Scarsdale Rotary Club Luncheon
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The Rotary Club of Scarsdale hosted the recipients of their five perennial grant awards at the Club's weekly luncheon held on June 9 at Moscato Restaurant. In attendance were Evelyn Stock (The Scarsdale Foundation), David Raizen (Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corp), James Genova (Scarsdale-Edgemont Family Counseling Service), Margaret Goldberg (Greenburgh Nature Center) and Maggie Dunne (Lakota Children's Enrichment). These groups annually share 60% of the proceeds from Rotary's Wine Tasting Fundraiser, which this year amounted to $21,375. The additional $16,000 of proceeds will be distributed through the year from a competitive grant process and used to fund the Club's ongoing community and international projects.
Here are some photos from the event: 
LWVS Sends Three Students to Albany
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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For the fourth consecutive year, the League of Women Voters Scarsdale sent local high school students to the Students Inside Albany conference as part of its youth outreach program. Scarsdale High School Juniors Marie Ceske, Gabriela Dickson and Alexander First represented the Scarsdale League at the conference in May 2015.
Students Inside Albany is an intensive four-day conference designed to immerse students in the process by which public policy is proposed, revised and enacted in New York State and to educate them as to how they can influence and affect this process. The cost of the conference, including hotel and meals, is borne by the League of Women Voters New York State Education Foundation, Inc. and our Scarsdale League.
This year's students described the conference as a "remarkable experience." While shadowing Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, the students not only sat in on conferences and attended meetings, but also had the special opportunity to visit the headquarters of NYISO, New York State's energy system provider. The students also observed proceedings in the Assembly chamber, and met and shadowed state senators including State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. As the students explained, "Being able to shadow legislators opened our eyes to the political process in Albany and how change is enacted. Elements of the program built around the shadow experience further allowed us to understand the different elements of our state government and how to become involved through citizen programs."
The students said they would "strongly recommend" the Students Inside Albany program "to anyone interested in politics, or with a thirst to learn about their surroundings and to play an active role in their own future. "
Students interested in applying to attend the 2016 Students Inside Albany Conference should go to LWVS.org next fall to get details. Application eligibility includes sophomore, junior and senior students who attend Scarsdale High School or who reside in the school district.
Legally Blonde on Stage at SHS this weekend
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Oh my god, Oh my god you guys! Legally Blonde is at the High School! Directed by seniors Kimmy Rothberg, and Musical Director Noah Li, Legally Blonde: The Musical will be this year's senior class play. I was able to catch up with Kimmy and Noah to discuss the play, which will be on stage this weekend on Friday, Saturday at Sunday at SHS.
The Play stars Danielle Cohen and Andrew Pollack as Elle Woods and Emmett Richmond, as well as Nicole Brenner and Robert Hoffman as Vivian Kensington and Warner Huntington III.
Rothberg and Li chose to produce Legally Blonde over more traditional choices like Grease and The Wizard of Oz. The decision garnered support from the students, and slight opposition from the faculty. As Director Kimmy Rothberg explained, "The faculty wanted us to edit it, and remove some scenes. We cut some things, and it is now appropriate for all ages." Noah Li added, "The students really like it, it's a great show, students don't really need to go very far to get into character for the show, its very relatable." Obviously its not always in the best interest for the show to have split views by the faculty and students, but a relatable show becomes more enjoyable for the audience, and for the actors and actresses involved. That is really what the senior class play is all about. Furthermore, as Noah explained, "A lot of us grew up with the movie, so its exciting to put it on as the play." With the scene changes, the play should be familiar to teens, while also appropriate for all ages.
Both Kimmy and Noah faced a set of challenges to put on the show, but both have risen to the occasion. Initially they had to rehearse in the Little Theatre, rather than the auditorium. "Putting rehearsals on the stage was difficult, as we had to make changes when we saw the set. We were in the Little Theater for the first six weeks." She also commented on the scene changes, "It's hard to do the scene changes, because it's the crew's first times seeing the show, so that is a challenge." In order to meet and overcome these issues, the two said that they needed to "alter [their] mindsets" as Noah put it, "Kimmy is used to the drama club, and I'm used to people who are very familiar with music, but a lot of these seniors have never really sung or danced before in a big production." Kimmy commented on her transformation; "I've learned to have more patience, and change my outlook, I used to stress too much over the little things, now I have taken a step back." Neither of them "has had to run rehearsals with the amount of people in this show" nor had they ever had experience with this particular show before, yet they both agreed that it was "not a challenge to coordinate, because we break up the rehearsals, dance and music at different times, so specific times for different parts."
Spotty attendance at rehearsals has proven to be a continuing problem. Kimmy said, "For seniors the play is more of a second, third, or fourth priority," Noah added, "We expected that we could have a pretty specific schedule, but then, sometimes things just happen." At first, schoolwork, sports and extracurricular activities competed for rehearsal time and they were unable to get everybody at every rehearsal. This was one of the reasons that the two decided to split up the rehearsals, as they knew that it would be difficult to "get the cast together because of conflicts, we have yet to have the full cast together" Kimmy stated. When school ended and Senior Options began, the attendance improved and the rehearsals were moved to later in the evenings. But 'The show must go on!' And it has, as rehearsals have improved in time for this weekend's performances.
The two directors are optimistic about the experience. Kimmy commented, "I was able to become closer with people who weren't really my friends before, even this late in my high school experience." Noah went on to explain, "At the end of the day, its this opportunity for the senior class to bond with each other. It takes these seniors that you know, were in math class yesterday, and now they are an ensemble. It's a great chance to get to know people better, and to become closer... Its sort of this cross-pollination of the music departments, you don't normally have trumpets playing with violins, playing with a rock band, and playing under singers. And not to mention this repertoire is something we don't normally get to play, so its new stuff with new people, its exciting."
Come check out the play this weekend May 29, 30 and 31 at the Scarsdale High School Auditorium. Be sure to buy tickets here. The play is at 7:30pm on Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30, and 2pm Sunday May 31. Tickets are $10 for students and children, and $15 for adults.
Scarsdale Fire Department Adds New Firefighter
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Scarsdale Village's newest probationary firefighter, Trevor Simoni, was sworn in by Scarsdale Village Clerk Donna Conkling on May 28, 2015. Simoni transferred from the Pleasant Valley Fire Department where he has been employed since 2013. While with Pleasant Valley Simoni completed an intensive seventeen-week training program at the Westchester County Career Fire Academy at the County Fire Training Center in Valhalla, NY and is already a Nationally Certified Level II firefighter.
Simoni is from Pleasant Valley and is single.
Comings and Goings at the Scarsdale Schools
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At their May 18th meeting, the Scarsdale High School Board of Education announced the retirements of Nancy O'Rourke, Mark Goldberg, Paula Magaletti, and Alice Yugovich. In addition, twelve teachers and administrators were granted tenure and a new principal was hired for Quaker Ridge School to replace Robyn Lane who will retire at the end of the school year.
Nancy O'Rourke, a first grade teacher at Edgewood was the first to be honored, and was praised for her "smooth beginnings to Kindergarten" where she was known to have her students "happily seated in a circle around their new teacher." Mrs. O'Rourke was known for her intellectual curiosity, and passion for the subjects she teaches. She is an avid reader, and has taken initiatives to teach other Edgewood faculty, teaching a Scarsdale Teachers Institute course, "Teachers as Readers." Mrs. O'Rourke is also a member of the COMPACT committee, and was known for her leadership and dedication to the program during their focus on literacy and reading instruction. Mrs. O'Rourke's reputation stretched well beyond the walls of her classroom, as evidenced by students' responses to her retirement, "Mrs. O'Rourke, well I never had her but she's good."
The second teacher to be recognized was Paula Magaletti, the Spanish Language teacher from Heathcote Elementary. Señora Magaletti, as she is affectionately known, has taught at Heathcote for 28 years. She was called "an ideal teacher, who makes her students passionate about language, and uses fun as a teaching tool." Heathcote Principal Maria Stile, praised Señora Magaletti for her "versatility and style," saying, "One year she has a classroom, and then another year she has a classroom on a cart. But through it all Spanish continued at Heathcote, and Señora Magaletti delivered instruction with passion and grace, engaging her students and helping them to grow." Current Heathcote students even wrote poems to honor Mrs. Magaletti; here is one from a current 5th Grader:
We learn Spanish and play games,
Hola, Como Estas?
We say all day
I wish Spanish wasn't done,
It's so much fun for everyone!
Madrid project, rainforest, too,
This poem is meant for you!
We learn Spanish and study places,
We wish we had Spanish on a daily basis
We say the weather and say the date,
When we go to Spanish we hope we're never late
Retiring Heathcote art teacher Alice Yugovich, or Ms. Y as she is called, and Señora Magaletti are best friends and will go off into retirement together. Ms. Y was a mainstay at Heathcote, having taught there for the past thirty years. She helped both students and teachers and made sure everyone got the help they needed. Since she taught every single student at Heathcote, she had little extra time but was generous with it. Maria Stile said, "Anyone who ever entered Heathcote commented on how impressive the artwork was, and they all wanted to meet the teacher who was responsible for the breadth and exquisite quality of the work Ms. Y was able to inspire." Ms. Y will also be remembered by Principal Stile and the rest of Heathcote as someone who embodies John Steinbeck's great quote: "I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit." Heathcote PTA President Karen Palaniappan said, "Ms. "Y", we wish you much happiness in your retirement. Our children's lives are more colorful because of you."
Mark Goldberg, who will retire from the Physical Education at Heathcote elementary, was unable to attend the meeting.
New Principal at Quaker Ridge:
Dr. Joan Weber announced the probationary appointment of Felix Gil as Principal of Quaker Ridge School. She described an extensive search and intensive interview process resulting in Dr. Gil's appointment. Dr. Gil joins Scarsdale from Summit, NJ where he is the Principal of Franklin Elementary School. He has been a Social Studies teacher as well as an Assistant Principal and Principal in New York City schools. He holds a BA in Latin American Studies from New York University, an MS in Bilingual Education from City University of New York as well as an MA in Public School Organization and Leadership from Teachers College of Columbia University. He recently defended his doctoral dissertation in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tenure:
Also announced were tenure appointments of the following twelve district staff members:
Julie Abbe, Special Education
Patricia Almanzer, Foreign Language
Kenneth Bonamo, Principal, SHS
Eileen Cagner, Special Education
Robert Daly, Social Studies
Michael Divino, School Counselor
Michael Egan, Science
Christopher Griffin, Assistant Principal, SHS
Jessica Gutta, Special Education
Nicole Jakymiu, English
Jamie Quinn, Mathematics
Heather Waters, Social Studies
