As a testament to its commitment to offering rigorous courses and preparing students to be college and career ready, the district has for the second consecutive year had its proposal to introduce nanotechnology into the high school curriculum accepted by the prestigious Brookhaven National Laboratory's Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Freeport is the only district on Long Island to have an approved user project at the CFN.
As a result of the proposal's acceptance, which followed a competitive peer review process by scientists, Freeport High School science research instructor Edward Irwin has for the second consecutive year earned the honor of visiting BNL to characterize the nanoparticles he and his students will have synthesized in the high school classroom setting.
The district was awarded the Be the Change for Kids Education Innovation Award by the New York State School Boards Association last year. In addition to continuing to augment its lessons in nanotechnology at the high school level, and following its introduction of nontechnology to students at Dodd through research projects, the district next year also plans to introduce it to students at Atkinson and all its elementary schools.