The High School is proud to announce that seniors Jillian Portuese’s and Vivian Shao’s artwork was accepted to be included in The Heckscher Museum of Art’s Long Island’s Best exhibit, to be held in April 2026. Vivian also received an honorable mention award for the sculpture she submitted. There were 405 student submissions for the 2026 annual exhibition and Jillian’s and Vivian’s art pieces were two of the 82 pieces selected for display in this prestigious venue.  

Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at The Heckscher Museum is Long Island’s only juried exhibition that offers high school students the opportunity to show their work in a museum. Students in grades 9-12 are invited each year to create a work of art inspired by artwork shown in the museum during the school year and submit to the juried exhibition.  

In December, students in Samantha Shepard’s Drawing and Painting 1 and 2 classes and Jason Andria’s Advanced Placement Art students took a field trip to The Heckscher Museum and received a tour of its current exhibits. While touring the museum, the students selected a piece and created their own artwork inspired by what they saw.   

The district congratulates Jillian and Vivian on this outstanding achievement.