48 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • OCTOBER 25, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
kids & education
Flushing scout earns Eagle for Alley Pond cleanup campaign
Congresswoman Grace Meng, Eagle Scout honoree Fotis Antonatos, City Councilman Tony Avella, and State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein.
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@cnglocal.com
@QNS
A Flushing Boy Scout was recognized
by local elected offi cials aft er receiving
the Eagle Scout badge, the highest honor
a scout can receive.
Fotis Antonatos, 17, a senior at
Francis Lewis High School, accepted the
honor at an Oct. 13 held at Flushing’s
Mythos Restaurant. Congresswoman
Grace Meng, state Senator Tony Avella
and Assemblyman Edward Braunstein
took part in the event and applauded
Antonatos for his contributions to the
community.
Th e Boy Scout received from Meng
a fl ag that had been fl own over the
U.S. Capitol, a New York State Senate
Resolution from Avella and a Certifi cate
of Recognition from Braunstein.
Antonatos has been a member of the
Boy Scout Troop 268 for 12 years. It’s
based at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox
Church, located at 196-10 Northern Blvd.
in Flushing, and has been continuously
active since 1970. He earned the distinguished
award of Eagle Scout by taking
on a service project to clean up and
beautify areas within Alley Pond Park in
Oakland Gardens.
“It’s a place that I visited oft en with
my family growing up, and still do,” said
Antonatos. “I have many great experiences
in Alley Pond Park including my Boy
Scout district’s own overnight camporee.”
Antonatos began the project in mid-November
of 2017 with volunteers who contributed
more than 120 hours of work at
the park.
Th e Eagle Scout Service Project, is an
opportunity for a Boy Scout to demonstrate
leadership of others while performing
a project for the benefi t of his community,
according to the Flushing Troop
268 website.
Additionally, Antonatos has been
involved with various Eagle Scout projects
including clothes, food, medical supplies
and book drives.
Photo courtesy of Fotis Antonatos
“I’ve made a lot of friendships in my
time at the Troop, and having those people
around me was great for support” said
Antonatos. “I think my parents are proud
of me and defi nitely helped me along the
process. Th ey’ve defi nitely put their own
work into it. It’s not just my achievement,
but also their achievement as well to see
their son complete something like this.”
Th e high school senior is now focused
on receiving admission into a good college.
“I want to be able to study a major that
interests me, so I’m looking into computer
science. But ultimately I want to be able
to qualify for a career in that fi eld and be a
successful person in life,” said Antonatos.
Christ the King opens doors to prospective freshmen
Christ the King High School in Middle
Village held its annual open house this
past weekend.
Prospective students and their families
visited the facilities and viewed fi rsthand
the experiences that Christ the King
has to off er.
Teachers as well as current and former
students were on hand to off er tours and
answer questions.
“Christ the King High School’s Open
House provided prospective students and
their families an opportunity to tour our
school and view personally the fi rst class
programs and facilities our school has to
off er,” said Principal Geri Martinez. “Th e
tremendous turnout of visitors is a testament
of the hard work and eff orts put
in by the faculty and administration to
make Christ the King a pillar of academic
excellence.” Photo courtesy of Christ the King High School
link
