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Schools

SSHS's Weiss Revives Science Research Program

New science director leads hands-on student collaboration with Hofstra.

For South Side High School students, learning science through lectures or by reading textbooks has become a thing of the past.

Since Herb Weiss stepped in as director of the school's science research program in 2008, the antiquated classroom experience has been supplemented with hands-on experiments and collaborations with students and professors from various colleges.

"I believe in a classroom without walls when it comes to science research," Weiss said, who updated the school's science curriculum with that in mind.

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Though he emphasized that the school's science department has always had students and teachers who did a "phenomenal job," it's been his connections to colleges and universities that make him an asset to the district.

During the summer vacation, Weiss helped students get internships at several local laboratories and universities. "The kids get a lot out of working in the field," he said. "When they work with experts, it feeds their passion for science."

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When students come back to school in September, Weiss said he'll help them write up their notes and relate their internship experiences to what they'll be learning in class.

Weiss, who said his goal is to enhance his students' learning experiences, also formed a partnership with Dr. Myla Aronson, a professor at Hofstra University who studies invasive plant species across Long Island.

Aronson and her students use South Side's greenhouse to conduct research, so when a group of Weiss' students expressed interest in her work, he approached Aronson on having his students assist her in the greenhouse. "They got to help out with the care of a university project right in their own backyards," Weiss said.

At the high school, Weiss also started an engineering club which participates in two annual events — a pumpkin fling in Yapank and a boat race where students design boats out of recycled materials. "Two years ago we finished third in the boat race, but this year we won the event," he said about the progress of his students. "It's fun things like this that make science interesting for the kids."

But Weiss noted that the most important part of his job his guiding students to colleges and universities that will help them in their science studies. Weiss said he thinks he's impacted those students interested in science, and noted that before he started at South Side, students rarely left the area for college.

"Now we have science students at Penn State, Cornell and the University of Maine," he said.

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