a part of the change. . . . To me, standing and watching from the sidelines is the same thing as doing nothing at all.”

    Aside from captaining the varsity field hockey team, Laura, who has logged over 150 hours of community service, is a member of the National Honor Society, the Key Club (which works with Kiwanis), the French Club, the Century Club, and the Retreat’s teen leadership program.

    She has interned with Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., has studied governmental procedures at the Harvard Model Congress, and was chosen by the high school’s faculty and the American Legion chapter here to attend a weeklong Empire Girls State conference this year which stressed “the importance of women’s participation in government and in leading an active community life.”

All Aboard!

    Kids of all ages can hop aboard “The Polar Express” tonight at the East Hampton Library — departure time, 5 p.m. Children have been invited to arrive at the library in pajamas to watch the animated movie, which stars Tom Hanks. Refreshments will be served and each child will receive a small gift.

    On Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon, teens can create festive beaded earrings for themselves or to give as a gift during a workshop with Jackie Dunn, a jewelry designer.

    From 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. that day, kids 3 and older with an adult can listen to a sweet story, then make a batch of oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookie batter to pop in the oven at home.

    Young gift givers 9 and older could cross someone off their list on Monday, when the library offers a workshop on making pumpkin spice hand and body sugar scrub. Kids will also have the chance to decorate a jar for the body scrub during the program, which runs from 4 to 5 p.m.

    Teens interested in astrology may want to mark their calendars, lunar and otherwise, for Tuesday and next Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., when the library offers a two-part workshop on creating astrological mandalas. The workshop will introduce the 12 houses in astrology. There will be materials and poetry to inspire the creative process.

    Reservations are requested for all programs.

Lion and Mouse at the Goat

    The Crabgrass Puppet Theatre will take children on a puppet-led journey around the globe to find stories about the weak overcoming the strong and making their mark, on Saturday at 11 and 3 p.m. at the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor.

    “The Lion and the Mouse” includes tales that hail from Africa, Asia, and Europe, designed to delight children of all sizes. Tickets cost $10, $9 for members and grandparents, and $5 for children under 3. The theater is on East Union Street.

High School Playwrights Festival

    The Young American Writers Project will present its annual High School Playwrights Festival on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater.

    Featuring six short plays written and performed by high school students from Bridgehampton, Pierson, Southampton, Eastport-South Manor, and Westhampton Beach schools and staged by professional directors, the festival is a collaboration between the student participants and professionals affiliated with Stony Brook Southampton’s M.F.A. program in creative writing and literature.

    The plays grew out of two-month playwriting residencies at each of the high schools this fall. The program’s executive director is Emma Walton Hamilton, the children’s book author, editor, and arts educator who is director of the Southampton Children’s Literature Conference and a founder and former artistic director of the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. The program director is Will Chandler, an American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship screenwriter, who also served as education director and a teaching artist for Bay Street Theatre.

    Tickets for the festival are free and can be reserved by e-mailing [email protected].

    Two ballet troupes will present Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic “The Nutcracker” this weekend.

    The Hampton Ballet Theatre School’s will take the production to Guild Hall in East Hampton, while the Conservatory of Ballet and Danse Arts will perform at the Southampton High School.

    Both schools are based in Bridgehampton, with many young dancers from points east of there. This year, two new principal dancers will debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Danse Arts production. Julia Talasko of East Hampton and Cornelia O’Connor of Southampton will take turns in the leading role, partnering with Leonel Linares, a professional dancer from New York.

    The Danse Arts Nutcracker is choreographed by Betteanne Terrell and Megan Cancellieri. Show times will be tomorrow at 7 p.m., Saturday at 5 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Children will be invited onstage following each performance for photographs with the dancers, and on Sunday at 1 p.m. there will be a visit from Santa Claus before the 2 p.m. show.

    Tickets cost $15 for adults and $10 for children under 16 and those over 60. They can be purchased online at dansearts.com or by e-mail: [email protected]. Children under 2 will be admitted for free.

    The Hampton Ballet Theatre School’s production is choreographed by Sara Jo Strickland, the theater’s director, and includes costumes designed and sewn by Yuka Silvera, with lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski. Guest artists will dance the Sugar Plum Fairy’s and the Cavalier’s Grand Pas de Deux.

    The Guild Hall performances will be tonight at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.

    Tickets cost $20 in advance for adults, $15 for children under 12. They can be purchased online at hamptonballettheaterschool.com or at 888-933-4287.

   An energy performance audit, and implementation of recommended renewable and efficient energy systems, would greatly benefit the district, representatives of a Patchogue-based architectural firm told the Amagansett School Board at its meeting on Tuesday.

    Fred Seeba and Jim Weydig of Burton, Behrendt, and Smith delivered an early-morning presentation that stressed both the financial and educational advantages of such an audit and resulting action. A comprehensive energy system conversion would pay for itself within 18 years, they said.

    By implementing efficient energy strategies — which could involve lighting and lighting controls, oil burner replacement and burner control system upgrades, solar panels, wind generation, roof insulation or replacement, wireless clocks, and computer controllers — the district would be investing money normally paid to the Long Island Power Authority and National Grid into the school, Mr. Seeba said.

    A preliminary audit, should the district choose to hire the firm, would look at the school’s energy expenses and provide recommendations. It would then prepare a request for proposals tailored to the district’s needs.

    “It’s a nice vehicle to make buildings more efficient and not burden taxpayers,” Mr. Seeba said. The firm’s fees are typically 3 to 4 percent of a project’s cost, he added, and such a project could be completed in the summer of 2014.

    Another major benefit, Mr. Seeba said, would be as a teaching tool. “That’s the way a lot of schools look at it,” he said.

    Eleanor Tritt, the district superintendent, agreed that such an effort could be a kind of science project for students.

    John Hossenlopp, the board’s president, advised Mr. Seeba and Mr. Weydig that the board would consult with and possibly visit a district that has implemented the suggested actions.

    The board also considered the makeup of school days lost to Hurricane Sandy. The school was closed from Oct. 29, the day the storm struck the South Fork, through Nov. 2. In order to meet the 184-day schedule as stipulated in the Amagansett Teachers Association contract, the board approved a resolution stating that the school will be open Tuesday through Thursday during the previously scheduled spring recess. Should snow days occur, the Monday and Friday would also be school days, as necessary.

    On Tuesday night, Robert Tymann, assistant superintendent for the East Hampton School District, held a presentation on the district’s annual professional performance review plan, required under a revised teacher and principal evaluation law passed earlier this year. Earlier this week the district sent the plan to the state for approval.

    The district plan was outlined in an initiative, called “Race to the Top,” whose purpose is to make high school graduates “college ready” and “career ready.”

    “At the heart of the change is the idea of evidence,” Mr. Tymann said. “Students will have to prove they’ve learned what the teachers have taught them.” He added, “It’s not good enough for a teacher to say that fractions were taught; what is the evidence?”

    State and local test scores, student portfolios, and observations are other factors likely to be considered in the yearly teacher and principal evaluations, according the plan outline. “Teachers used to reward students who adapt to their way of thinking and teaching,” Mr. Tymann said. “Now, what students learned is a part of the equation.”

    Principals, teachers, and their lesson plans will be assessed using 77 interconnected factors, and rated as “ineffective,” “developing,” “effective,” or “highly effective.”

    The plan also expects to achieve goals established in a nationwide, state-led initiative, called Common Core Standards, which sets standards for math, English language arts, history, science, and technical subjects.

    “We will shift to text-based answers in English language arts, with a focus on increasing students’ academic vocabulary,” Mr. Tymann said. “In math, we will focus more on problem solving and deep understanding of the material taught.” He said teachers will be encouraged to reduce the amount of topics they teach in exchange for delving into more complex matters.

    Data inquiry teams will monitor and assess teaching and learning based on “evidence of district, school, classroom, teacher, and student yearly progress towards goals.”

    During the current school year, teachers and administrator will be trained on the new methods. The district has submitted its professional performance review plan in plenty of time for state approval. Under the new evaluation law, districts must have an approved plan in place by Jan. 17, 2013, or they will lose their share of this fiscal year’s education aid increase. The application review process may take up to six weeks.

    It’s Back! “The Magic Garden”

    WPIX’s “The Magic Garden,” one of the country’s most successful locally produced children’s television shows from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, will be recreated by the original stars at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead on Saturday at 2 p.m.

    As they did back in the day, Carole Demas and Paula Janis will stage the show in a colorful garden setting, where they will share stories, songs, games, and lessons. This event will be presented jointly by the East Hampton Library and seven other local libraries. Organizers have requested advance registration as seating is limited.

Jump Into Fall

    The Child Development Center of the Hamptons, a charter school, will celebrate the changing seasons on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with pumpkin decorating, face painting, bouncy castles, and games. Toys, books, and baked goods will be for sale. The free event will be held at the school, which is at 110 Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton. The rain date is Sunday.

Family Fun

    The annual Halloween Family Fun Day will return to American Legion Post #419 in Amagansett on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pony rides, pumpkin painting, a scavenger hunt, food, and fun for all are in store. The hall is at the corner of Montauk Highway and Abraham’s Path.

    In response to the suicide of David Hernandez, a 16-year-old junior at East Hampton High School, David Kilmnick, chief executive officer of Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth, has organized a community forum to take place at the school on Tuesday.

    Participants in the 6 p.m. event will discuss the possibility of establishing a G.L.B.T. community center on the East End.

“We will never know David’s true sexual orientation as he is no longer with us,” Mr. Kilmnick said in a letter. “What we do know, however, is that David, like all other teens on the East End, did not have a G.L.B.T. center to go to for support and community like those in western and central parts of Suffolk County and those in Nassau County.”

    The school district will also sponsor a program on cyber-bullying within the next month, a suicide prevention program in January, and Challenge Days next spring. The Gay-Straight Alliance is at the school every Thursday.    

A number of restaurants will get into the Halloween spirit over the next couple of weeks, with parties, drink specials, and prizes for the best costumes. 

Among them is Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett, where a costume party on Friday, Oct. 26, will feature a D.J. and drink specials from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. A $100 gift card, redeemable at the tavern and its sister restaurant, Bostwick’s Chowder House, will be awarded for best male and female costumes. Gift baskets will be awarded to most revealing, best couple, scariest, funniest, and most original costumes. There will be a $10 cover charge. 

The Springs Tavern on Fort Pond Boulevard will offer beer and drink specials at its costume party, on Friday, Oct. 26, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. This one, too, includes a D.J. There will be a $100 gift certificate for best costume, plus $50 gift cards for best female and male costumes. The Montauk Brewing Company will give out prizes for best couple, best group, scariest, funniest, most original, and most revealing costumes. This one also has a $10 cover.

A Halloween party, with no admission fee, will be held at the Backyard restaurant at Solé East Resort in Montauk on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. There will be free bar food, drink specials, and a D.J. Guests who arrive in costume will be entered into a raffle for a free weekend stay at the resort. 

Rowdy Hall in East Hampton will hold its annual Rowdyween costume party on Oct. 31 from 7:30 p.m. to midnight. Those attending must come in costume. The cost is $30 in advance and the $35 at the door, which entitles customers to one complimentary drink, free snacks, $5 draft beers, and $6 well drinks. There will be a D.J., and $500 in cash prizes will be awarded for best costumes. 

The Hunt is On

    Tomorrow at 3:30 p.m., children in grades K through 6 have been invited to a monster hunt at the Amagansett Library. The children’s search is sure to take them all through the shelves and many Dewey-decimal destinations.

    Starting on Saturday, those same grades can attend a series of art workshops sponsored by the Parrish Art Museum. In the 11 a.m. workshops, which continue on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17, children can create art in mixed media inspired by the museum’s permanent collection, including works by William Merritt Chase, Fairfield Porter, and Roy Lichtenstein. A fourth session will be held on Dec. 1 at the Parrish’s new home at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. That visit will include a tour of the galleries and time to create a work of art in the museum’s Open Studio.

    The workshops are free, but space is limited and advance registration is required.

    Next Thursday, all have been invited to meet in the field behind the library at 7 p.m. for stargazing. Joe Malave, a local teacher and guest astronomer, will point out constellations, binary stars, and planetary nebular. The rain date is Nov. 15.

Family Fiesta

    A family fiesta will be held at Guild Hall on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., called “Cuentos: Tales From the Latino World,” featuring David Gonzalez, a storyteller, from 3 to 4 p.m. and crafts throughout the afternoon. Refreshments will be served.

Pumpkin Decorating

    Kids ages 8 to 12 will have the opportunity to decorate pumpkins on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. Organizers say the event is not appropriate for children with peanut allergies.

    Through Sunday in the young adult department, seventh graders and up will be making Thai string dolls during library hours.

Stories About Turtles

    Crystal Possehl and her puppet, Lodo the River Otter, will tell stories about turtles to kids ages 3 to 5, Saturday at 10 a.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Bridgehampton. The museum has requested registration in advance.

    Meeting on Election Night, the East Hampton School Board considered how to make up for the five days the school was closed because of Superstorm Sandy. Rather than hold classes on holidays, the board seemed more in favor of making school days longer.

    District Superintendent Richard Burns said legislation might be proposed in Albany lowering the required minimum 180 days of school due to the storm.

    Mr. Burns thanked the grounds crew, maintenance, custodians, and other school employees who “were terrific during and after Sandy.” When he visited the school immediately after the storm, he said, “I could barely tell a storm came through.”

    The high school will continue to offer hot showers to the community from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. daily as needed, the superintendent said.

    Jackie Lowey, a board member, praised Mr. Burns himself for his response to Sandy. “He was here day and night,” she said.    

    Earlier in the meeting, Ms. Lowey expressed disgust that the district has a budget item to pay for seventh and eighth grade students to attend the Hamptons International Film Festival. She said the $3,580 charge “rubs me the wrong way. I’m surprised that a nonprofit is charging us for a community event.”

    Noting that students miss classes to attend the festival, she said that “we should take a close look at this in the next budget.”

    Toward the end of the meeting, Ms. Lowey suggested that in subsequent years the board not meet on Election Night.