Help Chelsea Win An H&M Fashion Competition
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Chelsea Hoofnagle, a Scarsdale High School senior, is in the running to have her artwork appear on T-shirts to be sold by retailer H&M. Five winners of H&M’s “Your Art Here” competition will have their art printed on H&M T-shirts. The art pieces will also be exhibited in the window of H&M's store on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue in New York City.
The competition lets participants upload artwork for consideration. Hoofnagle’s entry is a picture of a recyclable fashion dress she designed out of newspapers for her art concentration in high school.
Hoofnagle will be attending Meredith College this fall. She plans to major in fashion design.
Voting ends on May 24th at midnight. To view and vote for Hoofnagle’s competition entry and to vote, click this link http://www.yourarthere.com/entry/recyclable-fashion-newspaper/
Safety Town Is Back
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If your child is entering Kindergarten in September, then you won't want him or her to miss this week-long event held in Scarsdale on the mornings of June 13 - 17. The Junior League of Central Westchester's Safety Town is a comprehensive educational program that introduces safety awareness and accident prevention to children entering Kindergarten in September 2011. Topics covered by the five morning Safety Town program include:
- 911 and police
- poison and first aid
- fire
- traffic lights
- stranger, water, tricycle and bus safety
Learning through participation: Under the guidance of a police officer, a fire fighter, lifeguards, SVAC volunteers and other community volunteers, the children will prepare for real life situations.
Safety Town will be a half-day mini-camp held the mornings of June 13-17 at Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El, 2 Ogden Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583.
Children of Central Westchester (Eastchester, Greenburgh, Scarsdale and White Plains) residents who are eligible to begin Kindergarten in September 2011 may enroll. Non-Central Westchester residents whose children are currently enrolled in Central Westchester pre-schools are also eligible.
Safety Town is sponsored by Scarsdale Security Systems. Other sponsors include State Farm Insurance, Vivian Lem, Houlihan Lawrence, Clean Design, and The Melting Pot – White Plains.
The course fee is $150. To register your child, call Michelle at the JLCW office at 723-6130 or visit the website at JLcentralwestchester.org.
Greenville's Fifth Graders Visit Washington DC
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This month, Greenville's fifth graders will once again head for our nation's capitol on their annual May field trip. Under the supervision of the trip's director and 5th grade teacher, Paul Solomon, and 9 other chaperones, the fifth graders will set off for Washington DC on Tuesday, May 24th aboard two charter buses for a three-day action packed trip. The kids have been eagerly anticipating this trip since the first day of fifth grade in September. The trip is actually considered a rite of passage at Greenville since it was started in the 1980's by Mr. Solomon.
The trip features visits to the nation's Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. They also visit Ford’s Theater where President Lincoln was shot and the home across the street where he was taken and eventually died. And no trip to DC is complete without a visit to Arlington Cemetery in Virginia where the group observes the honored changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While at Arlington, they also see the graves of Presidents Kennedy and Taft as well as the memorials to the victims of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.
The students are traditionally greeted with a welcome to DC from Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who represents parts of Westchester and 
Rockland counties (New York's 18th District). For years, Congresswoman Lowey has made time in her busy schedule to speak to the 5th graders when they visit DC. Some years the grade has also visited and toured the White House. Another highlight of the trip is a visit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum where the students view the history of flight from the original Wright Brothers airplanes as well as the first space shuttle orbiter, "the Enterprise."
One of the highlights of the trip is the traditional panoramic grade photo taken in front of the Capitol steps. All the students and chaperones wear their official Greenville/DC trip t-shirts and it is a treasured keepsake of the trip for everyone. The picture is used the following year as the yearbook foldout page when the kids graduate or "move-up" from Greenville to the Edgemont junior high school. A curious note about the panoramic picture is that Mr. Solomon appears twice in the picture at opposite ends of the top row of students and teachers! How he manages to do this is a Greenville secret only known to the fifth graders on the trip! He even appears at one end of the picture wearing sunglasses and a dark vest and at the other end without them!
Every year, the trip is slightly different but the one thing that remains the same is that everyone has a great time and the trip is remembered vividly for years to come. The students and chaperones come home extremely tired but with great memories of a trip that will never be forgotten. Ask any Edgemont High School senior that went on the trip about DC and they will immediately break into a grin and tell you a good story.
Caroline Tzelios is a "stay at home" mom of three kids who never stays at home. She has spent the past twelve years volunteering in the Edgemont Schools and recently completed her two year term as PTSA co-president of Edgemont High School and is the current co-chair of Edgemont's PISA Theater Committee.
Spring Ecofest at the Weinberg Nature Center
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The Weinberg Nature Center is hosting their annual Spring Eco-Fest on Sunday, May 22 from 12PM - 4PM. Pony rides, Animal Embassy ambassadors, live birds of prey, flint knapping workshops, an experimental archaeology booth, arts and crafts and much more will be featured! Fee of $6 per adult and $5 per child.
Also at Weinberg, our Nature Lovers and Artists workshop led by local artist Mike Teator will be offered on Saturday, June 4 from 10AM-11:30AM. Learn the wonderful artform of watercolor painting! Mike Teator will lead you every step of the way while you paint your very own masterpiece! Fee of $30 per participant. Pre-registration required no later than May 21. Minimum of 3 participants to run. Maximum of 10 participants. Pre-register at www.reconline.scarsdale.com or at the Scarsdale Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.
Also at Weinberg, a Yoga for Kids program is being offered for children ages 4-7 years old. Led by instructor Leslie Schneider, this program will get your young one in tune with his or her own body by mimicking the poses of different animals. This program is offered on Saturday, June 4 from 11AM-12PM and has a fee of $15 per participant. Pre-registration is required no later than May 28. Minimum of 4 participants to run. Maximum of 12 participants. Pre-register at www.reconline.scarsdale.com or at the Scarsdale Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.
Weingberg Nature Center
455 Mamaroneck Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
Your Life and the News: How to Talk to Your Kids About Osama bin Laden
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We went to sleep early Sunday night; the kids wore us out that day and we missed the news. At around 12:45 in the morning the baby cried waking my nearly 5-year-old daughter who crawled into bed with us. Out of habit, I checked my iPhone for messages. It’s from working in a newsroom all those years, I have a paranoia of sleeping through a big story. And for once I did. Not that it matters, I’m home now.
“Mike,” I whisper. “Mike.” My husband is out cold.
“What Mommy?” My daughter Kate wedged between us still awake asks me. I had to share the news with someone.
“The U.S. caught a bad guy, Kate. It’s really good news.”
“What did the bad guy look like, Mommy?”
“He was tall and had a long beard, baby, now go to sleep.”
Kate turns over and falls back asleep and I carry her back to her bed.
I, of course check Twitter before going back to sleep.
About 6 hours later, we’re both up. Mike is on his way to the office, I’m watching the Today show in bed. Kate walks in to my room just as Osama bin Laden’s face appears on TV.
“That’s the bad guy, right?” Her eyes are wide, a bit fearful but brave.
I suddenly have a vivid memory of being about 12 years old and seeing a picture of Ayatollah Khomeni’s corpse at his funeral. My eyes must have looked the same.
I know what’s coming next.
“What did he do?”
Just a few weeks back she was asking why all those people got hurt from the water in Japan. I’m sure in time she’ll ask another hard question about something else.
I answer her in what I call muted honesty.
“That man was jealous of all the freedom we have, and he hurt a lot of people here in America.”
“Is he in jail?”
“No,” I pause. “He’s dead. You don’t have to worry that that bad guy will ever hurt anyone again.”
“He’s scary. Can we watch Curious George now?”
So we change the station, but I can’t stop thinking about what’s she’s feeling now. Did I screw up?
Figuring others may be having similar conversations at home, I spoke to Brenda Stern, a Certified Social Worker. She runs a program with Westchester Reform Temple’s Early Childhood Program as well as a private practice.
“No matter the age of your child, it’s our job as parents to protect them. That may mean in some cases turning the TV off if it becomes too much.”
Stern explains that with young children, keep answers to questions childlike and simple. You can equate bin Laden to the big bad wolf and just say that he hurt people. Sometimes kids this age aren’t asking so much and just need a simple answer.
“With school-age children, ask them if they want to talk about it or not at first. Sometimes they aren’t ready to talk about it. You can take a situation like this to talk about what our values are as a society. Ask them what they think. Also be aware of what they are asking.” Stern says. She adds that in a highly educated community such as ours, we tend to overshare, overtalk and assume our kids are ready for that, and quite often they are not.
With teens, she says, get their perspective and get them talking first.
“We get into monologues on these issues and it’s nice to have a dialogue. Even with the older ones we don’t want it to be too much gore. Kids reduce things to black and white; talking can get them to think more about the grey areas.
She concludes; “You always want to gauge the information verses the anxiety it causes your child. Cut off the content if you sense they are worrying too much. Always reassure them they are safe, of course that may not always be true, but you need to provide comfort and reassurance to your child.”
Someday my kids will learn about the tragedy of September 11th; that they have a grandfather who lost friends that day too numerous to count. That their father saw bodies fall from the buildings and ran as fast as he could when the towers fell. Someday, a long time from now, they will know these horrible things and the evil that was Osama bin Laden. For now, at least, my older one knows we caught a bad guy on Sunday and it’s a good thing.
Jen is a freelance journalist who has covered the economy and markets for over a decade at a major financial news outlet. She lives in Scarsdale with her husband and 2 children. Jen has yet to bake a successful batch of cookies.
