Milestones For Emily Hirsch, Kamilah Dowling and Ellen Greenberg
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Emily Hirsch, former owner of Scarsdale's Candy 'N Cards will turn 100 on Friday, June 16. Since she closed the store, earlier this year at the age of 99–- she's enjoying her retirement and spends time catching up on old movies, having lunch with friends and spending quality time with her family.
Kamilah Dowling
Scarsdale resident Kamilah Dowling will be honored by The Business Council of Westchester as one if its 2017 "40 under 40" Rising Stars, during the June 15 reception at the council's headquarters in Rye Brook. Kamilah, who is the dedicated Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Montefiore Health System, was selected for this award because of her exemplary leadership, creativity, innovation, dedication and professionalism.
Kamilah, who has called Westchester her home for five years, provides and coordinates care for children with complex neurosurgical needs, including brain tumors, craniofacial disorders, and craniopagus conjoined twins. Kamilah was instrumental in the care of Jadon and Anias McDonald who were successfully separated at Montefiore last year. Kamilah managed every aspect of their various needs, both medical and social, and remains a dedicated and consistent presence for this family. On June 23rd CNN will release a documentary about how the boys are progressing, in which Kamilah will appear.
Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center
Mamaroneck resident and life coach Ellen Bachner Greenberg has been named to the Board of Directors of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center, a not-for-profit organization serving Westchester County and beyond.
Ellen holds an MBA from New York University and is a certified Life Coach. She enjoys guiding her clients towards achieving goals, overcoming obstacles, and making changes in their lives.
A daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Ellen has been active with the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center through their GenerationsForward speakers group.
Ellen tells of her father's incredible will to survive and the optimism, perseverance, and positive attitude that exemplified how he lived his life post war. Ellen discusses what it was like for her growing up as the child of Holocaust survivors and speaks honestly and openly about the impact it has had on her.
Ellen and her husband Carl are the proud parents of two children who live and work in Manhattan.
Millie Jasper, Executive Director, says, "Ellen brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to the Board. We're thrilled to have her join us."
The mission of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust to support the right of people to be treated with dignity and respect.
For more information please contact Millie Jasper, Executive Director, at (914) 696-0738 or mjasper@hhrecy.org.
Photo Opps: Scarsdalians Make News
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Here are two updates from Scarsdale residents making tracks this week:
Four Scarsdale High School varsity track team members placed in the top 7 overall of the inaugural White Plains Memorial Day 5k race on May 29, 2017
Pictured above with Mayor Tom Roach of White Plains are Jordan Claman, Andrew Levy, Mayor Tom Roach, Bruno Tassari and Zach Hoexter.
Scarsdale Inquirer Alumni at the New York Times:
We ran into Carrie Gilpin, former reporter for the Scarsdale Inquirer who is now working at the Learning Network at the New York Times. She shared this photo of herself with Linda Leavitt, former editor of the Scarsdale Inquirer and Heather Murray, another former Inquirer reporter who is now an attorney working in the same building as Carrie. Linda came in for a visit and here is what she said:
"I am so proud of these dogged reporters I hired at The Scarsdale Inquirer, Carrie Gilpin and Heather Murray. Carrie went on to become an editor of the Learning Network at The New York Times and Heather is an attorney, at Seyfarth Shaw in the same building, We are posing in front of the Pentagon Papers story on The New York Times Pulitzer Prize wall because there's a Scarsdale connection — attorney William Glendon, who was later to be elected mayor of Scarsdale,successfully defended The Washington Post before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Nixon administration had sought to block publication of a Defense Department history of the American involvement in Vietnam. It was considered a major victory for freedom of the press. This happened before my time at the Inquirer (I retired as editor in 2015) but I knew Glendon and had great affection and respect for him."
Former School Administrator Dorothy Bajak Armistead Passes Away at 89
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A petroleum geologist's daughter and former Scarsdale schools administrator, Dorothy Bajak Armistead's passed away at the Longwood Retirement Community in Pittsburgh at age 89 on May 10, 2017 from complications from breast cancer. The illness forced her to resign as president of the resident council.
After raising four children as a stay-at-home mother, Armistead parlayed part-time public relations work for Thomas Sobol, the superintendent of the Scarsdale Schools into a full-time job as his administrative assistant. At age 50, she earned a masters degree in education administration from Columbia University. Sobol would go on to become New York state schools chancellor.
Born Dorothy Mae Mershon in the Texas town of Coleman on Oct. 12, 1927, she and her family homesteaded during the Great Depression in a cabin in Roswell, New Mexico after her father Milton, who was a geologist was furloughed from Shell Oil Co. A little over two years later Shell resumed exploration and the family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
At age 16, Dorothy was accepted to Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, where she became passionate about theater and was coached to lose her southern accent after getting the role of Jo in "Little Women."
She met her future husband, then-Miami University student Sigmund Bajak, in 1947 while working as assistant to the director for "The Trojan Women." Bajak, the son of Polish immigrants from Buffalo, N.Y., had been a Navy carrier pilot in World War II and was acting in the play.
In 1953, Dorothy began a two-year stint as a civilian entertainment director for the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea. Returning to the U.S. two years later, she reunited with Bajak, who had graduated from Yale Drama School and taken a job with NBC, where he eventually worked his way up in the company's news division.
The couple settled in Scarsdale, where Dorothy's activities included children's theater. She frequently helped organize assemblies at Edgewood school.
Bajak attained the rank of rear admiral in the Naval Reserve and the New York State readiness command. He died of prostate cancer in 1996. Armistead moved to Pittsburgh four years later to be near her oldest child, religious educator Jennifer Halperin.
In 2003, she was recognized by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a Jefferson Award nominee for her work as a cultural ambassador teaching English as a second language at the Greater Pittsburgh Literary Council.
About that time, Reginald Armistead, an Alabama-born recently widowed close friend of her late husband, came courting. Retired Capt. Armistead and. Bajak had been Navy buddies.
The two married in 2004 and lived in Sperryville, Va., until Reginald Armistead's 2012 death, when Dorothy moved back to Pittsburgh and settled at Longwood.
At the retirement community, Armistead became involved in the "Tuesday Table Ladies" literary group, which decided to jointly pen a mystery set in their mileu. Entitled "Where's Laura," it was published in 2016. The ladies were working on a second novel when Dorothy died.
In additional to Halperin and her husband Alan, of Murrysville, Pa., she is survived by sons Frank Bajak, an Associated Press journalist, and wife, Cecilia Malachowski of Lima, Peru, Benjamin Bajak of Irvine, CA, an entrepreneur, and John Bajak, a poet, of White Plains, N.Y., seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
A memorial service will be held in the ballroom at Longwood on Saturday, May 27 at 2 p.m.
SHS '16 Athletes: One Year Later
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Even the energetic Pitbull song that wakes me up at 5:15 AM does not make it easy to hop out of my warm bed at Georgetown for rowing practice. Eating a banana in the light of my tiny dorm bathroom to avoid waking up my roommate, I pull on three layers of under armor and two pairs of socks, ready to leave the cozy heat on a December morning to practice on the Potomac between ice chunks, pushing my body to the point of nausea during the toughest workouts before biking back to campus to get to my first lecture on time. The luxury of being able to hit snooze on an alarm sounds appealing, but I wouldn't trade my mornings for the world. A sense of family pulls my teammates to the boathouse each morning without fail. No one is forcing us to make this choice, but we are invested. There is no stronger bond than loving the pain and glory of college athletics with the strangers that become your best friends.
The SHS Class of 2016 sent many of its Varsity athletes off to continue their sports careers at the college level. The transition to a strange new world free of structure and supervision can be daunting during the thrilling, unpredictable sweaty days of freshman orientation in August. College athletes even have an additional layer to the academic, social, and emotional transition to college life. The SHS athletes featured in this article have learned to face new expectations and responsibilities as members of collegiate teams. You wake up early, work hard when no one's watching, and make healthy choices because all your teammates are doing the same, so you owe each other the very best you can give. There may not be parents watching over shoulders anymore, but the choices you make, like when to go to sleep, when to party, and what to eat affect the performance of the whole team.
Eliza Brosgol saw a lot of game time, competing as one of the starting midfielders on the lacrosse team at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. 8-8, "I loved my teammates an the energy and intent that we brought every day.
Elliot Graham is also advancing his lacrosse career, at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. After a successful pre-season and strong first game as a freshman, Graham suffered a concussion early in the season and unfortunately was not cleared to play for the rest of the season.
Sarah Weintraub was a three-sport varsity athlete for the Raiders, competing for the field hockey, ski, and softball teams. At the collegiate level, Weintraub decided to try something completely different. She says, "I joined crew in college because I had been an athlete all throughout high school and love competing and being a part of a team. The experience was very rewarding and my team is full of supportive, strong, and independent women." Her novice 8-person boat lost to their rival Middlebury College by just 1.3 seconds this spring. Not one athlete in her boat had touched an oar before coming to Amherst.
Fazl Shaikh continues his soccer career at Middlebury College in Vermont, a member of the Northeast Small College Athletic Conference. The 2016 season was defined by a big win in the NESCAC quarterfinals where Shaikh's team scored in double overtime in the last second of the game. Shaikh shares, "I really think it's worth all the work you put in for results like that."
Scottie Berridge joined a top Division I swim program at Columbia University this fall. She swam breastroke for the Lions, winning 1st place in the 100 breast in the Ivy dual meet against Dartmouth. Berridge is thankful for the team structure of college athletics because it provided a routine with a schedule, helping her grow both as an athlete and a person.
Berridge's former teammate Bebe Thompson became a competitor in the Ivy league. Thompson helped lead her team to a historic season this winter. The Bulldogs went undefeated, 16-0, in the regular season. For the first time since 1978, Yale won the Ivy League Swimming Championships. Thompson placed 7th in the 400 IM and advanced to Finals in the 200m Butterfly at the Ivy League championship meet. She says she is grateful for "an incredible and fun start to [her] collegiate swimming experience." She adds, "I can't wait for next season and to hopefully individually improve and try to replicate the team results of next year."
Scarsdale Swimming also sent Josh Hendell to Dartmouth College this fall. Hendell received the Outstanding Freshman Award for his performance this year setting an example for the spirit of Dartmouth Swimming. He won the 1000 Free against Harvard and Cornell and won the 400 IM at the Ivy League Championship as a freshman.
Like most freshmen football players, Stephen Nicholas did not see competitive action this season at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Nicholas reflects, "Not playing right from the start was definitely a transition from high school." He plans to work hard this summer to train for the fall season, when he hopes to join Scarsdale alum Harrison Wirth and Jeff and Nick Leone on the field.
Michaela Nicholas joined the Franklin and Marshall field hockey team this fall. They went 16-5 overall, reaching the National Elite Eight before losing to Babson by one goal. Nicholas noted, "Being a part of the Franklin and Marshall field hockey team had a tremendous positive impact on my freshman year college experience. It forced me to be disciplined and have good time management skills. My coaches and teammates were outstanding on the field and also very supportive off the field."
Back in the spring, SHS athletes were competing against 14-18 year olds, but when they arrive on a college campus, freshman athletes are expected to hold their own against 22 year old adults. Being thrown into this challenging and mature environment the first time you are living on your own thrusts the bewildered teenager into unknown territory. Athletes face a character test from the first day of pre-season. Many of these SHS athletes were team captains their senior year, with reliable starting spots. Just a few months later, they are freshmen all over again, pushed to prove themselves from scratch. Many have noticed that success, and most importantly happiness, comes with embracing not being the best of the best anymore. Knowing how to be comfortable and committed to improvement from the bottom will make athletes with team experience valuable contributors in the workplace.
Carly Glickenhaus, SHS '16, is a rising sophomore at Georgetown University studying Economics with a minor in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. As the Varsity goalkeeper for the Raiders, she was honored with the Scarsdale Scholar-Athlete Award in 2016. This fall at Georgetown, she walked on to the Division I Varsity Rowing team with no prior rowing experience. She raced in the Varsity Lightweight 4+ boat, winning Second place at the Eastern Sprints Regatta this spring.
Scarsdale Grad Launches Device to Prevent Texting and Driving
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Tyler Nathan, a 22 year-old 2013 SHS grad is making headlines for developing a device to prevent drivers from using their mobile devices while they are behind the wheel. Texting and driving/distracted driving is a serious danger; it is the leading cause of death for teenagers, the cause of at least 1 in 4 accidents, and is even more dangerous than drunk driving.
The consumer electronic product called RIVE is a cable that is plugged into the phone in the car to eliminate notifications and alerts including text messages, emails and social media posts. Nathan has recently been interviewed on CNBC and Fox Business and shares his story with his Scarsdale neighbors here:
How did you get the idea for RIVE and how did you develop the technology?
I drive everyday and the number of close calls and near accidents due to distracted drivers on the roads is frightening. We have all had the experience of driving past countless people with their eyes looking straight down at their phones.
Beyond close calls, I know that each time I see a notification on my phone or hear the vibration or ring, my focus quickly shifts from the road to my phone. At this point, we are all conditioned to automatically react to alerts on our phones. The compulsion is so strong because we are eager to know who texted or posted and what we're missing.
When brainstorming my idea for RiVE, I realized that to create the most effective, seamless, and user-friendly product, RiVE would be both a hardware device and a mobile app. At the time I was an undergraduate business student at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and was out of my league in terms of product development. I sought out a partner with years in hardware product design, development and manufacturing experience as well as a mobile app developer. Using independent contractors with years of experience in both the hardware and software space was essential to speed up the development of our proof of concept and bring the idea to reality.
RiVE is my first venture and first product.
Why the Kickstarter campaign? What will the funds be used for?
We had two goals for the Kickstarter campaign: create buzz about RiVE and begin to generate pre-orders. During the Kickstarter campaign I was interviewed live on CNBC, Fox Business, and Cheddar.com. Thanks to Kickstarter we now have hundreds of backers who contributed and pre-ordered RiVE devices for themselves and their family.
The Kickstarter campaign only has a few hours left before it ends. Becoming an early backer of RiVE enables you to pre-order RiVE units for yourself and/or your family and being the first to have RiVE.
How do you hope to roll out the product – where will it be produced and sold?
We want to sell directly to consumers (primarily on our website www.riveanddrive.com), form partnerships with insurance companies and car manufacturers, and sell RiVE in retailers that sell cell phones and electronics stores like Best Buy. We also want to work with high schools and driving schools to get new drivers using RiVE at the outset of their driving lives. The best way to stay up to date is to follow our social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@RiVEandDrive) and sign-up for our Newsletter (at the bottom of our website).
We would love to manufacture RiVE in the USA and we are working on getting costs low enough to afford to do so.
Is this your first product launch? Do you have partners or a team?
This is my first venture, although I have previously consulted with other entrepreneurs about their products/services and given advice on how to best strategize and monetize.
I have several partners in RiVE, but there are a number of open positions we are seeking to fill. We are actively looking for full stack Android mobile app developers, full stack iOS mobile app developers, and an electrical engineer. Down the road, we will hire more mobile app developers, mechanical and electrical engineers, a sales and marketing team, and business development people.
Who or what influenced you to become an innovator at Scarsdale High School?
There is not one particular person that influenced me at SHS, but it was more the overall experience while attending Scarsdale schools (from Fox Meadow to the high school). Scarsdale is a creative and intellectually open environment full of amazing people. There are so many successful role models in the community and it motivated me to try to achieve my full potential and make something that could benefit my community and the wider world. I was certainly not the smartest or most talented person in my graduating class; far from it; I am in awe of what so many of my 2013 graduating class are already doing post-graduation. I hope to make my Scarsdale community proud and give back to our hometown, which has given so much to me.
