Roslyn student named winner of NPR's Podcast Challenge
Ursula Koestner, a junior at Roslyn High School, was one of seven winners selected from more than 700 entries in NPR’s student podcast competition. Credit: Roslyn School District
A Roslyn High School student’s podcast about the Vietnam War’s impact on her grandfather was named a winner in a contest coordinated by National Public Radio.
Ursula Koestner, a junior, was one of seven winners selected from more than 700 entries in NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge: America 250, which asked participants to create podcasts about “the American experience and what life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness means to them,” according to the broadcasting organization.
Koestner’s nine-minute podcast, “Welcome Home, Grandpa,” was inspired by her late grandfather, George, a Vietnam veteran whose wartime experience affected him, she said. He took his own life on Memorial Day 2025. The piece included interviews with her father, Chris, and Fred Sganga, the executive director of the Long Island State Veterans Home at Stony Brook University.
“I can’t fault him for his actions, both at home and at war,” Koestner said in the podcast. “He isn’t to blame for a war we had no place in. He isn’t to blame for the blatant ignorance of veterans’ mental health struggles. He isn’t to blame for the shunning of veterans by their own friends and neighbors despite their service to our country. He isn’t to blame for his suicide.”
Matthew Vogt, a podcast teacher at Roslyn High School, called Koestner’s podcast “the best piece we ever produced.”
“I’ll never forget listening to the final cut,” Vogt said in a statement. “I told her it was going to win, and it did.”
Excerpts from Koestner’s winning podcast recently aired on “Weekend Edition Sunday,” a nationally syndicated news program on NPR.
ELMONT
NEW PRINCIPAL
Antonio Santana has been named principal of Elmont Memorial High School in the Sewanhaka Central High School District.
Santana, who replaced Marya Baker, had served as superintendent for South Country Central School District in East Patchogue since 2022. Before that, he was principal of Glen Cove High School and Port Jefferson Middle School and assistant principal of P.J. Gelinas Junior High School in East Setauket.
“From the moment I arrived, I could feel how special the Elmont Memorial community is,” Santana said. “My hope is to honor and protect what this community values most, while working together to build upon that strong foundation so every learner has the opportunity to grow, flourish and discover what is possible.”
LOCUST VALLEY
NEW PRINCIPAL
Jonathan Zaratin has been named principal of Locust Valley Intermediate School. He replaced Kathleen Reilly, who retired.
Zaratin had served as assistant principal of Hampton Bays Middle School since 2021. He began his education career as a first-grade special education teacher, a position he held for nine years.
“I feel like coming in and being new, you have to be a steward to the tradition that exists already here,” Zaratin said in a statement. “I really want to take that on and learn from my colleagues and the community here what is important to them.”
WESTBURY
NEW PRINCIPAL
Lisa Paolucci is the new principal of the Nassau BOCES Preschool in Westbury at Barry Tech and Carman Road Preschool in Massapequa Park. She replaced Gina DaRocha, who retired.
Paolucci joined the Nassau BOCES Special Education Department in 2011 as an assistant principal before becoming principal of Iris Wolfson High School in Greenvale. Before that, she was a special education coordinator in upstate Hyde Park.
“Early childhood is an exciting time marked by unlimited possibilities, discovery and potential,” Paolucci said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn and grow alongside our preschool community while helping our youngsters flourish.”
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
