All four of East Islip’s elementary schools – Connetquot, JFK, RCK and Timber Point – celebrated P.S. I Love You Day on Feb. 14, organized by teacher Alyssa Policastro and counselor Kate Scuderi. Students and staff wore purple to spread love, kindness and mental health awareness. Throughout the week, students took part in a variety of different activities to celebrate the day, such as writing kindness grams to their friends, writing and sharing positive messages, and writing positive affirmations about themselves.

In advance of the day, P.S. I Love You Day co-founder Brooke DiPalma visited Connetquot on Feb. 12 for an assembly with all the second-grade classes. During this presentation, DiPalma discussed the importance of spreading kindness to everyone. This year’s P.S. I Love You Day theme is “A Brighter Tomorrow Begins Today,” and the second graders brainstormed different ideas on how they can create a better tomorrow for themselves, their friends and the world.”

“We celebrated with spreading kindness around our school,” RCK Principal Janet Jones said. “Staff and students wrote notes to peers and colleagues. It was a day filled with kind words and sentiments in a sea of purple.”

“The students of JFK made ‘lanterns of light’ where they wrote about the different ways that they can make JFK shine bright with kindness,” Principal Deborah Smith said.
“Thank you to everyone who wore purple and celebrated this special day,” Policastro said “P.S. I Love You Day 2025 was another huge success Kate Scuderi and I are excited to continue to incorporate this day in the K-2 buildings and are looking forward to seeing the sea of purple continue to grow each and every year.”