Seniors Explore the Working World
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With college decisions behind them, SHS Seniors are in the home stretch. How can the school avoid senior slump and keep these students engaged until graduation? Senior options internships allow students seven weeks to intern with various businesses or companies instead of the traditional school day. Internships range from work in bakeries, to automobile shops, and even train to be an EMT.
We spoke to some seniors to see how they are spending their time.
A popular choice among students is to return to their elementary schools, as student teachers rather than students. Senior Anna DeNelsky is working at Solomon Schecter with her former kindergarten teacher. “I have had a really fun time working in my kindergarten class. All the kids are super cute and I loved getting to know them and their unique personalities so far. I usually help them with worksheets and assist the teachers with organizing work. I also play with them at recess and just help them out in general,” comment Anna.
The senior options program is not only designed to keep seniors occupied but to give them insight into potential careers. “I definitely have gained a new appreciation for kindergarten teachers. All the kids have different learning styles and levels and some have a harder time focusing than others… The teachers work really hard and play an important role in shaping the kids interactions with the other kids and try to teach them right from wrong along with academics.”
Varun Valada repairing a carTwo seniors have taken the unique opportunity to learn how to fix and maintain cars at an auto shop. Seniors Varun Valada and Jake Guastafeste are working at Lenny’s Auto Clinic at the intersection of Brooke and Summerfield Streets in Eastchester. Under the apprenticeship of owner Lenny D and the other repairman, Varun and Jake have learned how to change the oil in a car, remove a wheel, rotate the tires, change the breaks, and assist the repairman in other ways. Additionally, the auto clinic doubles as a full service Sunoco gas station, so Varun and Jake fill up the gas for and process the payment of patrons who need gas. “It’s really allowed me to expand by boundaries. I’m learning practical skills in a new environment that could become useful down the road” said Varun. “It’s been a lot of fun and everyone here is extremely helpful” said Jake.
Another group of students are involved with the Scarsdale Village Ambulance Corps EMT training program. The goal is to become a certified EMT. One senior, Anna Distler, participating in the program comments “Each day, the class learns a new set of skills that will help us as we train to be EMTs. Although it is a lot of work and studying, I love the fact that I’m learning about stuff that I am truly interested it. It’s just two weeks in and we have already covered about 20 chapters of our textbook. Despite moving at such a fast pace, I still feel like I 100% understand everything that I’ve learned.” This opportunity definitely teaches students important life skills. She adds, “The class has been a lot of fun so far and I’m so glad I chose it for senior options. I can’t wait for the next few weeks to come and I’m so thankful for this experience”
Jack Callahan and Andrew Gindi showing off fragrance primer at Mothers Day EventEight seniors are assisting local business owner, Abby Wallach who runs the fragrance company, Scentivent Technologies. The students reaching out to beauty bloggers and run the company’s social media accounts to get the word out about their product. The interns have also learned about market research by going to different cosmetic stores and department stores to research what customers want. The team of interns also organized a Mother's Day event, where people could come in with their mothers and try out the products, which was a big success.
Katie Iver and Alex Rossano at Organic PharmerOther students have chosen to work in bakeries and local restaurants. Organic Pharmer, a purveyor of healthy foods and juices in Scarsdale Village employs three interns. Seniors Katie Iver, Alex Rossano, and Amanda Girardi work the register, make smoothies and advise customers on what to order based on what they are feeling.
While some stay local, others commute to the city daily for their internships. Senior Alex Goldman is interning at the Theater Center in Times Square, “It’s difficult at times and makes me have a lot of respect for my dad, who commutes to his job everyday,” said Alex. She was even stranded in Mount Vernon earlier this week after trains stopped due to severe thunder storms. However, she has learned a lot from her internship, “I’ve had the opportunity to connect with different people…. It’s unlike any experience I’ve ever had before,” she added.
Throughout this program, students have teacher mentors who not only make sure their students are working the correct amount of hours, but also helping them to reflect on the experience. “I think senior options is going very well so far. Students are getting out of the high school and engaging in work they wouldn't otherwise be participating in,” said economics teacher and mentor Jonathan Pai.
Following the program, seniors prepare twenty minute presentations to give to their teachers, mentors, parents and sometimes even the business owners who managed them. It can be a revealing process both for the kids and the sponsors as the student cast a fresh light on the businesses they serve.
Historical Society Provides Additional Funds to Digitize Back Issues of the Scarsdale Inquirer
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The Scarsdale Historical Society has committed an additional $37,000 to continue a joint project with the Scarsdale Public Library to digitize back issues of The Scarsdale Inquirer. The new funds will provide for digitization of the paper through 1977.
Previous grants of more than $50,000 from the society funded the first two phases of the digitization project covering the years 1901-1950.
The digitized material can be accessed at news.hrvh.org, an online resource housing historical newspaper as part of the Hudson River Valley Heritage (HRVH) service. Links to the paper can also be found on the on the society’s website. The current project should be completed in one year.
“We are grateful to the Scarsdale Historical Society for their continued support for the digitization project,” said Elizabeth Bermel, Library Director. “The Scarsdale Inquirer is an important resource for our community and having online access will increase its availability exponentially.
“The digitization of the Inquirer opens our community’s history to students, researchers, and residents. In the past, access to back issues was available at the library in print and microfilm with limited finding aids created by Scarsdale librarians. The creation of these indexes was time intensive and did not allow for full text searching. Furthermore, there is no index for the years 1958-1979. Once issues are digitized, they are fully searchable, and the content can be found through Google searches.”
Re-filming from the original papers and the generation of digital images is being done by Hudson Archival, of Port Ewen, N.Y. Generation of the metadata (METS/ALTO) necessary to put the images onto HRVH is by Digital Divide Data. Their innovative social model enables talent from underserved populations, including youth from low-income families in developing countries as well as military spouses and veterans, to access professional opportunities.
Letters in Support of Pam Fuehrer for Scarsdale School Board
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The following letters in support of Pam Fuehrer for Scarsdale School Board were sent to Scarsdale10583 for publication:
To the Editor:
It is with great enthusiasm that I endorse Pam Fuehrer for School Board Trustee. Pam, as a current member of the Board of Education, is the only candidate uniquely qualified for the position. As the experienced candidate, Pam Fuehrer represents the kind of continuity of leadership and stability that our school district both needs and deserves.
We entrust these members of our community to make crucial decisions and set the policies for all of our schools. It is vital that we maintain this level of experience as the Board continues its significant work.
I have lived in Scarsdale for almost 20 years. For 14 of those years, I have witnessed Pam Fuehrer’s dedicated volunteerism. Those of you fortunate enough to have worked with Pam know that she is open minded, honest, a careful listener and a consensus builder. She is thoughtful, deliberative, and decisive. Her commitment to the children of Scarsdale is unparalleled.
As a Board member, Pam has a proven track record of doing what is in the best interests of our children. She understands and respects our parent community and their diverse points of view. She is not afraid to question the administration and hold them accountable.
Her extensive experience within the community and on the Board of Education affords her the unique perspective to deal with the myriad of legal, financial and business issues our Board must address on a daily basis. In order to ensure the smooth and seamless transition as new members join the Board, we must continue to support our veteran Board members who in turn will mentor our newcomers.
Experience counts. It is imperative that we have Pam Fuehrer continue in this role in order to sustain the exemplary education that the Scarsdale Schools provide for our community.
Sincerely,
Leanne M. Freda
To the Editor:
As former school board presidents, we know that when it comes to selecting board members, there is no substitute for experience, and an in-depth understanding of the complexities of dealing with our community’s many stakeholder groups.
An extremely steep learning curve exists for anyone elected to a board of education, no matter how deeply they have been involved in recent school-related volunteer activities. Add to that the wealth of knowledge that needs to be mastered quickly in such diverse areas as employment law, collective bargaining, curriculum and instructional innovation, special education, school safety, state and federal advocacy, Regents regulations, tenure, state aid, budgets, and financial reporting, just to name a few of the topics listed in the NYS School Law manual, and you quickly get an idea of how important it is to retain experienced board members
It takes a good three years to begin to master these areas of responsibility. Over the past several years, the Scarsdale board has lost a number of members after serving for a single term. Another has chosen not to seek re-election this year. With such a rapid turnover, it is vital that we retain experienced members such as Pam Fuehrer to help guide the board through upcoming challenges, including teacher contract negotiations.
In addition to her term on the board, Pam Fuehrer has a lengthy track record of leadership roles in a number of important community organizations, including PT Council President, and President of both the Edgewood and Middle School PTAs. As a Scarsdale resident for 20 years, she has been actively involved in the League of Women Voters, Drake Edgewood Neighborhood Association, the Task Force on Drugs and Alcohol, and the Junior League of Central Westchester. With two children currently attending Scarsdale schools and one recent graduate, she has her finger on the pulse of our district’s needs and community concerns.
So let’s not waste all that valuable, hard-earned experience and knowledge.
Vote for Pam Fuehrer on Tuesday, May 15th and return her to our Board!
Rita M. Golden, Ridgedale Road
Barbara Jaffe, Kingston Road
Jacqueline Friedland to Debut her Novel, Trouble the Water, at Barnes and Noble
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Scarsdale author Jacqueline Friedland will hold a book talk and signing of her debut novel, Trouble the Water at Barnes and Noble on Thursday night May 17 at 7 pm. Published by Spark Press, the novel won the Silver Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards, Best Regional Fiction South region in April.
Freidland is a Magna Cum Laude graduate from both the University of Pennsylvania and NYU Law School. She practiced as a commercial litigator at the New York law firms of Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP and Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP. After deciding that office life did not suit her, Jacqueline began teaching Legal Writing and Lawyering Skills at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan and working on her first book in her limited spare time. Finally deciding to embrace her passion and pursue writing full time, Jacqueline returned to school to earn her Masters of Fine Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, graduating from the program in 2016.
Trouble the Water is set twenty years before the Civil War, and filled with authentic detail about The Underground Railroad and the Abolitionist movement. It is the story of Abigail Milton a girl who was born into the British middle class. When her family falls into debt Abby’s parents send her to America to live off the charity of their old friend, Douglas Elling. When she arrives in Charleston at the age of seventeen, Abigail discovers that the man her parents raved about is a disagreeable widower who wants little to do with her. To her relief, he relegates her care to a governess, leaving her to settle into his enormous estate with little interference. But just as she begins to grow comfortable in her new life, she overhears her benefactor planning the escape of a local slave―and suddenly, everything she thought she knew about Douglas Elling is turned on its head.
Abby’s attempts to learn more about Douglas and his involvement in abolition initiate a circuitous dance of secrets and trust. As Abby and Douglas each attempt to manage their complicated interior lives, readers can’t help but hope that their meandering will lead them straight to each other. Set against the vivid backdrop of Charleston twenty years before the Civil War, Trouble the Water is a captivating tale replete with authentic details about Charleston’s aristocratic planter class, American slavery, and the Underground Railroad.
Author Jacqueline Friedland
We asked Friedland how she became interested in writing about slavery, abolition and the antebellum South and she said, “I knew that I wanted to write a historical novel, and I started with at least a basic foundation in American history, as I majored in US Culture & Literature in college (which was actually a sub-category within the English major). I've always been particularly interested in the time period leading up to the Civil War and in the people who risked their own safety to help slaves escape to freedom. Charleston was an important choice because it was a hotbed of slave trafficking, even after the international slave trade was outlawed. It was also a city that was far enough North that the possibility of escape was, while extremely difficult, not necessarily impossible (versus somewhere like Lousiana, where the journey North would have taken so much longer and been much more difficult). Finally, Charleston was also one of the wealthiest cities of this time period, which made the conditions that the slaves endured all the more horrid by comparison to others who were living large at their expense.”
When not writing, Jacqueline is an avid reader of all things fiction. She loves to exercise, watch movies with her family, listen to music, make lists, and dream about exotic vacations. She lives in town with her husband, four children and a Cavalier King Charles. Trouble the Water is her first novel.
Why did she choose Scarsdale? Friedland says, “I am surrounded by family, as both my sister's family, and my husband's brother's family live in Scarsdale, and our parents and in-laws live in White Plains. I also love the strong community vibe in the town, the shops in the Village and the fact that I can hop a train to the city anytime.”
The book has already won the Silver Award for Best Regional Fiction from the South from The Independent Publisher Book Awards and Kirkus Reviews says it “… will seize readers from the first page and not let go.” Booklist says, “Fans of Paulette Jiles and Julia Quinn will adore this triumphant novel of intrigue, secrecy, and redemption.” Author Susie Orman Schnall says, “"With compelling characters, a charming peek into Charleston society, a heart-racing romance, rich historical detail, and an epilogue that will have you holding your breath, Friedland has written a well-crafted novel that will stay with you long after you turn the final page."
Meet Jackie Friedland and check out her book, Trouble the Water, at Barnes and Noble at 680 White Plains Post Road in Scarsdale on Thursday night May 17 at 7 pm.
Andrew Weber to Speak on Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction at League Luncheon
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Andrew C. "Andy" Weber, a 1978 graduate of Scarsdale High School, will speak about "Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction" at the Scarsdale League of Women Voters’ Spring Membership Luncheon on Friday May 18, 2018 at the Scarsdale Golf Club, at 11:45 a.m. Mr. Weber has dedicated his professional life to countering nuclear, chemical, and biological threats and to strengthening global health security.
Tickets are available online here. You may contact Anne Lyons at 914-725-9810 with any questions.
Mr. Weber’s thirty years of US government service included five-and-a-half years as President Obama's Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. He was a driving force behind Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts to remove weapons-grade uranium from Kazakhstan and Georgia and nuclear-capable MiG-29 aircraft from Moldova, to reduce biological weapons threats, and to destroy Libyan and Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles. In addition, he coordinated US leadership of the international Ebola response for the Department of State.
Prior to joining the Pentagon as Advisor for Threat Reduction Policy in December 1996, Mr. Weber was posted abroad as a US Foreign Service Officer in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong.
Mr. Weber is an independent consultant and a Strategic Advisor for IP3 International and Ginkgo BioWorks. He serves on the Board of the Arms Control Association and the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies International Advisory Council. He taught a course on Force and Diplomacy at the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service for seven years, and was a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Weber graduated from Cornell University and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) degree from Georgetown University. Buy your tickets here:
