The sixth annual Farmingdale Community Summit Council event entitled Farmingdale: A Community of Opportunity, took place March 28 in the Farmingdale High School gym. The event offers a forum for residents, local groups and organizations within the communities of the Farmingdale Union Free School District to interact about their duties and accomplishments, as well as spread word about upcoming events.

"I thought it went really well," said Farmingdale Community Summit Council President Kenneth Ulric. "The various groups that participate change each year, and we keep trying to come up with more and more ways to bring the public in."

Groups and companies that took advantage of this open forum included The Girl Scouts, Long Island Falconry Association, J+C Homecare Insulation and Bonded Building Co., etc. Also, student groups like the Key Club, Interact Club, Environmental Club and the Woodward Parkway Student Council had their opportunity to take center stage amongst this community-wide event. The Farmingdale Breakfast Rotary and Concerned Citizens Association of Farmingdale also had representatives attend, while Town of Oyster Bay Councilmembers Joe Muscarella, Anthony Macagnone and Legislator Dave Mejias made appearances.

"We send out a mailing to people that have been involved in the past, we advertise in the local papers, and the Chamber of Commerce is a big supporter and they help us promote it as well," Ulric said.

The Summit's Farmingdale - A Community of Opportunity, was first formed during the period immediately after 9/11 for what the Summit Executive Board called "the common good of all."

"It provides a place to show our respect for all those who served our communities and nation as a result of 9/11, it leads in promoting literacy, and it serves to present wholesome family entertainment" according to the Summit Executive Board. "It erected a permanent monument, memorializing the emotions, loss and resultant cohesiveness experience after 9/11 and it perpetually looks to assist families in need."

Turning the sports-oriented gymnasium into a showroom for attending groups, rows of tables were scattered with student projects; company brochures and creative displays were spread out. The happenings spilled into the high school's Commons area where local parents watched their toddlers wheel around on their tricycles on a student-supervised track during the Trike-a-Thon. Students also involved in Farmingdale Goes Green, celebrating the high school's first recognized Earth Day, displayed their recent work for a nationwide competition.

"I'm very pleased with the community involvement because the funds that it makes allows us to fund our community assistance fund, the fund that allows us to aid people that need financial help," Ulric said.

Certain groups had entertaining activities for residents to try, including vision-impaired goggles designed to give the user the illusion of being under the influence of alcohol. To promote the campaign against driving under the influence, the person wearing the goggles was then asked to walk in a straight line, most often incapable of doing so, in the same way police may ask a driver to do. Also, The Magic and Comedy of Jim McClenahan was on hand to entertain parents and children with tricks and humor.

Though there is still an entire year until the next forum, Ulric and the rest of the board members are actively brainstorming to make the forum even more helpful and entertaining for community residents.

"At this point we're picking out to see what went right and what went wrong to try and make it better for next year," Ulric said. "We take it one year at a time. Our meeting next week will be to check things out, look this over and decide where we're going for next year."