SSEF Celebrates Design Lab and Fitness Center at SHS
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 9102
Lisa Yokana and Brian McDonald in the new Design LabBack in 2010, when the concept of an education foundation for the Scarsdale Schools was under discussion, I doubt that anyone could have imagined the positive impact such a foundation could have on the district in such a short time.
Visitors were greeted in the new Learning CommonsFortunately the School Board, a committee of passionate residents and the school administration were able to agree on terms and permit an ambitious fundraising campaign to begin.
After funding $90,000 in grants for initiatives at all grade levels in 2013, the foundation turned to fundraising for an extensive upgrade for Scarsdale High School. They sought to raise $2.25 million to build a Design Lab and a new Fitness Center at SHS, The old fitness room was cramped, dark and uninviting and a new fitness facility was required for physical education classes and team training. The school board was under economic pressure to keep tax increases to a minimum and could not fund these new spaces without raising taxes. They turned to the foundation to provide supplemental funding beyond those available from the 2014 school bond.
The Fitness CenterTo provide an optimal environment and new equipment for the district’s seven course STEAM curriculum, funds from SSEF were used to build a stunning, state of the art Design Lab. This large space is now used to teach problem solving, design thinking, computer aided design, engineering and entrepreneurship. The space includes 3-D printers and laser cutters that allow students to design and build new products. The three-room suite can accommodate two classes at a time, and all the courses offered are fully subscribed.
Similarly funds from the foundation were used to build a 6,200 square foot space underneath the gym for strength and cardio training as well as stretching, floor exercises and group instruction. Athletic Director Ray Pappalardi happily reports that the facility is now scheduled for use for 32 out of 34 available school periods. Classes are scheduled all day and teams use it to work out in groups. The center is also heavily used by students after school.
On Thursday night September 27, the foundation held a reception to
State of the art bikes at the SHS Fitness Center. celebrate the opening of the Design Lab, Fitness Center and a paver garden in a courtyard outside the D-Lab. The courtyard is lined with brick pavers inscribed with the names of foundation donors. The garden has been transformed from an unused, neglected outdoor area to an inviting space where students can congregate and collaborate. Pam Rubin, who is coordinating paver sales for the Education Foundation, responded to a request from 10583 by noting that additional pavers are currently available for $250 and $1,000 and can be ordered online on the foundation's website.
Donor Recognition Plaques outside the Design Lab.SSEF Executive Director Steve Seward described the evening as "a terrific opportunity to show our supporters the results of their generosity. We were especially pleased to have teachers, students and administrators here to demonstrate the creative uses for these new resources." And Seward added, "we initially used videos to explain the goals of these projects, and then photos to illustrate the progress the district was making toward their completion. But there is no substitute for seeing them completed and in use. This was a very upbeat event for all of us and a proud moment for the Scarsdale schools."
School Superintendent Thomas Hagerman welcomed the group saying that when he arrived in 
The Paver Garden in the courtyard.Scarsdale five years ago the district was at a crossroads. Designed in another era, SHS had physical challenges that needed to be addressed. The Board sought to maintain the best of the past while building facilities for the future. He thanked the “terrific group of dedicated people” for making it possible for the district to build facilities that “delight and inspire.”
School Board member and liaison to the Foundation Nina Cannon thanked the foundation for their vital funding and Pam Rubin, a member of the Board of SSEF, thanked her fellow board members, Executive Director Steve Seward and everyone who helped to build the foundation, including the SSEF's first president, Ellen Miller-Wachtel. Rubin said she was “happy that the campaign is finished” and said the foundation looks forward to making more grants for innovation in the future. Steve Seward elaborated on the foundation's current planning by noting that the Grants Committee of the Education Foundation is working with the district to develop an ongoing program of support for innovative educational projects. "After spending nearly three years focused on the high school in this campaign," Seward said, "we look forward to supporting equally vital projects at the Middle School and in all five of Scarsdale's elementary schools."
Attendees toured the new spaces and marveled at the 21st century facilities ensconced in a one hundred year old school. The Education Foundation plans to schedule additional tours this fall, in the daytime and evening, for all community residents to visit the new spaces.
(Photos by Michael Chayes)
Girls Varsity A Soccer Poised to Overcome Challenging First Half of Season
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 4200
Junior forward Olivia Bryant is a prolific goal scorer whose speed is key to the Raiders’ offense.Heading into the 2018 season, the Scarsdale High School Girls Varsity A Soccer team had high expectations. Coming off an impressive 11-4-2 record in 2017 and with a number of key players returning, the Raiders seemed poised to repeat, if not exceed, last year’s success. With the first half of the season now complete, however, things have not turned out as planned. Faced with the most difficult early season schedule in memory, with six consecutive games against highly ranked non-League opponents, the team finds itself with a record of 2-6, seeking to find its footing as it faces eight consecutive home and home League games over the rest of the regular season. Notwithstanding the team’s disappointing record at mid-season, there is cause for optimism that the 2018 season will turn out to be a successful one for the Raiders.
Following an easy win in their first game against Port Chester, the Raiders faced Somers, North Rockland, Mahopac, Clarkstown South, Suffern and Arlington. Each of these teams is very strong and in all six of the games, the Raiders’ mettle was tested. The team generally rose to the challenge, maintaining possession for at least half the game in each instance, but the team’s difficulty in putting the ball in the net, combined with an occasional defensive breakdown and/or fouls that were called against them in the box in the waning minutes of two of the games, resulted in close losses.
Coach Mindy Genovese and Assistant Coach Keira Fox have used a variety of lineups and successfully rallied the troops heading into this past Monday’s first League game of the year against arch-rival Ursuline. The game was played at Ursuline, which is expected to be the Raiders’ primary obstacle to a League championship, and the Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The first goal was scored midway through the first half on a beautiful cross near the left sideline by senior co-captain Nayumi Parente-Ribeiro to fellow senior co-captain, Riley Edlitz, who one-touched the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal over a leaping Ursuline goalie. The Raiders had dominated play up until that point so the goal came as much as a relief as a cause for celebration by the Raiders’ fans. Then, early in the second half, senior co-captain and mid-fielder Allison Stafford, who has been a force this season in spite of being man-marked most games, beat the Ursuline defense with a quick touch down the right sideline and crossed the ball to sophomore JoJo Denion, who calmly placed the ball into the net beyond the reach of a diving Ursuline goalie. Denion and sophomore center defender Tory Von Redden, who was a force throughout the 
Forward and senior co-captain Riley Edlitz is the team’s leading scorer at mid-season.Ursuline game, have been two of the key additions to the team this year. With a 2-0 lead and 30 minutes left, the game seemed in hand for the Raiders, but a tenacious Ursuline team quickly took control and put two goals in the net, one on a free kick from 25 yards out, tying the score at 2-2 with ten minutes left. The game was played fairly evenly from that point on, with one scare coming as an Ursuline forward broke down the left side of the field with the ball, seemingly behind the Raiders’ defense, only to be stymied by a sprinting Stafford who came out of nowhere to cut off the angle and prevent a shot on goal. The game seemed headed towards overtime, but with 30 seconds on the clock, junior forward Olivia Bryant won the ball in the corner to the right of Ursuline’s goal and sent the ball cross-field to senior winger Elizabeth Elcik, who was uncovered and placed the ball into the net for a dramatic, game-winning goal. The team’s celebration of its much-needed 3-2 victory seemingly could be heard all the way to the Quaker Ridge shopping center.
The Raiders face traditional archrival New Rochelle on Saturday at SUNY Purchase, followed by three additional League games next week. So by next week at this time, we should know if the Raiders are back on track in their pursuit of a deep run in the Section 1 playoffs, as has been expected all along.
Dining in the Gilded Age at the Scarsdale Woman's Club
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 3600
Francine Segan will speak on “100 Years Ago: Elegant Dining and Entertaining in the Gilded Age” at the opening program of the Scarsdale Woman’s Club’s Food and Dining Section Thursday, Sept. 20, at 2 p.m. The Woman’s Club is at 37 Drake Road.
Segan is the host of NYC's weekly TV series "Americans Who Love Italy." She has appeared on the Today Show, the Early Show and on specials for PBS, the Food Network and the History, Sundance and Discovery channels.
She co-edited “Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Superbowl,” a two-volume encyclopedia that was a finalist for the Gourmand World Cookbook Award given each year in Paris. She contributed the chapter on Ruth Reichl for the book “Icons Of American Cooking.”
The free program is open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
Ladies Who Lit to Debut at JCC
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 4664
Edgemont’s Stephanie Risa Balkin, the new director of Arts & Talks programs at the Jewish Community Center of Mid-Westchester, is working on a “novel” idea for a panel discussion. As part of their newly created Local Literary Salon Series, three local writers with local roots will come to JCCMW talk about their recently published fiction in a panel discussion moderated by a fourth novelist, Lynda Cohen Loigman.
“Ladies Who Lit” will be held Thursday, Sept. 27, from 9:30-11 a.m. at the JCC and includes a light breakfast and book signing. “We’ve had wonderful author talks in the past. Building on this solid foundation, we are presenting the first literary salon to specifically showcase local women and their voices,” Balkin said. “It’s just the beginning of exciting things we are working on to expand our Arts & Talks cultural programming.”
Two of the three panelists have written historical novels.
In “The Subway Girls,” published by St. Martin’s Press, Susie Orman Schnall tells intersecting tales of ambitious women from two eras whose lives are changed by the Miss Subways beauty contest in New York City. When Schnall learned about the contest, which featured photographs of city women and brief bios in subway cars from 1941 to 1976, she was intrigued. She had previously written a novel, “On Grace,” about motherhood and turning 40 and a nonfiction study of women’s struggles to achieve a work-life balance. The Miss Subways contest gave her a lens through which to view these issues as they played out for women of different generations.
In 1949, Schnall’s character Charlotte enters the contest in hopes of landing a job in advertising and meets a glamorous friend who forces her to make a heart-wrenching decision. Her 2018 counterpart, Olivia, learns about the contest and decides to use it in a pitch that she hopes will save her job as an advertising executive. The novel explores the similarities and differences between the two women and the times they lived in and their efforts to reconcile ambition, love and happiness. Author Fiona Davis called “The Subway Girls” “a joyous romp through 1950s New York City, with a magnetic cast of characters you’ll root for from page one.” Schnall lives in Purchase.
Scarsdale resident Jacqueline Friedland left the world of corporate law to earn a master’s in fine art from Sarah Lawrence and fulfill her dream of writing a novel.
“Trouble the Water” takes place in the antebellum South. Like many a Jane Austen heroine, Friedland’s leading lady, 17-year-old Abigail Milton, is a victim of family debt. Her struggling English parents send her to South Carolina to live with a family friend. When Abigail arrives in Charleston, she finds her benefactor, Douglas Elling, remote and unpleasant. But her feelings change when she overhears him planning to help a slave escape. As she tries to learn more about Douglas and his involvement in the abolition movement, issues of trust arise and the relationship between the American host and his English guest changes. “Trouble the Water” is published by Spark Press. It garnered a Best Regional Fiction Silver Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Kirkus Reviews called it “A vibrant, solidly entertaining story that will seize readers from the first page and not let go.”
Amy Blumenfeld’s debut novel “The Cast” evolved from a year-long study of pediatric cancer she did as a student at Columbia’s School of Journalism. Like her heroine Becca, Blumenfeld is a survivor of pediatric cancer. When Becca contracted Hodgkins lymphoma as a teenager, four of her friends helped her through the misery of treatment by making a funny video. Now that they are all in their forties, one of the group, Jordana, organizes a 25th reunion. But the friends’ happy memories get upstaged by midlife crises involving rocky marriages, unresolved romantic feelings and lifestyle changes. The story unfolds over a single weekend.
Published Aug. 14, “The Cast” has already won the 2018 IPPY Gold Medal in Popular Fiction and has been named a finalist in Best New Fiction category of 2018 International Book Awards. Kirkus Reviews called Blumenfeld’s novel “a deceptively simple tale that packs an emotional punch.”
Panel moderator Loigman is planning to ask the novelists about the inspiration for their stories, the research involved and the way the personal experiences and interests of the authors contributed to their stories. “I am also going to ask about the role of strong female characters in their stories, as this is a common theme in all three novels,” she said. “I’d like to explore the creation of these strong women characters and talk about the timeliness and universality of women's stories. We will also talk about process, which would include the evolution of the authors' careers, their individual paths to publication and what we can expect next from them.”
“Ladies Who Lit” will be held outdoors in the sukkah (weather permitting) or indoors at JCCMW, 999 Wilmot Road. A light breakfast will be served and books will be available for purchase. Tickets are $25. Pre-registration is required. To reserve your spot, click here or call 914-472-3300. All are welcome—membership not required.
Lifelong Learners Attend Scarsdale Adult School
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 3645
Scarsdale Adult School, an award-winning non-profit organization, is a proven source of quality adult education. Now in its 80th year, SAS boasts a wide array of humanities courses as well as computer, foreign languages, writing, career development, personal finance, arts and crafts, photography, fitness, card and board games, cooking, health/wellness, and hobbies and edutainment classes.
Registration for the fall semester is underway at www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org, with staggered class start dates throughout the year for fun and enrichment all season long. Class locations, days, and times vary by course, but all are housed in venues convenient to Scarsdale. Classes are open to all, regardless of residency, and fill on a first-come/first-served basis.
Continuing its year long celebration of its 80th birthday, SAS will host several special events. On Sunday, October 14, 2018, SAS offers an 80th Anniversary Academy, featuring keynote speaker Laurie Santos, Professor at Yale University. After the one-hour mini-version of her popular course, Psychology and the Good Life, students may choose between Alfred Hunt’s Around the World in 80 Days with Mark Twain and Page Knox’s Alfred Stieglitz and His Circle. The afternoon celebration ends with Daniel Blake and his jazz ensemble, the Digging, for an annotated concert of Benny Goodman’s 1938 hits as well as delicious appetizers prepared by cooking instructor, Jensina Olson. Participants may register for just the keynote lecture or for the entire program.
On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, SAS welcomes An Evening with Anna Quindlen, from 7:30 to 9 pm at Scarsdale Middle School. Among other things, this celebrated writer and former columnist for The New York Times will discuss her most recent novel, Alternate Side, her ninth book of fiction in her highly successful career. Registration in advance is highly recommended. Seating cannot be guaranteed for walk-ins.
Next semester’s walking tours include public art installations and galleries in the subways, Battery Park City, Chelsea, the Lower East Side, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Architecture tours include SoHo’s cast iron buildings and Central Park West art deco. Additional theme tours include a Japanese garden stroll and tea ceremony, Lincoln Center, sites from the show Hamilton, and Broadway musicals. Artists and art historians will highlight the latest exhibits at the Met, the Met Breuer, the Whitney, MoMA, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the Asia Society Museum.
1938 and the Swing Era as well as From Spirituals to Swing commemorate the music at the time of SAS’s founding whereas 80: A Musical Birthday Celebration explores a variety of pieces that share opus number 80. Our 80th celebration continues with An Evening Concert of Classical Greatest hits with Cristiana Pegoraro. Other popular music appreciation courses survey the music of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Leonard Bernstein, and the careers of Shirley Jones, Howard Keel, Nat King Cole, and Florence Henderson. The Sunday chamber music concert series returns and SAS will offer several different classes to enjoy the music of Claude Debussy, 100 years after his death.
Noteworthy new history and current event topics this term include:
● Echoes of Slavery
● Constitutional Implications of Current U.S. Foreign Policy
● Remembering the Twin Towers
● Overview of African American History
● Contemporary Politics through the Lens of Dystopian Fiction
● History and Culture of the Jews of Persia.
The fall semester also promises an opportunity to revisit Genesis, examine sects and schisms in Jewish history, explore religion in China, revel in the heritage of England’s Tudor monarchs, or study the Italian Renaissance. Students may improve their English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish language skills.
Movie matinees delve into the element of suspense and a new Wednesday personal documentary film course will view family mysteries and histories. Literary discussion groups cover the fiction of Philip Roth, stories by Hawthorne and Melville, science fiction literature, the wit of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, ecology-themed poetry and prose with Ruth Handel, as well as perennial favorites BookTalk with Harriet Sobol, contemporary memoirs with Lori Rotskoff, and short stories with Marilyn DeRight. Single-subject classes will focus on La Celestina and There There by Tommy Orange.
In its technology department, SAS offers answers to questions about social media, Excel, and eBay. Students may jump-start careers with grant writing tips or wind them down with retirement planning and investment courses to help students navigate ever-changing estate tax, and social security laws, and shed light on strategies for investing and living on fixed incomes.
Aspiring performers can be swept up in song, improv, or Indian classical tabla drumming. Arts and crafts opportunities include flower arranging, calligraphy, drawing, basket weaving, decoupage, crochet, embroidery, knitting, jewelry-making, mosaics, mixed media, and painting, and stained glass. Photoshop and photography courses appeal to those with a passion for cameras of all shapes and sizes.
Fitness and dance classes run the gamut from (A) aerobic fit blast to (Z) zumba, including body sculpting, tap, pilates, Walk 15®, and yoga. Students may hone their bridge game or take up canasta or mah jongg. Others may learn to meditate, become more mindful, experience a spirit encounter, or learn the basics of genealogy research reading.
All these classes and many more will be starting before the leaves begin to turn. With both day and evening classes, SAS has something to fit everyone’s schedule. The new fall catalog was mailed in mid July to all Scarsdale residents and is posted on the adult school website. Extra printed catalogs are available at Village Hall and in limited quantities at the Scarsdale Library Loft. Visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org to register, to sign up for the bimonthly electronic newsletter, or for additional information about the dynamic line-up. Call (914) 723-2325 with questions.
