Parenting

Details: Published: 15 June 2011; Created: 15 June 2011; Last Updated: 15 June 2011; Hits: 5112

Heathcote Elementary School Music Teacher Katherine Bescherer is a woman of many talents. In addition to teaching, Bescherer is a singer-songwriter who has performed at venues such as The Bitter End and CBGB’s and released a CD of her music, titled Clouds Can Break.

She has just written a new school song and introduced it to the Heathcote students who love it. The song titled, "We Are The Future of the World," will be sung at the school's Moving Up Ceremony on Tuesday, June 21 at 9 am and you can listen to it here. Note that on this self-recorded track she is playing the guitar and singing all the vocals.

We asked her what inspired her to write an original song for her students and here is what she said:

"Drawing on my experience as a teacher and a songwriter, I was inspired to write a school song as a tribute to the school and the amazing work that is being done here.

Traditionally, the school gathers in the fall for an opening assembly and we all sing together. It is amazing to hear some 400 voices join together in song. The songs vary from year to year but they always have a message of giving and helping one another. It occurred to me if we had our own school song, which carried the same kind of message that this song could be passed on year after year. The students and staff have responded so positively to the song. It was performed on June 7th at our 4th and 5th grade chorus concert to rave reviews from the parents, and it will also be sung as part of the 5th graders Moving Up Ceremony on June 21st."

Learn more about Bescherer and listen to her recordings here.

Here are the lyrics to the new song so you can sing along:

We Are The Future of The World
Words and Music by Katherine Bescherer © 2011

Verse 1

This is where we start.
This is where we learn to think.
This is where we learn to feel.

This is where we start.
This is where we learn to dream.
This is where we start our journey.

Chorus

We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
The miracle of every boy and girl.

Bridge

Like one friend to another,
Heathcote gives us hope.
From this road to another
No matter where we roam,
Heathcote you will always feel like home.

Verse 2

This is where we grow.
This is where we build what matters.
This is where we build a bright tomorrow.
This is where we grow.
This is where we build ambition.
This is where we grow to be stronger.

Chorus

Details: Published: 13 June 2011; Created: 13 June 2011; Last Updated: 13 June 2011; Hits: 3649

teentour The Scarsdale Family Counseling Service will run two week-long summer adventure trips for middle school age students, from July 8 -15 and August 12- 19. Campers will leave Scarsdale village each morning and set off for a fun adventure, returning to Scarsdale late in the afternoon. The itinerary includes a water park, a bike trip, hiking, white water rafting and rock climbing.

Kids will have fun, learn new activities, meet goals and gain increased self-esteem through a challenge by choice model. The trips are facilitated by Youth Outreach.

Workers who work to foster positive group dynamics as well as site experts who teach the participants the requisite skills to succeed at the activities. The trip is open to middle school age students including children who are going into fifth grade and going into ninth grade and there are still spots available.

The cost of the trip is $650 per week with a $100 deposit due up front. To sign up, please contact Andrew Weisfeld at andyweisfeld@aol.com , or call 914-721-2632.

Details: Published: 07 June 2011; Created: 07 June 2011; Last Updated: 07 June 2011; Hits: 7210

spiererservice2 Elizabeth, Natalee, Chandra, and now, sadly, Lauren. We all know their awful stories: Stolen from her bed in the middle of the night; a tragic turn over spring break; an internship full of promise then suspicion.

Now it’s a beautiful young woman, a ‘fashionista’ as her friends call her, who went out for a night of fun in a college town only to disappear just before dawn. Lauren Spierer is from Edgemont. She’s one of ours. And no one can find her. And it’s awful.

On Tuesday night, Scarsdale Synagogue held a Service of Hope in honor of Lauren and her family. Rabbis Klein and Gordon and Cantor Becker led the hundreds of friends and neighbors and former classmates in prayer and a chance for the community to join together in this difficult time.

It was a quiet, somber service. There were plenty tears, but no overwhelming displays of grief. That would spiererservice suggest there is no hope. There still has to be hope for Lauren. “We just want no stone left unturned,” said one of her friends choking up.

“Lauren, we’ll see you at home,” said one woman. What else could be said? That’s what we all want: to wake up from this nightmare and have Lauren at home and happy, enjoying her summer.

The media was also there. The parking lot was filled with satellite trucks and the back wall of the sanctuary was lined with TV cameras from every local network. Once the service concluded the TV reporters gingerly tried to coax some of Lauren’s friends to go on camera to share their feelings. You can’t blame them. It’s their job. It’s the story. And the more it stays in the news the better the chances of someone remembering something, saying something, anything, to bring Lauren back.

Whether we know them personally or not, our hearts ache for the Spierers. It’s our worst fear happening to a neighbor. It’s been frequently reported that Lauren and her mother spoke on the phone every day until the day she went missing. Her mother, Charlene reportedly called out Lauren’s name as she searched for her daughter in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana where she was last seen.

Elizabeth Smart made it home. Let us hope and pray that Lauren Spierer does too.

spiererservice3

Read more about the search for Lauren Spierer here.

Details: Published: 05 June 2011; Created: 05 June 2011; Last Updated: 06 June 2011; Hits: 24223

spierer Lauren Spierer, a 2009 graduate of Edgemont High School, has been missing since early Friday morning. Spierer, age 20, just completed her sophomore year at Indiana University in Bloomington and was last seen walking home to her apartment on College Avenue in Bloomington, Indiana at 4:30 am on Friday. However she failed to arrive there.

Spierer has a life-threatening heart condition called Long QT Syndrome and needs to have access to medication.

According to the Indiana Daily Student , Spierer studies fashion merchandising and is a University Division scholar. She planned to stay in Bloomington for part of this summer to take a course at Ivy Tech before doing an internship at the clothing store Anthropologie in New York City. She is a petite 4'11" tall with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Her parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer are in Indiana searching for her along with family, friends and the police. An interview on ABC news on Monday afternoon 6/6 shows a widespread search, but unfortunately there are few clues about her whereabouts. In addition a Facebook page has been set up to offer support and share information. Anyone with information about her should call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477.

Details: Published: 30 May 2011; Created: 30 May 2011; Last Updated: 06 June 2011; Hits: 4901

test Are you a college student with three hours a week to spare this summer? You can make a difference in the lives of deserving and motivated New Rochelle High School students.

Going to college is the most definitive step a young person can take toward a successful future. But getting into college is hard, expensive and rigorous. Low-income students typically apply to college at a great disadvantage socially and economically - if they apply at all. The SAT, college and scholarship applications, and financial aid forms are challenging even for the most advantaged students.

Let's Get Ready, a nonprofit organization started thirteen years ago by a Scarsdale High School alumnus, envisions a world where students from all socioeconomic backgrounds have equal access to the support they need to reach higher education.

College students are needed to be volunteer coaches for SAT verbal or math (or both!) at New Rochelle High School this summer. Verbal coaches work 6-9pm Tuesday nights, coaching critical reading and writing for the first half of class and assisting on the personal statement essays the second half. Math coaches work 6-9pm Thursday nights, coaching math the first half of class and helping with The Common Application and college selection the second half.

If you are a college-aged student who wants to make a difference: