Christin Aucapina of the Ross School is one of 1,000 talented students from across the country who have received good-through-graduation full scholarships to use at any college or university of their choice, courtesy of Bill and Melinda Gates’s Gates Millennium Scholars Program.

    Almost 24,000 applications were received by the program this year, and Christin, who had gone through a rigorous application process last year and was already accepted to Brown University, had all but forgotten about it.

    “When I received the news about the scholarship, it was really unexpected,” Christin said. “I had just gone home to pick up something I needed for yearbook club, and then I was going to go to school. At first I did not know how to react and the news felt surreal, but after I processed what had just happened I was ecstatic to know something that seemed like a miracle became a reality. I immediately called my mom.”

    More than a simple scholarship, the Gates Millennium program provides personal and professional development assistance along with academic support for its winners.

    Christin was recognized not only for her academic achievements but for her commitment to community service. An East Hampton resident, she has spent the past five years working with the East Hampton Food Pantry and now holds a seat on its board. She also works with a local branch of the Ronald McDonald House, which raises money for the families of children with cancer to stay near them when the hospital is far from home. She also volunteers with the East Hampton Library.

    While at Ross, Christin has traveled to Morocco and Nicaragua, working there with underprivileged schools and orphanages. She has also worked with the yearbook club and the Interact Club, and has participated in soccer and cheerleading.

    “It feels great to know that all my dedication to academics and extracurricular activities has helped me achieve something that I consider to be a miracle,” she said. “I also feel that most of the activities that I have taken part in were all things that I wanted to do. It doesn’t really feel like work, but more like a fun and active lifestyle.”

    Christin has also received a Congressional Award, which recognizes initiative and achievement in young people. She plans to pursue a career in public health, and is enthusiastic about living in Providence.

    “While I visited Brown, I got the sense of a community that felt like a second home, although I had only been there for a couple of days. I really look forward to meeting other students that share similar interests of mine, as well as students that I can learn from,” she said. “I loved the learning atmosphere and vibe that I got from the students while I visited.”

    Following a reported case of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, at the East Hampton Middle School and another at the Springs School, the East Hampton High School administration yesterday sent out an e-mail to warn parents and administrators that a case has now been detected at the high school.

    The district is in contact with the Suffolk County Health Department, according to the e-mail from Adam Fine, the school principal, who referred all questions to the high school nurse, Lorraine Talmage.

    According to a March 29 letter from the County Health Department, which is still posted on the school district’s Web site, “a person with pertussis is infectious for 21 days from the start of the cough, or until he/she has been on full days of appropriate antibiotic therapy. Children and adults may be susceptible and still develop pertussis even if they are up to date with their vaccinations, as immunity to pertussis wanes over the years.”

    Despite the vaccine against the highly infectious disease, there has been an uptick in cases in Suffolk County this year. However, Dr. Gail Schonfeld of East End Pediatrics in East Hampton explained in April that the increasing diagnoses of pertussis could be due to the fact that new testing is more precise, and that the disease is simply easier to diagnose now.

    Pertussis can be fatal, especially for the very young or very old.    

    Whooping cough earned its name from the whooping sound made by someone with the illness as they attempt to draw in a breath. People may feel fine between coughing fits, “but when they start coughing, they can’t stop. There is really thick mucus that blocks the airways, so there is a feeling of not being able to breath,” Dr. Schonfeld said in April.

    Both the middle school student and the Springs student recovered fully and were back in school within a week.

    It’s the tuition increase to the East Hampton schools of over $266,600 that is largely responsible for the Amagansett School District having to pierce the 2-percent cap on tax levy increases by over $323,000, Eleanor Tritt, the school’s superintendent, explained last Thursday.

    “Everyone’s really been working together to hold the line as much as we can,” she said. “If it wasn’t for the increase in tuitioned students, we’d be under the cap.”

    The Amagansett teachers have accepted a freeze on salary increases and steps in order to assist the district keeping costs down, Mrs. Tritt said.

     The 2011-12 budget is $9.19 million, the proposed 2012-13 budget is $9.66 million, a 5.21 percent increase, which translates roughly as a $64 difference over last year’s budget for the average home assessed at $6,000. If the district stayed within the cap, the yearly difference between this year and last would be a 3.69 percent increase, reflected as an additional $36 a year.

    As Mrs. Tritt explained, three Amagansett students are graduating as seniors from the high school this year. However, 19 students are entering seventh grade at the East Hampton Middle School. “That’s a big difference,” Mrs. Tritt said.

    In order to succeed, the budget will have to pass with a supermajority of the voters, or 60 percent. Mrs. Tritt and the district are counting on continued voter support.

    “We’re hoping that the community will understand that we’re obligated to provide the best education for our children,” she said. “The impact will be very moderate for the value of the programs.”

    The public hearing on the budget will be held at the school on Tuesday at a school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. The vote and candidate elections will be held on May 15 from 2 to 8 p.m.

    If you put Ben Faraone and Chandra Elmendorf out in the woods, alone and perhaps without even a knife, chances are good that they would survive and even thrive.

    For 11 years, the Sag Harbor residents have been taking classes at the Tracker School, a tracking, nature, and wilderness survival school in New Jersey. It was founded in 1978 by Tom Brown Jr., whose encounter at the age of 7 with an Apache elder named Stalking Wolf set him on a course of learning and passing on his teachings about nature, survival, and living close to the earth.

    His classes encompass not only outdoor survival and awareness skills, but include spiritual teachings drawn from Native American and other traditions, development of a life vision, and healing.

    Both Mr. Faraone and Ms. Elmendorf read halfway through one of Mr. Brown’s books before setting it down, certain that their next step must be to go to the Tracker School. Over the years, they have studied primitive cooking, ceremonies, medicinal plants, and more.

    “He teaches us the principles of survival; he gives us the tools to adapt to just about every situation,” Mr. Faraone said this week. “That’s not restricted to the wilderness, as we’ve come to learn.”

    Nonetheless, the two have done the “dirt time,” as they said, practicing the techniques of outdoor living and incorporating elemental practices into their own lives: tanning leather and making boots, making baskets using bamboo, willow tree cuttings, and other plant fibers, and heating their house all winter with a fire built in a woodstove using only a “bow drill” — carved wooden tools used to create friction and a spark. Mr. Faraone does flint knapping - creating tools from stone — and the two, who work together in their own organic gardening business, grow and preserve their own food. “We eat wild food regularly,” Ms. Elmendorf said. “All of us have ancestors that lived this way at one point.”

    Both have become certified instructors through Tom Brown’s Children of the Earth Foundation, a nonprofit created to offer youngsters “experiences that inspire excitement, adventure, creativity and a sense of awe,” awakening an awareness of the mysteries of the earth through teaching “the ancient art and science of tracking, awareness, and wilderness living skills” as the group’s Web site explains.

    They have begun spreading what they have learned to youngsters at an after-school program at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, and will offer their first weekend program for parents and children next month.

    During a two-day overnight workshop at Theodore Roosevelt County Park in Montauk, to be held on May 11 to 13 for families with children ages 7 and up, hands-on activities, games, and stories will help to introduce the fundamental skills of wilderness survival surrounding the basics of shelter, water, fire, and food, and will highlight the interdependence of all nature.

    Though participants will stay in tents at the park campsite, they will build a hut using found materials, learn how to find and purify water, build a fire with a bow drill, and forage for wild edible plants. Regardless of what is found, meals will be provided.

    Games will include Rabbit and Coyote, which stresses the importance of being well-hidden and the relationship of predator and prey, Chumash tag, played wearing blindfolds, which helps develop the use of other senses, and tracking games, through which players learn about camouflage and stalking — “all of which is useful for seeing animals in their natural state,” Ms. Elmendorf said.

    Children ages 7 and 8 must attend the workshop with a parent; those ages 9 and up may attend alone.  A third Children of the Earth Foundation teacher, and more if needed, will assist Mr. Faraone and Ms. Elmendorf.

    It will begin on the evening of May 11, a Friday, and last through Sunday at noon. The cost is $250 for one child; additional family members — parents or siblings — are $150 each. Those interested can register by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. Additional information about the Children of the Earth Foundation can be found at its Web site, at www.cotef.org.

    “Our explorations have given us remarkable experiences that we will never forget,” Mr. Faraone said in a release. “We’ve made countless friction fires, boiled water with hot rocks, made baskets and burned and carved wooden bowls and spoons, made string, filtered water with a handful of materials found on the landscape. Our natural surroundings offer us so much abundance, and we have so much to give back. . . .”

    A quote from “Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature and Survival for Children” sums it up, he said this week. “One of the greatest hindrances to children’s experience of nature is that today our children’s feet are removed from the earth, both literally and figuratively,” Mr. Brown writes. “Society in general has lost its connection to the earth, and hence has no conscious sensitivity to its mothering power. Once the connection is lost, people lose respect for the land, the trees, and the animals.”

    The East Hampton School District will take comments and answer questions about its $62.8 million budget for the 2012-13 school year at a hearing on Tuesday in the high school auditorium. The hearing will be held as part of the school board meeting at 7:30 p.m.

The proposed budget represents a decrease from this year’s budget, which is $64.4 million.

Wainscott School, with a 2012-13 proposed budget of $3.5 million, a 2.11-percent reduction from this year’s budget, will hold a public hearing on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The statewide budget vote, along with school board elections, will be held on May 15.

    May 4 will bring the Sunset Over the Harbor party to benefit the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation, which helps to support programs — including minigrants and scholarships — for public school students from Montauk to Sagaponack.

The evening at East Hampton Point on Three Mile Harbor will feature hors d’oeuvres, dancing with D.J. Mike, paper and silent auctions, and more. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased by calling 605-5125.

    Classically trained student musicians from three South Fork schools will play in a concert on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor to benefit Katy’s Courage. The not-for-profit was created to honor Katy Stewart, a 12-year-old who died from a rare form of pediatric liver cancer.

    The students, ages 11 through 17, have performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall, and will play works by Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Boccherini, and Mozart.

    The performers will be Benjamin Pereira, a Southampton sophomore, on violin; Maxfield Panish, an East Hampton High School senior, and his brother, Leo, from East Hampton Middle School, on violin, and from Pierson High School, the seniors Emily Verneuille on clarinet, Grant Kusick on guitar, and Chris Beroes-Haigis on cello, Emmanuelle Benard, a seventh-grader, on piano, and Ella Patrick, a fifth-grader, on piano.

    Nat Sassoon, a sixth grader from New York City, will be a special guest, contributing his piano and vocal skills.

    All the young musicians already have impressive résumés.

    Nate was the winner of Orfeo Piano Concerto competition in 2011, and had his first piano recital at Steinway Hall in New York in 2010 with an orchestral debut in 2011 in Vipiteno, Italy. He was accepted to the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus when he was 5 years old.

    Maxfield won the 2010 Elizabeth Brockman Award for Classical Music. He attends the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Program and plays in its Senior Philharmonic Orchestra, and is the concert master for the East Hampton High School Orchestra. Leo was the youngest violinist to perform with Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Suffolk Principal in the 2009 final concert at Carnegie Hall.

    Emily is a member of the Sag Harbor Community Band as well as the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Suffolk Principal Orchestra.

    Chris, Benjamin, and Emmanuelle all attend Mannes Colleges as well as Pierson. Chris and Benjamin, who took up violin in kindergarten, play in the college’s Senior Philharmonic Orchestra. Emmanuelle focuses on classical guitar and composition. She received the Rising Star Award from the Playhouse Project master class in 2009.

    Grant has studied a variety of techniques and genres, most recently dedicating himself to the classical guitar, and Ella studied music at the Ellen Johansen Music Studio in East Hampton and recently competed in the Suffolk Piano Teachers Foundation’s annual competition.

    The suggested donation of $10 will go toward programs such as pediatric cancer research, bereavement counseling, scholarships, and a long-term investment in a childhood bereavement center on the East End. Tickets will be available at the door. Donations may be made at katyscourage.org.

    A group of parents of next year’s preschoolers attended the Montauk School Board meeting on Tuesday to question board members about the program, which is expected to be reduced to half-day sessions.

    “Is this written in stone?” Nicole Meehan, one of the parents, asked. “Is it official yet?”

    In September, enrollment is expected to exceed the school’s policy of 18 students per prekindergarten class. To stay within the state’s 2-percent cap on tax levy increases, the school won’t able to pay for a third class. Moreover, there is no space for one. There are at present 41 students in the two pre-K programs, which run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aides are pulled from elsewhere in the school to accommodate the class size. Parents are responsible for the transportation of students.

    If the change is made — and Jack Perna, the district superintendent, said it most likely would be — the classes will be split into morning and afternoon sessions, with the morning one meeting from 8:30 to 11, and the afternoon one from noon to 2:30.

    Parents voiced concerns about the quality of the academic program in the proposed two-and-a-half-hour sessions. Board members pointed out that, since lunch and recess would be eliminated, the academics would continue as is, with both classes following the same program.

    The parents also worried about the students’ transition the following year to full-day kindergarten. They wondered if the children would still be able to participate in the school’s swim program at Gurney’s Inn, which runs twice a week for five weeks each spring. They were assured that the swim program would go on for both classes.

    Some who work full time outside Montauk wondered how they would be able to pick up or drop off their children in the middle of the day.

    “This is not a shot in the dark — if it’s a school day, I’m working,” said Jessica Vickers, a parent and former student of the Montauk School. “We’re all in a pickle. There’s only so much you can ask Grandma to do.”

    Another parent asked if the projected fee of about $170,000 to run a third class could be paid through fund-raisers. Board members said that would be too complicated, what with payroll, transportation, and benefits involved, and is probably not allowed under state education rules.

    Mr. Perna explained that last year the board had to cut other programs to stay within the budget. He called them extremities. “Preschool is still an extremity,” he said.

    As he spoke, the superintendent stood up to address the crowd. He said school policy allows only 18 students per preschool class, while the higher grades are not limited in that way. Furthermore, by accepting $30,000 from the state’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program, the school must abide by the state’s mandate of 18 students per class with one aide. If enrollment were to exceed that number, the school would be required to provide another teacher and two aides.

    The proposed budget of $18.5 million, which was approved by the board at the meeting, would not be able to cover the cost of extra aides required for a larger prekindergarten class, which next year is projected to have 44 students, a number that could increase within days, Mr. Perna said.

    After the meeting, the superintendent said the only other option he can imagine is not ideal. That would be to run the one prekindergarten class under the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program and with only 18 students and pay for the other through the school budget, which would allow for up to 47 students in the one class.

    “We can do whatever we want because we’d be paying for it. But is that safe?” he asked, adding that as it stands, with 41 students split into two classes, the rooms are already somewhat crowded. He also said there are parents who are saying they are happy with the half-day sessions.

    Yesterday the board issued a statement: “The Montauk School Board will try to maintain a class size of 18 students in each grade with a maximum of 24 students per class. The primary grades will be given preference regarding staffing and space available. In the event that is not available, the board will make the necessary changes in staff so the teaching process is not adversely affected by class size. A consolidation of class size will be determined by April 1 so that the teachers concerned will be advised prior to the school year.”

    After an executive session, the board unanimously passed a resolution that approves a partial reorganization of teaching staff and programs for the 2012-13 school year, directing the superintendent to take the necessary and appropriate actions to make it happen.

    Mr. Perna told the parents that he is open to any solutions and invited them to visit his office anytime to discuss other options. “We don’t have the funding or the space anymore. I have to look at all of it.”

    “I’ll probably come up with something by 9 o’clock tonight,” he joked.

    The school board elections this year, as seats in local districts become available, are not expected to be the game of musical chairs that they have been in years past. Several board seats will be uncontested, including one on the East Hampton Board of Education, where Laura Anker Grossman, a 20 year board veteran, is stepping down.

    Dr. Grossman describes her increasingly demanding schedule as a professor and administrator at the State University at Old Westbury as one reason she is not running again. “It’s a painful decision,” she said yesterday. “And I’m not saying to myself that this is the end. I want to stay involved.” She added that she has enormous confidence in the “new blood” on the East Hampton board, which now is entirely composed of members with no more than two years’ tenure.

    Dr. Grossman said board members work well together and are committed, as a whole, to striving to attain excellence for the district. “We’re in good hands,” she said.

    There are only two candidates for the two open seats this year. Liz Pucci, who was elected to the board when Stephen Talmage resigned after last year’s annual meeting, submitted a candidacy packet and will retain her seat. Christina DeSanti has also applied, and is unchallenged.

    “I have two children in the district,” Ms. DeSanti said on Monday. Ms. DeSanti runs Dreesen’s Catering in East Hampton with her husband, Rudy, and holds a bachelor’s of science degree in business management. “And I’ve always been very active in the PTAs. I’m on the John Marshall site base committee and am very involved in the schools at the building level.”

    But, she said, the larger issues affecting the district, like the 2-percent tax levy cap — made her want to step up to the plate. “I give the current board a lot of credit. They have successfully tackled a lot of important issues this year.”

    “As a parent and taxpayer, I want to ensure that we maintain a strong curriculum in spite of budget constraints and put forth a responsible budget that meets the needs of our children and community,” she said.

    In Springs, John B. Grant will run to retain his place on the board and Dennis Donatuti, a former principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School, is running against him. Mr. Donatuti is a frequent and vocal attendee of Springs School Board meetings.

    Mary Lownes of Amagansett is vying to keep the seat she has held for 10 years, with Rona Klopman, former chairwoman of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, running to unseat her.

    The Montauk School District has only one seat expiring this year, since the terms on the board are for five years. Kelly White will retain her seat since she is running without opposition.

    In Wainscott, David Eagan is running to retain his seat, and Kelly Anderson, a school parent, is running for the seat that was vacated when Iris Osborn was forced to resign in March.

    Voters will be able to decide on the new candidates when the elections roll around May 15, the same day as the school budget vote.

Family Festival

    The Parrish Art Museum will host a Spring Family Festival on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., featuring a stage show by Slapdash Comedy.

    The performance, which stars Ray and Erin Grins, who have appeared on the David Letterman show, will begin at 1 p.m. It will include fast-paced balancing and juggling, music, and plenty of audience participation. After the show, the Parrish will continue the festivities with face painting, spring art activities, caricature portraits, stilt walking, and refreshments.

    The event is free and no advance registration is required.

Springs Celebration of the Arts

    On Tuesday, the Springs School kicks off its fifth annual Celebration of the Arts at Ashawagh Hall. The show, which runs through next Thursday, features the artwork of all grades at the Springs School and includes video selections from this year’s fourth-grade opera and the student film festival.

    The show will also spotlight the visiting artist program and the studio in art class, two new programs that the school put into effect this past year.

    The opening reception will be held at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The show can be seen on Wednesday and next Thursday from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Stages Does “Seussical”

    “The Cat in the Hat,” Horton and the Whos, and others will come to life this weekend when Stages, a Children’s Theatre Workshop, brings “Seussical the Musical” to the Bay Street Theatre stage.

    The cast of young actors will be directed by Helene Leonard, with musical accompaniment provided by Amanda Jones and James Benard, sets by Goran Petmil, and costumes designed by Barbara Oldak.

    Performances will run tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased by calling the Bay Street box office.

For Young Musicians

    Any pint-sized prodigies who are members of the New York State School Music Association have been invited to the stage at Southampton Cultural Center’s Levitas Center for the Arts on Sunday.

    Students have been invited to perform their NYSSMA piece for friends and family at 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

    Piano accompaniment will be available, and preregistration is required. Those who have a tune to play have been asked to contact the Southampton Cultural Center to book a spot.

Family Fun Day

    The Children’s Museum of the East End will be the site for a Peconic Family Fun Day on Saturday.

    A free event for families with children from five to 10, the day will feature live music from the Bridgehampton School marimba band, with educational games and workshops, like bird-box building, fish prints, seed planting, guided hikes, and more.

    Attendees will also learn about the local water table, sustainability, and the importance of environmental stewardship.

    Free admission to CMEE is included in the event, which runs from 10 a.m. to noon. The museum is located in Bridgehampton on the Bridgehampton Sag Turnpike.

    Across the street at the South Fork Natural History Museum, there will be Peconic Family Fun Day Adventures at 10:30 and 11:15 a.m. for all ages.

At the Library

    With Mother’s Day around the corner, stories about mothers and a chance to make a special craft will be the highlight of today’s activity at the East Hampton Library.

    For children ages 4 to 6, the Mother’s Day story time and craft will be held at 4 p.m. for one hour. Sign-up is required in advance.

Cinco Celebrations

    Cinco de Mayo, or the Fifth of May, is sometimes called Mexican Independence Day, but it isn’t. It is celebrated in Mexico as the day that the Mexican Army, against all odds, overcame and defeated the French in 1862. Mexican Independence Day is on Sept. 16.

    However, it is a great opportunity to honor the United States’s neighbors to the south, and the local libraries are doing just that.

    The East Hampton Library will give kids ages 4 and up the chance on Saturday to design a sombrero and learn the Mexican hat dance, perfected in this country by Bugs Bunny in the mid 1950s. Stories about Cinco de Mayo will be read. Advance registration is required. The event will be held at 10:30 a.m.

    The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will host a two-hour party starting at 2 p.m., featuring a pinata, crafts, food, readings, and a cultural performance by the Tenochtitlan Dance Group on the back deck.

    At the Amagansett Library at 3 p.m. there will be a fiesta featuring stories and craft time with Mexican themes.