Village of Mineola recognizes visiting students from Murtaza, Portugal

The Village of Mineola welcomed a group of 17 students and four teachers from a high school in Murtaza, Portugal, at its meeting. Mayor (unnamed in transcript) and board members introduced the visitors, presented commemorative pins bearing the flags of Portugal and Mineola and recognized host families, chaperones and school staff who organized the exchange.

The delegation arrived Monday and has taken part in local activities including visits to Manhattan, Central Park, the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown and planned visits to Newark and Planting Fields Arboretum. The mayor thanked Mineola families who hosted exchange students and two local families—identified in the transcript as the families of Carlos and Fernando Aguas and Manny and Maria (last names not specified)—for also hosting visiting teachers who are not local residents.

The mayor called the visiting students and teachers individually by name for a brief presentation and photo. One Portuguese teacher, identified in the transcript as Anna and described as an English teacher who lived in the United States until age 13, spoke briefly on behalf of the visiting delegation, thanking Mineola for the visit and noting that scenes and places the students had seen in films—like yellow school buses and Central Park—were meaningful in person.

Deputy Mayor Janine Sartori and trustees Donna Soloski, Paul Casado and Jeff Clark were present near the dais for the recognition and photographs. The mayor also asked the board and audience to observe a moment of silence honoring veterans, first responders and active military, and requested prayers for Miss O'Leary, described as the mother‑in‑law of former Mayor Scott Strauss, who recently passed away.

No formal votes or policy actions related to the exchange were announced in the transcript excerpt.