The Dime Savings Bank of New York, FSB sponsored three teams from the Grenville Baker Boys & Girls Club of Locust Valley to participate in the fall session of Newsday's Stock Market Game.

Guided by Vicki Maggiulli, Dime Vice President of Marketing, and Michael Guidone, teen program director of Grenville Baker, the 15 boys and girls spent 10 weeks hypothetically playing the stock market, making investment decisions and watching their investments rise and fall. In addition, the group met once a week for a formal class on the inner workings of the stock market, including one session where the students role-played a mock day on the market floor.

At the end of the program, the group had "gained a working knowledge of the stock market and developed an interest and enthusiasm about money matters and finance on which they will continue to build," said Dime volunteer Vicki Maggiulli.

To cap off their experience, the children were invited to breakfast with Lawrence J. Toal, the chief executive officer of the Dime and then were taken on a tour of the New York Stock Exchange.

Locust Valley High School Principal Edward Tronolone has announced that the school's yearbook, The Trident, was recently awarded a "Gold Medalist" rating from Colombia Scholastic Press Association, the most prestigious of scholastic press associations. The Gold Medalist rating, the highest award the press association gives, comes on the heels of the first-place award presented to the yearbook by the American Scholastic Press Association.

Ellen Von Novak, advisor, said that credit for the award goes to a highly conscientious, hardworking staff headed by former editor-in-chief Courtney Mongell, currently a first-year student at Bowdoin College. Mongell was ably assisted by Christy Whitehead, who now attends Cornell and Julianne Etayo, now at the University of Delaware.

Many of this year's yearbook staff have returned from last year, as well. Among them are this year's editor-in-chief Jill Wohrle, senior section editor Hina Alam, student life editor Katelin Hobbs and clubs/organizations editor Matt Loughren. Other members of the Trident staff include Peter Baehr, SueLyn Chen, Mariah Gerken, Kim Stalker, Mari Martone, Tyson Knight, Krista De Rose, Melissa Mohring, Tracy Campo, Maria Cottone and Katie Germana.

Helping students with the publication are photography and technical advisor Ken Bauer, business manager Dorothy Marecki and general assistant Phil Morris.

The Torch Club for boys and girls, ages 9-12, meets every Wednesday evening from 6-7 p.m. Torch Club is divided into four components: (1) Education; (2) Community Service; (3) Health & Fitness; and (4) Social Recreation. The club has been running since January and will continue through June.

Recently, Torch Club members have been learning about the responsibility of pet care. Its members have created books on pet responsibility, researched different breeds of cats and dogs and plan to visit the North Shore Animal League where they will get a tour and hands-on instruction in pet care from a staff veterinarian.

For more information on the Torch Club, please contact Suzy Barclay at 676-1460.

Thursday, Feb. 12, was an exciting day for members of the Baker Boys & Girls Club Juniormints.

The Juniormints, a group for girls ages 9-11, journeyed to Martin Viette in East Norwich for a full day of gardening and fun. The girls learned about starting plants from seed and taking care of these plants.

Each Juniormint member received her own plant that she potted herself, as well as a plant already in full bloom.

Along with these treats, the girls were provided with a booklet outlining the planting instructions and plant care tips they learned at Martin Viette. The trip was educational and fun for everyone. For more information on the Juniormints, please contact Suzy Barclay at 676-1460.

Locust Valley High School junior, David Ellison, recently earned first-place ranking in Nassau Tech's VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America) creative writing contest.

David, who is a student in police science and law enforcement systems at Nassau BOCES, wrote the award-winning composition based on a police science class visit to the Nassau County jail. In March and April, respectively, David will represent the police science class at the VICA regional and state competitions.

At Locust Valley, David serves as a student ambassador and a peer mediator.