STEP Celebrates Students' Success in Scarsdale
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- Written by Debra Hyman and Valerie Abrahams
- Category: The Goods
Scarsdale Student Transfer Education Plan (STEP) marked the graduation of STEP scholar Dare Olaifa at a celebration dinner in his honor at the home of STEP Board Member Beth Ehrich Berkeley on June 26. Dare, who came to Scarsdale High from Memphis for his junior and senior years, is headed to Villanova University this fall. At the graduation fete, Dare's parents and 10-year-old sister joined STEP board members and friends to commend his many accomplishments during his time at SHS.
STEP senior co-chair Valerie Abrahams presented Dare with gifts from the STEP board and a MacBook Air, a gift from friends of his host family. In her remarks, Valerie praised Dare's academic success and his activities in the community. At SHS, Dare joined the football and track teams, participated in various clubs, was elected to student government, and most recently, performed in the senior class performance of Grease. On weekends, he volunteered at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls, a residential treatment center for adolescents with emotional problems. Valerie also thanked Dare's SHS deans and teachers, as well as former SHS History Department Chair, Eric Rothschild, who founded STEP in 1966. Rothschild, a widely respected retired SHS teacher and Scarsdale Village Historian, attended the graduation dinner as a continuing supporter and board member of STEP.
In a heartfelt speech, Dare thanked his host family, Nina and Ivan Ross and their sons, Ethan, Tyler and Josh, and the STEP board for guiding him through school here, and helping him to feel at home in Scarsdale. He also thanked representatives of Collegistics, a local college advisory service founded by several STEP board members, for helping him to navigate the application, financial aid, and scholarship process. Dare's father, Olefemi Olaifa, expressed his family's gratitude to the Rosses and to the STEP program. Dare's sister, Grace, presented the Ross family with a plaque of appreciation. The Olaifas emigrated to the United States from Nigeria when Dare was six years old.
Robert Lee, STEP's rising senior from Memphis, lives with Nan and Lee Berke during the school year. DonTavius Holmes, STEP's incoming junior, will arrive in Scarsdale in August. He will live with Bettina and Michael Klein. STEP will welcome DonTavius at an event in September, and both students will join STEP board members and students from the SHS STEP Club at its annual fund-raising bake sale at the Friends of the Scarsdale Library book sale on Saturday, September 6.
The Scarsdale Student Transfer Education Plan (STEP) is an independent community program that identifies promising students of color and enables them to attend Scarsdale High School for their junior and senior years. The program offers qualified students access to Scarsdale High School's strong college preparatory program and extensive extracurricular activities, as well as the cultural and recreational resources of the New York metropolitan area. While in Scarsdale, each visiting student lives with a host family and is encouraged to become an integral part of the Scarsdale community. To learn more about STEP, to inquire about becoming a host family, or to make a donation, visit www.scarsdalestep.org.
Scarsdale A-1 Team Wins County League
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Category: The Goods
For the second consecutive year, the Scarsdale Women's A1 team won the Westchester County Tennis League Women's A Division, defeating New Castle 4-1 in the final to take the title.
Pictured above are the team members who played in the final as well as those that cheered them on. Shown here from left to right are: Laura Fratt, Jessica Goldman, Elena Ezratty, Heidi Seruya, Michelle Sterling, Stacey Marcus, Nanette Koryn, Jill Fischer, Mindy Shulman and Jen Stone
The Team Captain is Stacey Marcus (pictured), Co-Captains are Michelle Sterling (pictured) and Jodi Zucker (not pictured)
The other winning players on the team are Alison Abramson, Andrea Cantor, Mayling Chia, Marianne Hove, Ilyssa Londa, Kim Meyers, Victoria Silver, Andrea Tucker, Sejal Vora, Jodi Zucker.
Congratulations to the A-1 team.
Nicole Eisenman's Work on Display at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Category: The Goods
World renown artist Nicole Eisenman has now extended her reach to Russia where her work is included in the Manifesta 10 show, a biennial of contemporary art at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Her painting shown here is included. Eisenman is an SHS graduate and the daughter of former Scarsdale Village Trustee Kay Eisenman. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated in 1987. Eisenman's work includes paintings and sculpture that examine gender, politics, and cultural norms and has been the subject of recent exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum St Louis, MO, USA (2014); the Berkeley Art Museum, CA, USA (2013); Studio Voltaire, London (2012); Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland (2007); and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City (2005), among others. Her work was shown in the 1995 and 2012 Whitney Biennials. She won the Carnegie Prize in 2013. He works are owned my MOMA, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Kunsthalle Zürich; and Museum Ludwig, Cologne and she holds a teaching appointment at Bard College in 
Annandale-on-Hudson.
Belize for the Scarsdale Adventurer
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- Written by Stacie M. Waldman
- Category: The Goods
Belize, a tiny country south of Mexico and east of Guatemala, is a dream travel destination for a Scarsdale adventurer. English is the official language, American dollars are accepted everywhere, many lodges and resorts are up-to-par with western standards, a visa is not required, they drive on the right side of the road, and the 4-hour direct flight along with the 2-hour time difference makes the travel part easy. No special vaccinations are necessary, although you may want to consider the typhoid vaccine if you're an especially adventurous eater...gibnut anyone?
So, when grandma agreed to babysit the kids for the week and we found a direct flight from Newark to Belize for half the price of a ticket to Europe, it seemed like a no-brainer. Having traveled extensively around the world through both developed and less developed countries, Belize was a good middle ground for the best things eachof these types of countries offer, including the adventure aspect (with toilets!) we were looking for.
Tripadvisor proved helpful in deciding where to stay, although the number of places 
listed with several hundred reviews and a five-star average made it difficult to determine which would be the "best of the best" for us. We decided on Black Rock Lodge in the jungle for four nights and Sea Dreamson Caye Caulker, one of the islands off the coast, for three nights.
Black Rock Lodge did not disappoint. Isaias, a lodge tour guide and professional cowboy, met us at the airport and drove us the 2.5 hours into the jungle, 30 minutes of which was on an unpaved road past cows and horses, neither of which moved for our car. He talked for almost the entire drive and we learned more about Belize than during any other time on our trip. What Isaias learned about me was that I had one fear about being in Belize, and he took it upon himself to try to help me overcome my phobia. Just outside the lodge, he pulled over and poked a stick into a hole. A large, hairy, red-rump tarantula jumped out and he 
nonchalantly scooped it up and started to play with it. I cowered in the van but my husband pet it and actually, smaller spiders now seem just a little less scary to me (and almost every spider is smaller than that tarantula).
Black Rock Lodge is situated along the Macal River on 13,000 acres of protected jungle. It's off the grid in the sense that all electricity is solar and hydro produced. Each cabin is tastefully furnished and has a private bathroom as well as a veranda with a hammocks facing the river. Meals are available and a 4-course gourmet dinner is served each night under a candlelit palapa. The lodge seats guests with each other and this "forced mingling" turned out to be one of the best and most unique aspects of the lodge. Many of the fruits and vegetables served come from their on-site organic farm.
Activities abound in the jungle. One day we went to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) caves with a guide (required). This was truly an unforgettable caving experience. A short hike was followed by a cool swim to the entrance of the cave. Within seconds of entering there was complete darkness if not for our headlamps. The cave formations are fascinating and the caving itself is just tricky enough to require one to be in decent physical shape (and not too scared of giant wolf spiders or bats). After an hour, we came to the main chamber of the cave that houses ancient Mayan artifacts as well as surprisingly well-preserved Mayan human remains.
Another day was spent hanging out at the gorgeous Black Rock property. Tubing down the river is free of charge and they'll even send a guide with you the first time around to show you the best way to get past the rapids. If you make it down the waterfall on your tube without being dumped you get a beer on the house. (We were 0 for 2 by the time we had to leave.) There's a beach on the river and a rope swing for those not afraid of a little rope burn. There is a well- marked hiking trail on property and if you have it in you to be on the lookout for snakes, (I literally almost bumped into a 15-foot indigo snake,) you'll be rewarded with scenic vistas and ample birdlife. In fact, you have a chance of seeing three kinds of toucans at Black Rock just while eating breakfast.
On our last day, we took a guided horse trail ride to an ancient Mayan ruin called Xunantunich. There are also opportunities to go cave tubing, zip lining, to Tikal in Guatemala, to a baboon sanctuary, canoeing, and to other Mayan ruins but we ran out of time.
We hired a car to take us to the water taxi in Belize City and stopped at the Belize Zoo on the way. The zoo is less of a zoo and more of an animal sanctuary for endemic animals that were rescued, sustained an injury preventing them from living in the wild, or donated. It was well worth the stop.
We hopped aboard the 45-minute water taxi ride to Caye Caulker, a very relaxed Caribbean-like island off the coast of the mainland with a population of 1,000. Sea Dreams Hotel is walking distance from the water taxi landing, as is everything on Caye Caulker. We used the hotel's beach bikes to get to know the island and enjoyed the included homemade breakfasts every morning.
We are not certified divers so we spent two full days snorkeling (and looking for manatees) in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Coral Gardens, and Shark and Ray Alley. Even snorkeling allowed for impressive views of life underwater. Although the coral is not very colorful, the sea life makes up for it. We swam with loggerhead turtles and sea turtles, large green moray eels, barracuda, countless tropical fish, eagle rays and stingrays, and a group of around 40 nurse sharks. Many outfitters on Caye Caulker offer diving and world-class fishing as well as paddle boarding, kayaking, and overnight adventure trips.
After watching one last sunset from the dock at Sea Dreams, we packed up and headed back to the airport, with reality settling back in with the screech of the airplane's tires in Newark. Our kids thought we went by ourselves to Belize to "check it out" before taking them there, and the truth is that we can't wait to take them to Belize. My son is looking forward to holding a tarantula and my daughter seemed particularly excited about the dog that lives at Black Rock.
The Scarsdale Outdoor Workout
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- Written by Stacie M. Waldman
- Category: The Goods
Summer is here and who wants to be rubbing elbows with spin-mates inside the gym when you can be outside working up a sweat with a friend? Grab a ball, a resistance band, a medicine ball, some hand weights, a yoga mat or a picnic blanket and call a friend for an early morning workout in your yard. Other good outdoor workout venues include the Bronx River Parkway trail, Kensico Dam or any of the Scarsdale or Eastchester Parks or schoolyards. All you need is a place to run and a fence, bench, or basketball pole to harness your resistance band. If you prefer to end your day with a workout, go to one of the Scarsdale parks where you are permitted to drink a post-workout beer (though not on school fields.)
Here is a 30-minute work-out designed by Equinox trainers and fitness experts Pamela Newkirk-Arkin and Webb Travis. They joined me at Hyatt Field in Scarsdale to run through atotal body strength and cardio work out.
1. Run- Begin by taking a 3-minute run around the perimeter of the park to warm up.
2. Ball squat- With a playground ball between your thighs, hold on to a fence (or bench, bleachers) and make a chair (butt) shape with your body. Do 10 squats down and squeeze the ball on the way up. Then hold and squeeze for 10 counts without contracting your glutes followed by pulsing down for 10 counts just below the knee height and back to knee height. Finally, hold for 10 counts while giving the ball an isometric squeeze.
3. Alternating dead lift and shoulder press with weight: Holding the back of a bench or a fence, hinge forward from the hips, making a table top from your head to your heel, arm straight down from the shoulder. Bring extended knee up to hip height in front as you bring a weight (kettlebell, dumbbell, etc) into bicep curl, and press above the head. Alternating straight leg dead lift, extending the arm, knee raise with a bicep curl into an overhead shoulder press 10 times. Then hold with a flexed foot, go into bent over isometric position of a straight leg dead lift, squeeze abs and drag elbow along the rib cage and back down for the dead lift .
4. Weighted lunges, twist lunges and forward lunges: Holding a weight at chest height, lunge forward and perform an overhead raise, 10 on each side. Follow with lunges adding a twist with your arms, rotating towards the working leg, to work your core (10 per side).
5. Run a lap around the field (about 3 minutes)
6. Triceps- Wrap your resistance band around a fence or pole and go into a ready standing position with slightly bent knees. Band should be taut and elbows and shoulders should be parallel with your spine, only bending at the elbow to fully extend the arms, palms down. Perform 15-20 repetitions from the elbow pressing down then 15 -20 presses back with straight arms.
7. Alternating Side Plank Row- With weights in both hands on weights, (optional,) do a push up then rotate your whole body to one side, dropping heels to the ground while drawing the elbow up. Return to plank position and repeat 10 per side. Note: abs should be tight and back should not arch.
8. Cable chop with side lunge - Step on a resistance band and step out with the other foot into a side lunge. Then reach arms diagonally across the body and extend the arm upwards. Repeat 10 times on each side.
9. Basic mountain climbers- Get into high plank position and alternate knees in for a count of 20-30 seconds or repetitions on each leg.
10. Run a lap around the field (about 3 minutes)
11. Plank with hand clap or arm raise for a count of 20
12. Abs- On your mat, perform 20 regular crunches, 20 "figure 4" crunches (10 per leg), 20 bicycle crunches bringing the elbow to your opposite knee while crunching, and 20 alternating leg reaches.
13. Stretches –Lift one foot onto a fence or bench and reach arms to feet for a hamstring stretch then repeat for opposite leg. Next, do a "figure 4" stretch by taking your ankle and resting it on your opposite knee while sitting down as if you were sitting into a chair. Repeat on other side. Finally, stretch your quadriceps by grasping the base of your foot and pulling the heel to your glute. If able, pop your foot onto a fence and lean back slightly to further the stretch.
Contributors:
Webb Travis is an experienced personal trainer and group fitness instructor at Equinox in Scarsdale. He graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh with a Bachelors degree in both Advertisement and Exercise Science and a Masters of Science degree in Organizational Leadership.
Pamela Newkirk-Arkin is an ACE Certified Private Trainer with a BFA in Dance from Adelphi University (Cum Laude). Pamela is the Group Fitness Manager at Equinox Scarsdale. As a former dancer, Pamela's true passion is teaching Lotte Berk style barre classes, but she loves teaching other formats as well including cardio, hiit, sculpt and stretch. She is the proud mom of two children.
Kelly Vasami is a local photographer who captures weddings, portraits, engagement sessions, maternity and newborn sessions for families and couples all along the East Coast. Leran more at www.kellyvasami.com.
