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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 09 October 2026

Created: 09 October 2026

Last Updated: 09 October 2026

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Scarsdale Action for Youth (SAY), with its lead agency, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service, has been awarded a second five-year, $625,000 federal grant from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) through the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program. The grant, which provides $125,000 annually for five years, is managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The continuation of federal funding will enable SAY and its community partners to build on their ongoing efforts to prevent youth substance use and help Scarsdale teens navigate adolescence free from substance use.

SAY’s goal is to prevent youth alcohol and substance use before it begins by supporting evidence-based prevention strategies that address the community’s unique needs and the factors that contribute to youth substance use. These strategies include reducing peer and parental approval of teen substance use and increasing teens’ perception of the potential harms associated with substance use.

Data from a student survey administered to Scarsdale students in grades 8 through 12 in March 2026 indicate that substance use rates among Scarsdale teens are trending downward. This is encouraging evidence of the impact of sustained, community-based prevention efforts.

A comprehensive presentation of the 2026 student survey results will be presented to the community at the joint PTC Middle School/High School meeting on November 9th.

“Underage drinking and substance use are not harmless rites of passage, and we hope to make drug-free living among teens the norm rather than the exception,” said Melissa Diodati, SAY Project Coordinator. “The reality is that not all teens use substances, but the perception that they do can influence younger students.” “It is also important for Scarsdale parents to know that they are not alone in saying no to hosting parties or allowing teens to drink in their homes. Doing so is not good for teens, and it is against the law.”

“We are very proud of the work we are doing and the accomplishments we have made,” said Melissa Mazer, SAY Board Chair. “Our steering committee has been busy throughout the summer planning prevention activities and initiatives for the coming year. We are grateful for this grant and for the support and partnership of ONDCP and the CDC.”

For more information about Scarsdale Action for Youth or to learn how to become involved, visit www.sayscarsdale.org or contact Melissa Diodati at Melissa@sayscarsdale.org.

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 27 September 2026

Created: 27 September 2026

Last Updated: 01 October 2026

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Scarsdale’s passion for the sport of tennis runs deep … as evidenced in the talent of Scarsdale’s high school tennis teams. Year after year, both the girls and the boys teams qualify and sometimes even win the state championship.

What’s different this year is that the Varsity A girls team includes five freshmen in their starting line-up. Coach Jennifer Roane, now coaching for her 32nd year, explained that she was surprised by the incoming freshmen who turned out for tryouts and quickly dominated the courts. Rather than pulling players from last year’s Varsity B and Junior Varsity teams, she ended up putting five freshman onto Varsity A.

And from what we saw this week, that was a good decision. The team is already 7-1 for the regular season and scored two great wins this week, beating Byram Hills in a non-league match 5-2, and scoring an impressive 4-3 win over Horace Greeley who had beaten Scarsdale earlier in the season and defeated the Raiders in the section final in 2025.

On Thursday September 24, the team was dressed in black and ready for action. We watched some very long matches. Playing first singles was sophomore Chloe Jin, who was filling in for Isabel Lin who usually plays first singles for the team. Chloe and her opponent Katherine Shil hit deep into the baseline and many of the points involved long exchanges back and forth. Shil won the first set 6-1 and was 5-2 in the second when Jin retired.

In second singles, Junior Arabella Succar hit with great top spin and ran her opponent from side to side. It was another long, close match, with Succar coming out ahead 6-4, 7-5.

Third singles featured another freshman, Kylie Ho who came off the court quickly, winning 6-0, 6-1.Freshman Kylie Ho

Key to the team’s success is the depth of their talent. Playing four doubles matches requires competence through the ranks.

Thursday, playing first doubles were again two freshman in a key spot for the team. Emma Senda and Ikoi Sano battled Anisha Bobra and Layna Delk, losing the first set 4-6, winning the second 7-5 and ultimately losing 6-10 in the tie breaker. It was another very lengthy, close match.

In second doubles, the freshmen team of Addison Roth and Sadie Tauber had an easier time – using high lobs and deep shots to wear their opponents down 6-1, 6-2. The two looked delighted at the end, giggling as they left the court.

Third doubles players are returning juniors Minda Khan and Keila Patel. They also played a long match, fought hard and came out 6-3, 7-5.

And in fourth doubles, the team of Isabella Wu (Junior) and Caroline Wu (Senior), -- and no relation -- got the job done with a score of 6-2 and 7-5.

The following day, Friday September 25, with a nor-easter looming, the team was back on the court to meet their biggest competitors, Horace Greeley. Before playing, they posed for the team photo under the backdrop of a dramatic sunset and took to the courts. We learned that they pulled off Sadie Tauber and Addison Roth were all smiles after their win on Thursday.a victory, winning 4-3, driven by wins on the four doubles courts.

We’ll be watching this talented team for the rest of the season.

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 15 September 2026

Created: 15 September 2026

Last Updated: 15 September 2026

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Though it’s been 25 years since the September 11 attacks, many of us can remember where we were as it was yesterday. It’s surprising how vividly people can recount what happened to them on that fateful day.

Here are a few reflections from Scarsdalians:

Jeannie Rosenthal – President Scarsdale Rotary

I was in midtown on 9/11/2001. While on a Metro North train from Scarsdale, we learned that a plane had hit the WTC and the subway was closed. Everyone groaned at the inconvenience. As I headed on foot across town toward my office I saw the gaping hole through the second tower and floated towards it, transfixed. I rushed into a camera shop so I might buy a camera to get a photo. While inside, a crash outside shook the ground and when I ran out, the second tower was gone. Through streets of people covered in dust and blood, I ran east to the East River where I intended to jump and swim to the Bronx, a logical move if Manhattan was under siege, as it seemed to be. A boatman ushered me aboard a ferry which took me to somewhere in New Jersey. Aboard, I met a girl my age who invited me back to her house. We ate Greek food on her porch overlooking the Hudson River and watched the tower rubble smoking all afternoon until my dad picked me up. I had a proper emotional breakdown after that. I quit my job and moved far from New York.

I am back among my people now and understand how those planes tore holes through so many families and lives. Families, bodies, health, well-being, mangled that day and in all the time since, scars physical and emotional aching Every. Single. Day.

I want those who have experienced the massive losses of 9/11 personally to feel some comfort of community.

Andrea Seiden, Greenacres Avenue

After the fall of the Twin Towers, Grand Central Terminal became a makeshift memorial to the missing victims of 9/11. Gone were the hurried commuters hopscotching across the giant marble slabs, weaving around one another with cups of coffee in one hand and folded newspapers in the other. Seemingly out of respect for the missing, no one sprinted for the downtown subway or rushed to grab a toasted bagel at Zaro's. The frenetic rhythm of the city had been replaced by a profound stillness. An eerie quiet settled over Manhattan.

People moved softly, speaking in hushed voices, each trying to process the unimaginable.

For weeks after the unspeakable tragedy, every morning as I stepped off my train and walked through the great hall, shafts of sunlight streamed through the towering windows, giving the terminal the hazy quality of a steam bath. As my eyes adjusted to the morning light, I felt a haunting energy emanating from the makeshift exhibition of missing-person flyers that families and friends had begun hanging on every available surface.

Each one asked the same heartbreaking question:

Have you seen...?

What began as a handful of posters quickly grew into a dizzying gallery of ordinary people who had never made it home on that impossibly bright September morning.

As I emerged from Grand Central and looked downtown, I could still see enormous plumes of smoke rising from the place where the Twin Towers had once stood. The skyline looked wounded, as if part of the city itself had been erased. The air carried the unmistakable smell of smoke and ash. A fine gray dust drifted through the streets, settling on windowsills, parked cars, and the shoulders of pedestrians. Sometimes I could taste it.

I couldn't help but wonder what the ash contained. I imagined it held the remnants of ordinary lives—countless documents people had painstakingly prepared, family photographs tucked into desk drawers, handwritten notes, children's drawings, appointment calendars, letters never mailed, favorite books, framed diplomas, and the thousands of everyday objects that had quietly filled offices only days before. Those fragments had been swept into the sky and scattered across the city. Even the air seemed to carry the weight of unimaginable loss.

My walk from the train to my office forced me to pass the same faces every day. Over time, I began to feel as though I knew them. After all, they looked like the very people I had passed on sidewalks, trains, and elevators every morning before the attacks. Inevitably, I began inventing stories about the lives behind those photographs.

There was a young woman sitting on her dorm room bed, smiling up at the camera in a Fordham University T-shirt. She radiated hope and promise. I imagined she had just started her first job in Tower One, excited for the future that now would never come.

Near the side entrance to the terminal was the smooth face of a man in his thirties, dressed in a crisp suit and tie. His confident smile seemed to embody optimism and ambition, as though he had come to New York to build a life filled with possibility.

Then there was a woman about my age, walking arm in arm with two close friends. I imagined the photograph had been taken during a weekend hike in the Berkshires. She wore a red bandana and carried a small daypack slung over one shoulder. I found myself wondering what she had packed that morning for the hike—and then wondering whether she had carried that same backpack with her to work on that fateful Tuesday.
I was struck by how young so many of them were. Their lives appeared to be just beginning.

Day after day, I passed those same faces. Gradually, they became more familiar to me than many of the people rushing past on the sidewalks. Their smiles, frozen forever in moments of celebration and ordinary happiness, began to feel more alive than the living.

The rest of us moved through the city like ghosts.

We went to work because we didn't know what else to do. We sat at our desks, stared blankly at computer screens, answered telephones, and attended meetings, but our minds were elsewhere. We were frightened, exhausted, and still in shock, unable to concentrate on anything beyond the collective tragedy we had experienced. Every conversation eventually circled back to September 11. Every glance toward lower Manhattan reminded us of what had been lost. Every siren made us stop and look.

The faces on those posters seemed to possess a vitality that the rest of us had misplaced. They smiled from birthday parties, weddings, graduations, vacations, and family gatherings, forever suspended in lives interrupted. We wandered through our days in a haze of grief and disbelief, carrying an unspoken question that none of us could answer: How could the world continue when so many lives had stopped?
Everywhere you went in New York City, there were posters asking if anyone had seen a missing husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, or friend. Makeshift memorials sprang up on street corners, in parks, outside firehouses, and along neighborhood sidewalks. Flowers wilted beneath flickering candles. Teddy bears, rosaries, handwritten prayers, and American flags accumulated in quiet shrines across the city. Perhaps the saddest reconning was walking past a midtown fire station each day. Many fire stations lost the majority of their brothers while trying to rescue people crying for at the top of the towers. The grief was palpable.
Strangers stopped beside one another without speaking. They cried together. They embraced without introductions. For the first time in my life, I witnessed a city of millions sharing the same heartbreak. In those first weeks after September 11, grief belonged to everyone. We were one family doing what we could to help each other heal.

Pete Jones – Hitchcock Church

Beloved friends,

It's hard to believe it has been 25 years since that gorgeous September morning when the world was changed by hate. God wept with us.

Some of you were far too close and will never forget what you experienced that day or the people you lost. You are in my prayers today.

Others, like myself, were far away from New York or DC or a field in PA, but will still never forget the feeling that everything changed in the blink of an eye...that everything was suddenly vulnerable. Our daughter, Gracey, was 3 weeks old, and suddenly the world felt far too dangerous for her.

The weeks that followed that horrific day brought some of the most beautiful and some of the ugliest national moments of my lifetime: petty differences crumbled, hardened New Yorkers hugged in the streets, generosity became the norm, and our international partners stepped up in miraculous ways. That lasted for a while. Simultaneously, Muslim Americans were targeted for their faith or the color of their skin; friends and neighbors were sent off to war, and lessons of unity were too quickly forgotten. Sadly, today, we see far too many people using this day for division rather than remembrance and hope.

On this 25th anniversary, I hope we will all stop:

To pray for the families of those lost on September 11th, in the decades of war that followed, and due to the health risks of Ground Zero.

To give thanks for first responders who were heroes in those days and weeks, and for military personnel.

To find a way to spread love again as we did in the immediate aftermath, and to speak up for the marginalized.

To remember that love will always be stronger than hate, and that God loves people of all faiths.

Hate (usually better defined as fear) is a cancer upon the world, causing unspeakable pain and suffering, hunger and thirst, violence and division. Love is the cure. Know that you are loved this day, as are ALL of our neighbors around the world.

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it." -MLK

"Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." -Romans 13:10

May today remind us that no calling is higher than to love.

With Hope, Pete

Send your memories to scarsdalecomments@gmail.com and we will add them to the article above.

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 09 September 2026

Created: 09 September 2026

Last Updated: 09 September 2026

Hits: 751

The Scarsdale Public Library recently completed a broad-based strategic planning process. This plan will help to guide library services, programs, and other priorities over the coming years.

“We are excited to share the results with the community! This 5-year plan is designed to be flexible, actionable, and responsive, helping the library measure progress, communicate impact, and continue building a library that reflects the needs, values, and aspirations of Scarsdale in the years ahead,” said Library Board President Diksha Mudbhary.

The full plan is now available on the library’s website: www.scarsdalelibrary.org/five-year-strategic-plan

“This would not have been possible without input from all who contributed their time, thoughts, and suggestions to ensure that the Scarsdale Public Library remains relevant and responsive to community needs. Thank you to everyone who participated,” said Library Director Beth Bermel.

The independent Library Strategies Consulting Group (LSCG) created a survey, and listened to focus groups, stakeholders, community leaders, residents, Library Trustees and staff, gathering feedback to better understand what the community needs from its library today and what it may need in the future. All responses were directed to and reviewed by LSCG.

About the Library

The mission of the Scarsdale Public Library is to create welcoming spaces for all, innovate in response to community needs, cultivate the joy of learning, and connect people to enriching knowledge and experiences.