2016 Reflections Contest winners advance to state level

7 Mar

HERO-Reflections

The PTSA Reflections contest is in full swing in anticipation of this year’s Community Arts Day celebration on April 8 at Webster Schroeder High School. Hopefully  there are a lot of students out there working diligently to prepare their creative entries, based on this year’s theme, “Within Reach.”   (Learn more about Community Arts Day and the Reflections competition by clicking here.) Entries are being accepted through March 15.

But coincidentally (or perhaps not), I just receive notification about some of LAST year’s Reflections winners, 13 of whom who have advanced to the state level for judging.

The press release goes on to say,

The theme for the 2016-17 Reflections program was “What is Your Story?” WCSD students had their artwork recognized as the Best of Show in their categories and age divisions at the district level. Their artwork progressed to the Genesee Valley Region PTSA level of the competition and was judged against entries from other schools in the region. Before Christmas GVRPTSA held a ceremony to announce the winners, whose artwork now moves on to the New York State level for judging.

Representing WCSD are: Taisia Badulescu, Katherine Kovacs, Olivia Rye, Riley Dieter, Anthony Randazzo, Amanda Longhenry, Sydney DeZutter, Annabelle Sero, Rachael Dioguardi, Jane Bradstreet, Kaitlyn Dushuk, Sean Devlin, and Emily Hansen. Their entries range from literature to visual arts and photography to music composition and film production. The students themselves range from prekindergarten to high school.

The Reflections Committee expects to hear the results of this stage of the competition sometime in April.

Congratulations to these students, and good luck! You make Webster proud.

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Making art with Peeps. You know you want to.

5 Mar

OK, I’ll put this right out there. I don’t like Peeps.

birdhouseYou know, I’m talking about those yellow marshmallow chicks and every other iteration of Peepdom that has since been introduced. I kind of put them in the same category as those faux-orange circus peanuts.

That being said, I’m REALLY looking forward to the second annual Greater Rochester Peep Show scheduled for April 8 and 9 at the Webster Recreation Center. (Not coincidentally, the week before Easter.) It’s a fundraiser for the Webster Community Chest, and while I didn’t go to it last year, I have seen pictures from the event and it is the CUTEST THING EVER.

Basically, show participants create dioramas and other works of art, incorporating Marshmallow Peeps candies. The results were creative and quite impressive. You can see a few photos here, but also visit the website to see a whole gallery.

But — and this is important — the show cannot happen without the artists.

Organizers have put out a call to families, clubs, Scout groups and local businesses to draw up some plans and come up with some spectacular Peeps creations to enter into the show. There’s no charge to enter and artwork will be returned if desired.

up-up-an-awayDisplays can be large or small, and every one of them will be exhibited at the show for the whole community to see and vote on. Prizes and ribbons will be awarded for those chosen by the public as the most popular. Check out the website for more information and inspiration, or email peepshow@frontier.com with questions.

The 2nd annual Greater Rochester Peep Show will be held on April 8 and 9 at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive. It will be great family fun, perfect for kids of all ages, and admission is free. Last year an estimated 2,000 people attended, and organizers hope to double that this year. That means they need a LOT of entrants.

Proceeds from the event will benefit several local nonprofit agencies including the Catholic Family Center, Dream Factory of Rochester, Heritage Christian Stables, Webster Museum, and National Multiple Sclerosis Society Upstate New York Chapter.

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peeps-at-work

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Webster Community Mailbag

3 Mar

mailbagLots of great events and good news to share with everyone today!

If you’ve got nothing to do tonight, consider enjoying a basketball game, courtesy the Webster Willink and Spry Middle School Student Councils. Their annual benefit basketball game takes place TONIGHT, March 3.

The game pits Willink and Spry students and staff in several entertaining and occasionally competitive contests.

This year the Spry Student Council will be donating their proceeds to Autism Up, and the Willink Student Council will be donating their proceeds to the Veterans Outreach Center.

The games take place at the Webster Schroeder High School gym beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door for $5. Refreshments and other concessions will be available for purchase.

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Andrew Kennedy

Boy Scout Troop 110, sponsored by St. Martin Lutheran Church in Webster, has proudly announced that Andrew Kennedy has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Andrew’s Eagle project was in two parts: An Interfaith Youth Day of Service and an Interfaith Festival. As a part of his Eagle Project, he selected four possible work sites that youth volunteers could work at. These sites were the Islamic Center of Rochester (ICR), the Baber African Methodist Episcopal Church (Baber AME), Asbury First United Methodist Church, and Foodlink. He also recruited work site leaders to lead the four different work crews, because he clearly would not be able to be everywhere at all times.

For the Interfaith Festival, he recruited and selected eight faith-based musical groups to perform and 12 community service organizations to have information booths around the stage. On August 10, he split up 30 volunteers into three groups, dropping Foodlink as a work site, and completed the projects at Baber AME, Asbury First and the ICR. Respectively, he created and distributed back to school supply bags, sorted over 100 5-gallon bags of clothing for the Asbury First Storehouse, and did serious landscaping.

Wow.

In addition to now being an Eagle Scout, Andrew is an accomplished trombone player and soccer player.

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The Community Volunteer Fair returns to the Webster Public Library on Wednesday March 15 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Residents can connect with the following organizations that have volunteer opportunities available in the Webster community:

AutismUp, Challenger Miracle Field, Friends of the Webster Public Library, Friends of Webster Trails, Heritage Christian Services, Hill Haven Nursing and Rehab, Hope Ministry, Maplewood Nursing Home, Never Say Never Foundation, WASP Webster Association of Senior Program Supporters, Webster Arboretum, Webster Central PTSA, Webster Comfort Care Home, Webster Community Chest, Webster Museum and Historical Society.

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The Webster Lions Club’s semi-annual Texas Hold’em Tournament takes place Friday March 31 at 7 p.m. at the Webster Columbus Center, 70 Barrett Drive. Doors will open at 6:30, with the tournament starting promptly at 7. Buy-in is $40 ($45 at the door), and re-buy is $20. There will be a cash bar. All proceeds will be used to support Webster Lions Club charities.

First place winner will receive $500, $150 for second place and $50 for third. ‘

For more information, call 585-234-5480 or email websterlionsclub@gmail.com.

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Pledge not to use the “R-word”

2 Mar

rword

I missed an important day yesterday. March 1 was officially the day to pledge to Spread the Word, to End the Word.

The “word” is the “R-word,” offensive enough that we don’t even like to write it, let alone say it out loud.  And a few days ago I received an email inviting me to log onto the R-Word.org website  and sign a pledge to stop using the word.

As the website explains,

The R-word is the word ‘retard(ed)’. Why does it hurt? The R-word hurts because it is exclusive. It’s offensive. It’s derogatory.

Our campaign asks people to pledge to stop saying the R-word as a starting point toward creating more accepting attitudes and communities for all people. Language affects attitudes and attitudes affect actions. Pledge today to use respectful, people-first language.

I don’t use the word, and I can also say that I haven’t recently heard anyone else use that word. But I do remember hearing it at least once within the last year, and I recall saying something about it. But I also remember I didn’t do so with as much conviction as I should, because I don’t like personal confrontation.

But I’ve found myself this year working in a school with a large population of children with challenges, and I love them to pieces.  So if I ever hear someone use the R-word again, I will definitely speak up and defend their dignity.

Today more than ever, we need to  stand up for our differently-abled adults and children, and help work toward inclusion instead of division.

You can still sign the pledge here, and visit the website for more information. Plus, check out this great student-made video if you want to get inspired and perhaps even shed a tear.

Thank you to the Edison Best Buddies, Thomas LINK Crew and the YAC and Unified members and players for helping to spread the word.

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One year, 100 parks. Hear all about it at the ADK talk

1 Mar

park collage.pngRemember how I went out and explored 100 parks last year? I called it my 2016 Tour de Parks Challenge, and it pretty much consumed my life. I wrote about it several times in my East Extra column (the most recent one is here) and probably touched on it a few times here in my blog as well.

Well, you’re going to have to hear about it one more time.

Shortly after I began my quest last year, I realized exactly how much of a challenge I had shouldered. I actually considered letting it fade off unnoticed. But then I got an email from the Genesee Valley Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, inviting me to be the featured speaker at one of their meetings.

I was stuck.

That meeting has finally arrived, and I would like to invite all of my readers to attend, if you’re at all interested in hearing about my adventures.

The event takes place on Wednesday March 8, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Eisenhart Auditorium of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, 657 East Ave.

It should be interesting, I hope. I’m working up a fancy-pants display board with pins showing all the parks I visited, and a PowerPoint presentation highlighting some of the funny, surprising, beautiful and disappointing things I saw and learned. And yes, I’ll even tell everyone which one was my favorite. Sort of. The whole shebang should only be about 45 minutes.

Please join me. There’s no admission charge. Maybe you could grab dinner beforehand and make it a night out.

And if you’d like to read up on all the parks I visited, here’s a link to the 2016 Tour de Parks blog I maintained through it all.

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Sad news about Sweet Ben

28 Feb

ben

Last July I wrote an East Extra column about a very special young man, 12-year old Ben Matthews, who was battling cancer. Earlier in the year, doctors had given Ben only weeks to live. His family decided to make the best of the time he had left by renting an RV and taking a cross-country trip to visit family and see the sights.

I met Ben at a lemonade stand he had set up in front of his aunt’s house in Webster. His spirit moved me, and his mother’s positive attitude inspired me. It was a day I will not soon forget.

Sadly, I read today that Ben passed away peacefully Tuesday morning. His aunt Linda wrote on Facebook,

Dear Webster friends, especially those who remember our Sweet Ben and his lemonade stand this past summer, I am so saddened to share this post from my sister-in-law with you: This morning at 1:20 a.m. our Ben ended his time with us here on earth. He will continue to shine in our hearts until we are reunited in the future. Love you always my dear boy.

It is definitely a sad day, but we can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that Ben enjoyed a full life, one more than a year longer than even the doctors had predicted. He brought many smiles to family, friends and the many strangers who crossed his path.

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Town Board gets new digs

28 Feb

Somewhere in the back of my brain I knew that the Town offices were getting a face-lift, but I didn’t realize how much until yesterday. Basically, they’re benefiting from maintenance and upgrades that have been needed for a while, and they’re going to look AWESOME.

I learned the details from Supervisor Nesbitt’s most recent column, in which he announced that this Thursday’s Town Board meeting will be held in the brand new board room in the Van Ingen Building (old-timers like me will remember the Van Ingen building as the old library).

According to Nesbitt,

The space is larger to accommodate those times which require more resident participation may be needed. There is new video and audio technology that has been installed that will allow Cable Channel 12 to do more in the way of streaming live and not having residents walk up to the podium when needing to speak.

The Van Ingen building also has a new roof, two new air-conditioning and heating units, a new indoor paint job, and improvements to the Special Police space. Come spring, the Highway Department will be putting in a new sidewalk and curbing and redoing the surface of the parking lot.

You can check out the upgrades yourself by stopping in this Thursday, or watch the board meeting on TV, televised  by Channel 12 at 7:30 p.m.

The improvements are part of a two year town-wide project to update the Town of Webster’s government facilities.

Town Hall is next on the schedule for an upgrade. While work is being completed, all regular Town Hall business will be moved to the Van Ingen building for about 6 months. More details to come about that.

recycle

Towards the end of Supervisor Nesbitt’s column, he added a note about the blue recycle bins. Apparently people are calling him to complain about trash blowing out of the bins on windy days and littering their neighborhoods.

Really? This is something that you need to call the supervisor about?

It’s really not the supervisor’s job to remind everyone to weigh down their recyclables on windy mornings, or wait until early morning to put the bin by the curb. He’s got more important things to worry about, and so do we. If trash blows into your yard, pick it up. It’s really not that big a deal, and if that’s the only aggravation in your life these days, count your blessings.

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Go blue for Jack on Monday

24 Feb

 

jack

All of my school district colleagues are being encouraged to Go Blue for Jack on Monday February 27, and I wanted to pass along that challenge to everyone else as well.

Jack James Heiligman would have celebrated his 4th birthday this Sunday. I first learned that from my friends at Schlegel Road Elementary School, where Jack would have eventually attended school.

Jack passed last October in a tragic accident, but his irrepressible spirit lives on through the Jack Foundation, established in his memory.

In honor of Jack’s birthday, and to continue to spread the positive message championed by the Jack Foundation, all of us in the Webster Schools will be wearing blue on Monday. Please join us and help spread the word to your work colleagues to do so as well!

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Webster PTSA presents program on Internet safety

20 Feb

flyer

The Webster Central PTSA will be sponsoring a program in March that every parent should consider attending.

Jesse Weinberger, a nationally recognized speaker about Internet safety, will present a program called “Internet Safety for Parents” on Wednesday March 1 from 7 to 9 pm in the Willink Middle School cafetorium.

Jesse will share with Webster parents the ways in which kids are at risk on their personal devices, and concrete steps we can take to minimize those risks. Learn the affects of exposure to adult content on children, the facts on cyber-bullying and how to avoid it, the truth about sexting and how predators engage with children online. Participants will leave with action steps to keep kids safer.

This FREE presentation is appropriate for an adult-only audience, as the content will be direct and specific. Please make arrangements for child care. The presentation cannot be recorded, so make sure you can see it in person.

Click here for more information and if you have any questions, email CentralPTSA@websterptsa.org. 

Willink Middle School is located at 900 Publisher’s Parkway, Webster.

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Get your team together for the annual SEPTA bowling tournament

18 Feb

bowling

Dust off those bowling balls and shoes and save the date for an enjoyable afternoon of bowling, all for a great cause!

On Sunday, April 9, Webster’s Special Education Parent-Teacher Association (SEPTA) will hold its annual bowling fundraiser to raise scholarship funds for graduating Webster Schroeder and Webster Thomas High School seniors who are part of the district’s special education family.

Join Webster’s special education faculty and staff, students, parents, and Webster families from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at AMF Empire Lanes in Webster on Sunday, April 9. Your donation of $30 includes two hours of bowling, shoe and equipment rental, a t-shirt, pizza, soft drinks, and even free raffle tickets for prizes.

We are looking for teams to show off their hidden talents of striking and sparing! Dress in a theme to win awesome prizes (past themes have included: The 50’s, Ballerinas, Outer Space, Nerds and The Rainforest).

For more information and/or to reserve a spot for your team, contact Webster Thomas High School special education teacher Dina Malboeuf at Dina_Malboeuf@webstercsd.org.

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