15 community NEW LIC SCH OOL OPENING BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO Lights, camera, action on the new school year and the opening of a brand new school building in Long Island City. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott met with local elected officials, representatives and school leaders on September 9 to take a tour of the new Hunter’s Point Campus, located at 1-50 51st Avenue, on the first day of classes. During the walk through the building, Walcott visited a special education, middle school and high school classroom to meet with students and view their lessons. “The Hunter’s Point Campus offers a state-ofthe art facility for students and staff,” said Walcott. “There are brand new science rooms at the middle school and students at the Academy for Careers in Television and Film have a unique vista of Manhattan from the building’s terrace that will help them perfect their filming and editing skills.” The new school is part of the Hunter’s Point South development project which broke ground in March on the first phase of construction and opened the Hunter’s Point South Park last month. The building houses a middle school, with 12 classrooms and two special education classrooms, and The Academy for Careers in Television and Film high school, which made its move from 36-41 28th Street in Long Island City. With both schools, the building has a capacity of 1,071 students. “My whole school community,parents, students and staff alike were just blown away to come here every morning,” said Edgar Rodriguez, principal of the Academy for Careers in Television and Film high school. “The kids are extremely happy, the staff had an amazing day. LIC welcomes new Hunter’s Point Campus. Everything turned out quite positive.” The campus has a shared gymnasium, separate boys’ and girls’ locker rooms for both schools, a library, auditorium, tech center, speech room, cafeteria, full sized kitchen, art room, music room, science lab, prep lab, science demo rooms and resource rooms. “We started from the bottom and now we’re here,” said high school senior Brandon Bass, 17, from Jamaica. The high school now has 14 standard classrooms, two special educations classrooms and a THE COURIER/Photo by Angy Altamirano student general store. “The new school is nice, it’s awesome,” said senior Justin Bruggemann, 18, from Flushing. “I love it. I’m excited for the school year.” Walcott also participated in a practice filming session with the students on the school’s fourth floor balcony which overlooks the Manhattan skyline. “It feels great, it’s a big change. It’s all brand new,” said senior Lesley Ptacek, 16, from Jackson Heights. “It’s great we’re meeting the Chancellor and showing him what we have learned.” BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO Six-year-old Benjamin Wheeler’s name will live on forever next to the No. 7 train he loved to ride and the Sunnyside street where the world got its first look at him. Ben, who was one of the 20 children who perished in the gunfire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, was honored and celebrated on September 7 during a ceremony to co-name the intersection of 41st Street and Queens Boulevard “Benjamin Wheeler Place.” Ben’s older brother, Nate, unveiled the SIGN. “It’s really special that we rename this street ‘Benjamin Wheeler Place’ and the No. 7 train will go back and forth, back and forth and it will be a very beautiful thing,” said Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer. “They moved to Connecticut but the love they left behind still is so incredibly strong in the community.” Family, friends and local officials gathered wearing green, Ben’s favorite color, at the corner of 41st Street, where he lived with his parents and brother. His parents, Francine and David, lived in Sunnyside until Ben was seven months old, when they decided to move to Newtown, Connecticut. “We are so incredibly grateful for the chance to thank our former Sunnyside neighbors whom we are very very lucky enough to still call friends for their love and for their support in the months immediately following last December,” said David. “You quite literally have kept us standing.” In honor of Ben’s love for The Beatles, Congressmember Joseph Crowley sang “Here Comes the Sun” to the family. “Nothing more fitting that we can do today, than honor Benjamin and the entire Wheeler family by naming the street on which he spent his first day and first months, so that we will always remember the valuable contribution that they have made and their love for Sunnyside,” said Senator Michael Gianaris. Francine was one of the founding member of Sunnymoms, a collective of local parents who share recipes, baby sitter recommendations and parenting tips. In February, Sunnymoms organized a fundraiser and concert for the Wheeler family to honor Ben’s memory and raise money for the family. “Ben was six, he had just learned how to tie his shoes, that was his major accomplishment but frankly he hadn’t really perfected that either,” said David. “The sign will show us where we can eventually go as people. It is up to us to make our schools, our malls, our offices, our parks, our street corners safer for children everywhere.” TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY Name Sunnyside street after Sandy Hook victim THE COURIER/ Photo by Angy Altamirano Family, friends and local officials gathered to celebrate and honor the life of six-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, one of the Sandy Hook massacre victims.
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