In honor of May being Better Speech and Hearing month, two West Islip deaf students – James Montrony of Bayview and Nicholas D’Avanzo of Beach Street – participated in a Zoom session to meet and learn more about each other. D’Avanzo had also attended Bayview and like Montrony, studied at the Cleary School for the Deaf as a prekindergartner, and he shared his experience growing up as a deaf student in the same school district.

“It was a great experience for both of them and we plan to do it again,” said Meredith Eskridge, a hearing service provider for the district through ESBOCES.