Syosset High School’s Breaking Borders Club is making significant strides in promoting dialogue and understanding among students from various backgrounds across Long Island. As the current co-president, I’m excited to share a bit about the club’s history, growth, and our shared mission of promoting empathy and connection.
The club started in 2015, when former Syosset student Jake Gould approached current Assistant Superintendent David Steinberg with the idea of creating a club centered on courageous conversations.
The pair set out to create a partnership with a school district different from Syosset. Ultimately, they connected with the Principal of Freeport High School and pitched the idea for a joint effort between the two schools. That novice group included six students from each district who spent a day discussing their life experiences and challenges.
Over the past ten years, the initiative has expanded to include ten schools, eight of which attended Syosset’s annual conference on Feb. 26, which focused on American identity. After getting to know each other over fun ice breakers, about 150 articulate and passionate students broke up into small groups to share their perspectives on questions about what America means to them, when they felt most proud to be American, and when they felt most disappointed in our country.
The unique format of diverse peer circles allowed students to share their personal experiences related to pressing issues from their daily lives on Long Island to national debates over immigration and free speech. Naturally, different opinions were voiced, but the goal of Breaking Borders is to open channels of communication and debate and to discuss differences of opinion respectfully.
Since my involvement in Breaking Borders began in 2023 under the guidance of current club adviser Michelle Rosenoff, I have seen the transformative power of this initiative.
I have witnessed Syosset’s membership grow from 10 to 66 motivated students dedicated to our mission. Our Syosset delegation connects with peers from Elmont, Levittown, and most recently, the Mill Neck School For the Deaf. When asked about the club’s evolution over the last decade, Assistant Superintendent Steinberg expressed feeling “a tremendous sense of pride of having a role in facilitating the students’ vision getting it to reality.”
Our day-long interactions foster open dialogue, helping us better understand each other’s circumstances. Our first two meetings with peers from the Mill Neck School showed me how their efforts to read our lips and our efforts to learn important signs stretched far, allowing Syosset students to attend their classes and Mill Neck students to enjoy a student-guided tour of our high school.
Assistant principal Daniel Kim has become very involved with the Breaking Borders initiative. When asked what he loves most about it, he remarked, “Just hearing the conversations and hearing snippets of students connecting with each other reminds me that at the end of the day, we are all humans.”
And with regard to Syosset’s recent partnership with the Mill Neck School, Kim praised “the idea that we can connect with another school, another community, another set of individuals that are navigating a whole set of life circumstances that we can’t even fully understand and comprehend is something very unique.”
Breaking Borders is committed to creating safe spaces for candid discussions about important societal issues. We believe that understanding our differences is the best way to address challenges and find solutions. With each event, we hope to inspire more students to join our mission to break down borders, both literal and figurative.
Adviser Michelle Rosenoff expressed hopes “to begin partnering with Suffolk County schools and expand across all of Long Island.” We look forward to building more connections, encouraging empathy, and working toward a more inclusive Long Island.
Max Schoenberg is a junior at Syosset High School junior who has been participating in his school’s Breaking Borders Club since 2023.
