About Us
Ildiko (Ildi) Catuogno, MS, MEd
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Providing teens with opportunities to develop leadership skills has been at the core of Ildi’s career as a teacher and administrator. With over 30 years of health teaching experience at Great Neck North HS, she led in the development of many leadership programs such as: Grade Level Peer Leaders, Peer AIDS Educators, Peer Drug Educators and Middle School Peer Mentoring.
Ildi has participated in all aspects of the HIV/AIDS Peer Education program at Northwell Health since its inception in the early 1990’s. Initially as a curriculum advisor then as a school program developer, fund raiser, workshop leader, associate director, and director. She also wrote curriculum and taught Coping with Trauma and Stress- How Can I Help- Post 9/11 for the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Northwell Health.
Ildi has written grades K-12 health education curriculum at the local and state levels. For over 15 years, she wrote and administered all aspects of the Federal Safe and Drug Free Schools Grant for the Great Neck School District At Hofstra University, Ildi sat on the Center for Secondary School Administrators and Supervisors steering committee and supervised student teachers in the education program. After completing her NYS certification as a School Building Leader (SBL) and School District Leader (SDL) at Queens College, Ildi continued to co/facilitate the Human Relations course in the Educational Leadership master’s program.
Ildi is inspired by all the committed, knowledgeable, and empathetic peer leaders who have passed through our doors. Her goal is to provide the same educational opportunity to many more teens in the future.
Ildi enjoys spending time with her family, sports and traveling.
Director
Scott Perlman, M.Ed
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Scott Perlman brings years of extensive professional experience with successful positions in the New York State education system. A twenty plus year veteran, Mr. Perlman has helped create and has served as the Coordinator for The Academy, an alternative school within the Hendrick Hudson School District. He currently is the Instructional Leader for the Health & Physical Education Department at Hendrick Hudson High School in Montrose, New York. As a trusted consultant to the METEOR program, he implements self-regulation and therapy techniques to students within his classroom. Beyond the classroom, he is currently the Associate Director of the Peer Teen Health Program at Northwell Hospital in Long Island, New York. Mr. Perlman received a B.S. in Health Education and an M.S. in School Counseling from Western Connecticut State University. In addition, he attended Bank Street College in New York City where he earned an M.S. in Educational Leadership.
Scott currently resides in Connecticut with his wife and two daughters.
Associate Director
Stacey Balducci, MS
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Stacey Balducci has been teaching Health education at Syosset High School for the past 30 years. At Syosset High School she is a very involved educator. She is a student government advisor, the advisor of the community service club called Interact and a JV Cheerleading coach. She is also an adjunct professor at Adelphi University where she is educating future health educators. She is proud to say she is also the Co-Assistant Director of the Peer Teen Health Symposium.
She has been involved in the Peer Teen Health Symposium since the first year she began teaching at Syosset High School. In 1994 she brought a group of students to become trained in peer education about HIV and AIDS. Those students became Peer Teen Leaders and taught parents and peers about HIV prevention. Watching those students educate adults and peers made her realize how significant a peer teaching peer program is. Stacey's goal for everyone here is to be inspired like she was in 1994 to make a change in their schools and educate others. Take the information you learned and transform it into a way that others will listen to you.
Stacey's passion includes family, cheerleading, reading and being outdoors.
Associate Director
Maria (Ria) Assante, MS
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Ria Assante has been passionate about Health Education since beginning her teaching career over 30 years ago. She has always felt that health-related life skills were a lifetime skill that everyone needs.
When AIDS became a national issue in the 1980’s, She signed up for an intensive HIV/AIDS training session at the GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis). During her teaching career she became the HIV/AIDS Leader and the Condom Availability Coordinator for the New York City Public Schools. This began a lifelong pursuit of awareness, education, and empowerment. Teaching students to become advocates for their own wellbeing is crucial.
Ria’s part in the Teen Health Symposium is to help teach students practical skills that they can use regularly until they become second nature. The personal sexual responsibility portion of the symposium is to help students develop decision making skills and to help them determine if/when they will become sexually active. We discuss delay tactics, good communication and the best ways to protect yourself. We will go over the practical steps of proper condom usage, using hands-on activity to make students feel comfortable with using different forms of protection properly and consistently.
Facilitator
Lauren Baron, MS
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Lauren is in her 19th year as a health educator and has spent the last 16 of those years teaching at Great Neck North High School on Long Island. She also serves as a faculty advisor for the 9th Grade Peer Leadership program and the school’s SADD Club, where she works with students to raise awareness and promote positive decision-making around issues that teens face in their daily lives.
Lauren earned her Bachelor’s degree in Health Education from SUNY Cortland, where she was also a collegiate gymnast. Throughout her career, she has been passionate about helping young people develop the knowledge and skills needed to lead healthy lives. Her work focuses on empowering students to make safe, informed decisions that support their physical, mental, and emotional well-being and improve their overall quality of life.
In her free time, Lauren enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
Facilitator
Lauren O’ Rourke, LCSW
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Lauren O’Rourke has over 10 years of experience in the mental health field working in
schools, community agencies, mental health clinics, hospitals, and providing in-home
supports. She has a passion for helping others and has experience working with
children, families, and adults from a variety of backgrounds with a wide range of needs.
Lauren is a NYS Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds a NYS Certification in
School Social Work. She is the School Social Worker at Syosset High School, where
she helps students foster their social and emotional skills, and connects families to
mental health resources across Long Island. Lauren provides students with a
nonjudgmental, safe space, utilizing a variety of therapeutic approaches such as
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Therapy, and Psychodynamic Theory.
She is also the advisor of the Bring Change To Mind (BC2M) group at Syosset High
School. BC2M is a student group whose mission is to destigmatize accessing mental
health supports by starting the conversation and promoting mental health resources
available to the school community. Lauren is also the Syosset High School advisor for
the Northwell Health Cohen Strong Mental Health Program where students are trained
and certified in Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA), and enhance their leadership,
advocacy and research skills. Outside of the school day, Lauren enjoys working in
private practice, where she utilizes therapeutic interventions with adults who are
working towards meeting their individualized goals and coping with the everyday
stressors of life. In her free time, Lauren enjoys hiking, traveling, and spending time outdoors
Facilitator
Valerie Taylor Andreasi,
Valerie Taylor Andreasi
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For the past 14 years, Valerie has been a dedicated drug and alcohol counselor at Syosset High School, where she is known for building meaningful and supportive relationships with her students. Prior to her current role, Valerie ran a prevention program at the Long Island Council on Drug Dependence, focusing on education and community outreach.
In addition to her counseling work, Valerie has shared her expertise through presentations at numerous high schools, colleges, and faculty events, addressing critical issues related to drug and alcohol awareness.
Driven by a passion for making a lasting impact, her ultimate goal is to empower young people to make safer, smarter choices, shaping brighter and more secure futures.
Facilitator
Maya Lerner
Facilitator
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Maya Lerner is the Library Media and Educational Technology Department Head, a Staff Developer, and a Teacher at Great Neck North High School. With 16 years of experience in education, Maya has dedicated her career to helping students and educators navigate today’s complex and fast-moving information environment. Her work focuses on media literacy, digital literacy, and artificial intelligence, with an emphasis on how digital platforms, algorithms, and online influence shape the way people think, feel, and make decisions.
Maya leads building and districtwide initiatives that integrate media literacy and AI literacy into instruction, and she works closely with teachers across disciplines to strengthen research habits, evaluate sources, and foster healthier digital practices for students. Her leadership and innovation were recently recognized when she was named the 2025 Nassau BOCES School Library System’s Administrator of the Year.
She is a frequent presenter on the intersections of AI, media literacy, digital influence, and education. Most recently, Maya presented two sessions at the Long Island Technology and Education Summit (LITES): Future-Proofing Students: Preparing for a World We Can’t Predict and The Hidden Power of Algorithms: What Your Data Says About You, both of which explored how rapidly evolving technologies shape attention, behavior, and learning. She has also presented at the 2024 Nassau-Suffolk High School Principals’ Conference, the SAAWA workshops for science research and mathematics educators, and in numerous district and building-level professional development sessions. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education (EdD), where her research examines the information literacy competency of the adults who influence students most across eight domains. Her work aims to better understand how adult confidence, skills, and misconceptions shape the guidance students receive in a digital world.
Outside of school, Maya enjoys spending time with her family, exploring the outdoors, and seeking out nature-filled adventures.