Breaking Bread and Benchmarks: A Thriving Collaboration at Long Island City High School

Collaboration is deeply embedded in Zone 126’s methodology. Zone 126 believes working strategically toward a shared vision is the best way to support our students and our community. This is what we aim to bring to our students on a grand scale: a functioning network of collaboration to support student success.

Family Night at Long Island City High School is an opportunity at the beginning of each school year to bring The Long Island City High School Community together over a delicious dinner. Students and families were encouraged to meet new people and organizations by getting stamps on their “Paw Pass,” which would help them earn extra credit. Families interacted with partner organizations, some of which were: City Harvest (where they made DIY healthy snacks), Sprint 1Million (where they could sign up for free WiFi hotspots), and Let’s Get Ready (where students could register for free SAT Prep). As students walked around, they met new peers and listened to the impassioned speech of Principal Selenikas.

During their respective speeches, Principal Selenikas, school leaders, and students reflected on recent successes and looked toward future aspirations. Principal Selenikas and Zone 126 both delivered addresses to the school community about collaboration and its role in leading Long Island City High School to exceed several benchmarks. The speeches demonstrated that while the school community’s optimism and spirits are high, our aspirations are still higher. With each success and surpassed benchmark, we need to push harder and reach higher. We have a responsibility as a community to do more for our students. Principal Selenikas’ speech highlighted that to plateau is not an option.

While we want our families and our community to be involved and informed, we also recognize the simple importance of relationship building. Not only that, but we recognize how significantly our families impact our children. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Long Island City High School and partners.