Sabra Staudenmaier

Local Women Forge Unexpected Career Paths to Success

April 18, 2019 by Sabra Staudenmaier

(L- R): Elise Orlando, Susan Draper, Kelly Leonard, Kathy Bernardo and Holly Blum
PHOTOS by Carolyn Simpson, DOUBLEVISION PHOTOGRAPHERS

A common question children are asked is “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This question infers that there should be a short and simple answer. Yet, realistically, the answer is often quite complex. Many factors impact career journeys: economic fluctuations, family needs and personal maturation are just a few. Whether stemming from a prior career or from working as a stay-at-home mom, experiences rich with growth opportunities accrue continuously throughout one’s lifetime making the answer to this question far from straightforward.

“Career paths aren’t linear. They shouldn’t be seen as a continuous assembly line leading directly from graduation to retirement.” says Mindy Berkower, a former Chappaqua resident and Chief Client Officer and General Counsel, iRelaunch LLC (irelaunch.com), a pioneering company in career reentry. “Women may not only off-ramp from and on-ramp back to their careers over a lifetime–they may also pivot toward a number of different careers, tapping their extensive transferable skills and building new skills and developing new interests along the way.”

Growth doesn’t stop at any point throughout life. It is not possible to predict where life’s twists and turns will lead; there are too many moving variables. Yet, as exemplified by the stories of five inspirational local women, unexpected detours can translate into unique and valuable opportunities.

Investing in Personal Objectives

Chappaqua resident Elise Orlando worked on a trading floor for an investment bank assisting companies through the public offering process for over ten years before she became pregnant

with her son, the oldest of her three children. A year later her daughter was born and eventually her family grew to include a second daughter.

After her son’s birth, Elise went back to work full-time. As time went by she found herself becoming more and more concerned with her son’s development. Shortly after she brought her middle child home from the hospital, Elise’s son was diagnosed with autism. This became the impetus for her career change. Giving up a career in finance was easy for Elise because she had a new and important purpose that took precedence over corporate finance: to care for her son and her newborn.

Elise quickly realized there were few educational opportunities in her community for children with autism. Through research, she learned of a cutting-edge teaching model pioneered at UCLA. She set up a home program, hired a team of therapists and taught her son using this program’s “Applied Behavior Analysis.” It was during this period she realized he could learn and this teaching method would be able to reach him. She connected with other local families who were in a similar position. Together, they established a nonprofit group to raise funds for autism education. These efforts ultimately lead to the opening of the Devereux Millwood Learning Center for 5-21 year olds with autism in Millwood in 1996. “There were many challenges getting there, but my goal to have a place for my son to learn was realized.” The Devereux Learning Center has since moved and is now located in Mount Kisco.

Elise feels that her career has followed a somewhat unique path in that she didn’t have a choice about many of the decisions she made. Her family was growing; she wanted to provide opportunities for her son and to be there for her daughters. For Elise, her family’s needs provided an abundance of motivation and a clear purpose. Today, she continues to advocate for her son who is now an adult. She serves on the Board of Directors at Extraordinary Ventures New York (www.EVNY.org) in Mount Kisco, NY, and FECA (Foundation for Empowering Citizens with Autism (www.fecainc.org) working to provide opportunities for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities within their communities.

Following Your Passion

Holly Blum was a Vice President at a healthcare public relations firm. She was successful and proud of the work she was doing; she was helping to promote medications and treatments that were saving lives. However, when Holly became a mother she found the demands of her job were not in alignment with her family’s priorities. She decided to pause her career to be with her kids.

While at home in Chappaqua, Holly opined on what she enjoyed about the work she had done in public relations. She knew she loved the parts of her job that related to writing and working with patients. She especially liked learning about people’s stories as she prepared them to interact with the media.

Since she was a young girl, Holly has had a gift for expressing emotion through writing; the countless notes and cards she wrote to her family were an important part of her childhood. As she grew older it became clear that this was a natural talent and passion.

Then, one day, Holly was at a wedding listening to “the worst wedding speech she had ever heard” when she had an epiphany. Holly’s speech writing company, A Speech to Remember (www.aspeechtoremember.com), was born. The company focuses on speeches for life’s special occasions. The ideas come from her clients and each speech is unique. Holly gathers information, and drafts the speech in collaboration with them; taking great care that authenticity is preserved. Besides loving her work, Holly appreciates that her job has the flexibility to allow her to be present for her family.

Holly advises people evaluating career paths to think about their interests and skills; then ask family and friends what strengths they perceive you to have, to help pinpoint what direction to go in. It can be hard to rise to the challenge of pursuing your passions but “sometimes it takes a leap of faith and you just have to believe in yourself.”

The Birth of a New Career

Kathy Benardo of Chappaqua has a master’s degree in art history and spent five years as a product developer for the retail division of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then eight years at the Museum of Modern Art. In 2002 she married Sanford Benardo, an adoption lawyer who was just beginning to branch out into third party reproduction law.

After having their second child in 2005, they decided to create the Northeast Assisted Fertility Group (www.assistedfertility.com), a surrogacy and egg donation program that filled a need for these services in the Northeast (most of these programs were on the West Coast). It was a natural transition for Kathy, who felt that she had gotten all she could from museum product development, whereas third-party reproduction was a growing field.

The husband and wife team avoids the expected marital conflicts through a clear division of duties. Kathy’s husband handles the surrogacy side of the business and she directs the egg donor program. As much as Kathy enjoyed being a part of the art world, owning a business allows her the flexibility to work from home and be with her kids after school. She feels that her new career path is more stressful, but helping people build families is also more rewarding. In her second career, Kathy applies the same creativity and entrepreneurial spirit fostered in her museum work. “You are always you, no matter what job you do. You bring your strengths along with you and can apply them to whatever career path you choose to take.”

Nurturing Your Ambition

Kelly Leonard O’Keefe of Chappaqua had a long and successful career in book publishing. When a change in executive management occurred at her company, Kelly and several of her contemporaries were laid off. She used this opportunity to set up her own digital marketing consulting company that she still manages serving authors and local nonprofits.

In 2016, Kelly’s beloved father passed away. She witnessed hospice for a second time in the family and it resonated with her deeply. Being with her loved ones during their last days and hours of life was a spiritual and transformative experience. In the months following her father’s passing, Kelly realized she wanted to focus on end-of-life care

and hospice as a new career. With no healthcare background, she was starting from square one.

She applied to a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) program at Westchester Community College and was accepted. The 12-week course included over 90 hours of classroom instruction and 30 hours of hands-on clinical work in a nursing home. The direct care experience of helping non-family members convinced Kelly further that this was work she could do as a new profession.

Since completing the course and passing the New York State CNA Competency Exam, Kelly volunteers with Hospice Care in Westchester & Putnam (part of Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley) and was recently hired by Home Helpers Tri-County, in-home care serving Westchester, Putnam, and Fairfield counties.

Realizing Your Dreams

Susan Draper from Armonk was a buyer at Saks Fifth Avenue before she became the Director of Women’s Planning at Barney’s New York. While working, she enjoyed spending her spare time being active in her community through her role as Commissioner of Outreach on the vestry at her church.

She took some time off from work when her youngest child was born. For three years, she focused on her family and the volunteer work she found so rewarding. When she returned to the workforce, Susan decided to take a job as a part-time trainer and spinning instructor. She enjoyed exercising and staying in shape and this role allowed enough flexibility to be there for her kids. The yoga studio Susan attended was having financial troubles and was about to close. Though she was new to yoga, Susan thought the studio was “simply too pretty to close.” In a completely unexpected venture, she became the new owner of Quest Yoga Arts in Mount Kisco.

Susan embarked on a yoga teacher training program and used the buying skills from her days at Saks to create a fitness wear boutique in the reception area of the studio. Her vision was to offer yoga classes that were accessible to everyone, not just expert yogis.

Susan loved her time at Quest. She created a community filled with warmth and found the experience of teaching and helping others feel better to be very uplifting. Yoga has brought her so much joy over the years–from an opportunity to teach side by side with her daughter to occasionally teaching yoga to her son’s college swim team.

However, in planning for the future Susan reexamined her path and decided to return to her educational roots. During her time as an undergraduate at Kenyon College, she had excelled in math and science. Back then, she had considered going to medical school but wasn’t comfortable with the debt an advanced degree would require. However, the timing was now right and she decided she was ready to pursue her interest in healthcare.

Susan completed her nursing degree with honors and was subsequently hired at Greenwich Hospital. It was daunting to start her first day in a stressful career at age fifty-five, but the caring and nurturing role of being a nurse is Susan’s clear calling.

Finding Fulfillment Through Reinvention

Self-discovery can be a lengthy excavation process and can take a lifetime to explore. Circumstances inevitably change and careers often must be modified in tandem. Adaptability, resilience and self-confidence play an important role in navigating flexuous career paths. These women stepped out of their comfort zones to embark on new experiences, finding success and fulfillment through reinvention.

The question of what one wants to be when they grow up is difficult to answer because it infers that growth stops at a certain point in adulthood. But growth doesn’t end when adulthood begins; it is ongoing, continuing throughout a lifetime. Therefore, the answer to this question is ever evolving, making the journey of a career’s path as significant as the final destination.

Mindful Moms Lakeside Meditation Series Continues this Summer

April 18, 2019 by Sabra Staudenmaier

At the end of a dirt path hidden on an ordinary street in Millwood there is a stretch of sand that leads to a small private lake. Every few weeks throughout the summer months this becomes the location where a group of mindful moms take their meditation practice outdoors. The beach is quaint, the lake reflects the trees, sky and clouds; the sun shimmers and sparkles over the surface of the water. It is the ideal setting to bask in the present moment.

Jodi Baretz, a mindfulness-based psychotherapist and holistic health coach, and author of the Amazon best-selling book Mindful is the New Skinny, has made it her life’s work to help people maximize joy through meditation and other mindfulness techniques. For almost a decade, she has worked to help clients with stress, food issues and relationship problems so they can feel and look their best. She offers individual therapy and coaching through The Center for Health and Healing in Mt Kisco and has pioneered several successful mindful mom’s programs, including her new program: “Club Mindful – A Gym for the Mind”. Baretz developed the summer lake meditation series several years ago and it has grown to become a highlight on the calendars within the local mindfulness community.

“There are so many benefits to practicing mindfulness. I have become a better partner, mother and friend. I have always found water to be so calming so the lake meditations have been a wonderful addition to my mindfulness practice.” says mindful mom, Tamara Leopold from Armonk.

Inspired by the beauty and peacefulness of the private lake as well as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) founder Jon Kabat-Zinn’s well-known lake meditation, Baretz facilitates her outdoor meditation program surrounded by nature’s beauty. All that is needed to participate is a towel, a bottle of water and the desire to destress. Sitting on the lake’s beach with legs crossed, eyes closed the sunshine can be soaked up. The winter is long and opportunities like this are rare and valuable.

The image of the lake evokes peace and tranquility. We are reminded that there is something larger than ourselves which allows us to find humility in the grand beauty of nature. Zinn’s meditation offers an awareness of what the lake can teach us symbolically; “carrying a vast reservoir of mindfulness within your heart, we can be the lake in silence.”

Baretz has been known to incorporate a variety of meditations into her lake series. Sometimes there is a walking meditation or a body scan meditation. She often reads inspirational parables that encourage the mindfulness practices of living in the present, practicing non-judgment, compassion and gratitude. Regardless of what form the experience takes it is a relaxing way to spend an hour doing something most people don’t get enough of. It is a time to restore and appreciate the beauty and goodness of life.

Baretz feels that “meditation takes on a whole new level when you’re outside in nature. You are able to immerse yourself and pay attention to the beauty that you normally miss by being busy.”

More information on the lake meditation series and other mindfulness programs can be found at jodibaretz.com

An Appetite for Generosity

March 8, 2019 by Sabra Staudenmaier

(L-R): (914) Cares 4th Annual Empty Bowls Committee, Dana Berk, Jodi Falbaum, Lisa Samkoff, Melissa Levine, Jillian Pohly, Jessica Reinmann, Mike Slomsky, Dawn Greenberg, Lena Cavanna, Doug Alpuche and Lauren Stern

(914) Cares Fourth Annual Empty Bowls Event Raises $120,000 to Fight Hunger in Westchester

On the cold Sunday evening before Thanksgiving, a warmth radiated from Crabtree’s Kittle House Restaurant and Inn. The smell of hearty food filled the air. A simple meal of soup, bread and hors d’oeuvres was being prepared in the kitchen. An abstract sculpture stood inside the entrance of this quaint venue. It was made of ceramic bowls and cans of soup, layered in rows that progressively narrowed from bottom to top, forming a tree. The tree symbolized the upcoming holiday season. The bowls were individually and uniquely hand-painted by members of the community. They were all empty; a reminder that many cannot afford to fill their bowls. The guests of the evening were there to support the Empty Bowls Westchester annual fundraiser to help the fight against hunger.

Throughout the restaurant, soup and bread stations were set up alongside additional displays of painted bowls. Signs explaining the work being done to end hunger sat beside more of the painted bowls. The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry displayed a sign saying, “We fed 41,791 people last year”. The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester showed a sign informing, “We serve over 80,000 nutritious meals each year.” Hillside Food Outreach had a sign that shared, “We have over 300 volunteers that pack & deliver to our clients.”

Celebrities Help the Cause

Set aside from the main event, the Kittle House’s Tap room was lined with tables showcasing larger bowls that had been signed by celebrities who support this important cause. Celebrities who participated by donating signed bowls included Yankees legend Mariano Rivera, Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora, author and activist Cecile Richards, US golfing great Tom Watson, Bill and Hillary Clinton, author James Patterson, HQ Trivia Host Scott Rogowsky and Pinkalicious children’s author Victoria Kahn. These “Celebrity Bowls” were an important part of the fundraising effort. They were available to bid on in the evening’s highly anticipated silent auction.

Empty Bowls Westchester is a division of (914) Cares–an organization that supports local Westchester based non-profits that focus on basic human needs: food, clothing, shelter, medical care and education. According to the Feeding Westchester (formerly known as the Westchester Food Bank), one in five residents of Westchester is food insecure, which means approximately 200,000 people are hungry or at risk for hunger. Each year, an Empty Bowls Committee is formed to run the local arm of the international grassroots effort to raise money and awareness in the fight to end hunger in our community.

Grant recipients (L-R): Kelly Housman, Mt. Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry; Susan Bretti, Community Center of Northern Westchester; Clare Murray, Community Center of Northern Westchester and Robin Karp, Pleasantville Interfaith Emergency Food Pantry

A Community Wide Effort

Beginning in the spring, (914) Cares Co-Founders Dawn Greenberg and Jessica Reinmann work with volunteers from the community who donate their time to hand paint bowls, one by one. Members from Congregation Sons of Israel Briarcliff, Pace University and Strauss Paper employees along with several Girl Scout troops are among those who helped paint bowls which, this year, totaled over 250. Once painted, A Maze in Pottery in Briarcliff Manor, a generous supporter of this cause, fires all the painted bowls in their kiln.

Local Grant Recipients Utilize Event’s Funds

Local organizations who are on the front lines in the fight against hunger apply to receive grants from the funds raised. This year six grant recipients were selected. These organizations were Bread of Life, The Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester, The Community Center of Northern Westchester, Hillside Food Outreach, The Interfaith Emergency Food Pantry of Pleasantville and The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry.

The recipients of this year’s grants were extremely appreciative for funding they received, but the community members who attended the fundraiser were just as thankful for the work the organizations do. Whether it’s through rescuing food so that it does not go to waste, delivering food to the sick or elderly, or running a food pantry year -round; through the grace of these organizations, the gap between those who are able to give and those who are in need is being bridged. The people who champion this cause maintain that they get more than they give from the work they do.

Ways to Get Involved

Empty Bowls Westchester and (914) Cares are always looking for the help of generous people. Whatever one can give is significant and makes a difference. Reinmann encourages the community to continue to support this cause by hosting a bowl painting party, becoming a sponsor or attending the next Empty Bowls Westchester event. Celebrity–signed bowls are always welcome donations for the silent auction portion of the fundraiser. There are many ways to get involved.

In Reinmann’s experience, people are very generous during the holiday season, but help often declines in January and February. The depth of winter, however, is when the need for help is the greatest. She encourages people to reach out to local food banks to find out what is needed and run a drive to raise those items accordingly.

The Empty Bowls event was a success but there is still much more work to be done. Since its inception, four years ago, Empty Bowls Westchester has raised almost half a million dollars. Greenberg and Reinmann aim to continue to support the growth of the program. They want to help create a community where basic fundamental needs are available to everyone. A place where poverty and hunger is not temporarily mended with a band aid but rather where the cycle of poverty is ended.

When the evening was over, every attendee received a hand-painted bowl to remind them of all the empty bowls in the world that still need to be filled and to inspire them to continue to support ending hunger. The ultimate goal, according to Reinmann, is “the day when (914) Cares is no longer needed, that will be the best day ever.”

For more information on how to support Empty Bowls Westchester, please visit 914cares.org

Some Really Super Bowls

Over the past four years, a number of very special bowls have been auctioned during the Empty Bowls silent auction. Artist in Residence and committee member, Melissa Levine, painted most of this year’s bowls that were sent to celebrities who volunteered to sign them to help raise money for this cause. A Maze in Pottery Briarcliff Manor’s Nancy Beard generously assisted by lending her artistic talent to paint some of the celebrity-signed bowls. For this year’s auction, comedian Jim Belushi did his own artwork on the bowl he signed and donated.

The bidding on celebrity bowls starts at $125 and bowls can go for any amount higher. To date, the bowl that has gotten the highest bid was from last year’s silent auction. It was a bowl signed by the entire Philadelphia Eagles football team and was won by a bid of $1,700.

Some celebrities, for example Bill and Hillary Clinton, are regular supporters, and have signed a bowl to be auctioned each year.

On occasion, a bowl will be sent to a celebrity for signing and the celebrity will return the bowl with an additional item to be included in the auction. Two years ago, musician James Taylor added a signed guitar to his donation. For this year’s auction, Richie Sambora donated a signed guitar along with his signed bowl.

From the Boroughs to the Burbs … and Back

March 8, 2019 by Sabra Staudenmaier

The view from the Davis’ new city apartment

One of the most famous lines in cinema is “There’s no place like home” uttered repeatedly by a young Judy Garland playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. What one wants in a home and a community though often changes over time. For many city dwellers with a burgeoning family, the excitement of the city soon takes a back seat to practical needs. The suburbs call out with abundant green lawns, tranquility and good public schools. Cramped apartments and endless cultural opportunities give way to multi-bedroom houses with ample closet space and sprawling backyards. A slower pace. Less noise. The smell of cut grass comes from the lawn outside rather than from a high-end room spray from Bloomingdales. As the spring housing market heats up, we spoke with young families who made the move north of I-287 and empty nesters who said “sayonara” to the suburbs and found their footing in the city.

Growing Families Sprout to the Suburbs

From Park Slope to Parks Aplenty

For Cori and Matt Chmielecki the decision to leave their two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in Park Slope was a difficult one. They were happy in Brooklyn; they had great friends, a deck, a yard, a driveway and central air. But with the birth of their twins their apartment became too small for their family of five.

They began their search in the suburbs looking for more space and good schools. They were glad to get away from the feeder school mentality. “Right now all of my friends in Brooklyn are interviewing to get their kids into middle school. I knew that process wasn’t for me” remarked Cori. They preferred Westchester because it was close to family in Connecticut and Metro North offered an ideal commute for Matt, who works in the city.

The Chmielecki kids catch their school bus

“We loved Brooklyn and thought we wouldn’t be cool anymore if we left.” Said Cori, who can’t help but bring the Brooklyn vibe wherever she goes. “Getting into a store with a double stroller and a buggy board on the back was not fun. Life in Brooklyn felt hard, more hectic,” Cori recalls. They were a bit hesitant about going so far north but when all things were considered, Chappaqua was their best option.

Since moving to Chappaqua they acknowledge missing their friends and the culture and diversity of Brooklyn; but overall the Chmieleckis couldn’t be happier. They love their neighbors, the schools, their yard, the weeping willow in front of their house and the creek that runs through their property. Cori especially appreciates the school bus picking her kids up at the end of their driveway.

Addicted to Armonk

Karina Gritsenko and David Arany and their three sons moved from the Upper East Side to Armonk in September of 2017. Though they loved their rent stabilized two-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue, it was starting to feel too small for their growing family.

The Aranys had the standard requirements when looking to move to the suburbs. They were considering space, location, schools and community. Karina is a physician and commutes to Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. David works in finance in Stamford, CT and Manhattan, so proximity to these places was a consideration.

It wasn’t long after moving that Karina started teasing David that he was “Addicted to Armonk.” He loves everything about it: the focus on family, the community, the safety and especially the indoor and outdoor space. “Armonk is a family town in a way other towns aren’t. It has a real feeling of community with festive events like the Frosty Day Parade and the Armonk Outdoor Art Show.”

“We have an amazing town,” Karina says with pride. “Everything is geared towards the kids. Armonk feels like the Upper East Side, only with houses instead of apartments.” David says that coming home to Armonk from the city “makes him calm and happy.”

Empty Nesters Flock to the City

A Nest in the Sky

Cheryl and Danny Strick moved to Armonk from LA in 2004 when their two kids were 10 and 6 years old. They had heard from friends that Windmill Farm in Armonk is one of the best places on the East Coast to raise kids. After looking around, they agreed and settled there. “It was such an easy place to meet people and make friends,” recalls Cheryl.

When their kids grew up and went away to college, Cheryl, a television producer, found herself at home alone with her three dogs working on projects while her husband worked long days in the music industry getting home late most nights. They decided that they would be able to spend more time together if they downsized and moved to the city.

The Stricks saw moving to the city as an opportunity to reinvent and rediscover their relationship. Cheryl feels that “you thrive by reinventing yourself.”

The thing the Stricks miss most about living in Armonk are their many dear friends. Cheryl makes a point to come back to Armonk regularly for Canasta games and lunches. The couple has an annual tradition of watching the Super Bowl and celebrating July 4th with their friends in Armonk.

Cheryl has enjoyed constantly recreating and redecorating her home as life has changed. She looks at this stage of her life as a continuation of that. This time she has built her home as “a nest high in the sky”. Though they miss their backyard with the screened in porch, pool and Jacuzzi, the Stricks now have a view from their Upper West Side 18th floor apartment terrace that they love.

Turning the Page

Lisa and Stephen Davis lived in Chappaqua for 31 years. They built a wonderful and happy life, and found it to be an ideal place to raise their three children. They established deep roots in the community. Lisa was on the Chappaqua Board of Education for nine years and served as the president of Temple Beth El; but the couple had both gone to college in the city and they lived there before having kids. Though they loved their life in Chappaqua, they always knew they would eventually go back. Eight years after their youngest finished college, they decided that it was time.

Lisa feels that “New York City is a great place to be as an older adult. You don’t have to drive, there is so much culture and you walk more.” It made sense that this was the place for their next phase. “It’s energizing and exciting to turn the page…and a little frightening”. Yet, Lisa emphasizes that it’s important for the timing to be right.

Lisa still maintains ties to Westchester, as she reverse commutes to her job as Executive Director of the Westchester Putnam School Board. On the other hand, her husband enjoys having a fast and easy commute to his job in the city.

The Davises are glad they moved to New York City, however Lisa misses being connected to the community like she was when she lived in Chappaqua. She has stayed in contact with her friends, however she misses being close to some of her favorite places like the Jacob Burns Film Center, Rockefeller State Park Preserve and her beloved temple.

Suburbity: A Combination of the Suburbs and the City

The city; an hour, but sometimes a lifetime, away. The decision about where to live often becomes about priorities and changing lifestyles. However, leaving one place doesn’t mean you must completely detach. And so, we can create a hybrid, a mash-up, of what we want and need from both places across the timeline of our lives. It is nice to know we have the best of suburban life still within a reasonable distance of all that the city offers, even if it takes years or even decades to get there.

Now, Can You Spell … Perspicacious?

December 2, 2018 by Sabra Staudenmaier

The 9th Annual Spelling Bee Raises over $22,000 to Benefit the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund

Senior Scholarship SHARE Members (L-R): Niamh O’Connor, Jordan Ratner and Olivia Ruggiero PHOTO BY SABRA STAUDENMAIER

The eve of Election Day in Chappaqua was quiet, dark and rainy. Students were still acclimating to losing light early in the night, since time had fallen behind by an hour the day before. Schools would be closed the following day for voting that had been anticipated for two long years. The streets were calm, yet the Horace Greeley High School gymnasium was alive with eagerness and anticipation.

Students, faculty, parents and community members were gathered together in a united purpose. It wasn’t for a basketball game or a wrestling match. The words that best suit this event were not Lay-Up or Pinfall. They were words like “crustacean”, “tinnitus”, “chrysanthemum”, “pharaoh” and “perspicacious”.

The mascot of the night was not a Quaker; it was a Bumble Bee. The event taking place was the 9th Annual Spelling Bee. The excitement in the gym was palpable.

The “Bee” is an upbeat and lively event enjoyed by participants and spectators alike. It is organized and run by Horace Greeley High School’s SHARE (Students Have a Responsibility Everywhere) student community service volunteer group. The proceeds raised benefit the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund (HGSF), which is an organization that helps Greeley graduates fund their post-secondary education. Competing teams were comprised of families, students, members of the community and faculty. There are no restrictions on who can participate, all are welcome.

There were two energized and playful four-feet-tall bumble bees buzzing around, generating enthusiasm. There were balloons, refreshments and prizes. A row of tables crossed the middle of the gymnasium floor displaying white boards, markers and bumble bee-shaped erasers for each team. Two feet in front of these tables were chairs facing the contestants; they were seats for the judges. Behind the contestants was a single microphone for the word pronouncer and a projection screen for the words to be displayed. Along the back wall was an animated crowd cheering in the stands.

The Horace Greeley Spelling Bee showcased students working together to create a fun and inclusive event with the goal of helping their fellow students pay for college.

The Hip Bees (L-R): Beth Reilly, Annalise Curtin & Lisa Bisceglia
PHOTOS BY SABRA STAUDENMAIER

The over 60 teams were distinguished and recognizable in their cleverly themed costumes such as The Bee Gees, The Hip Bees, The Vocabulary Vampires and many more. The building excitement suddenly gave way to silence as a pause for the national anthem marked the official start of the competition. Finally, the 9th annual HGSF Spelling Bee was underway.

The event was divided into rounds. Representatives from the School Faculty competed first, followed by competitors from the Middle School level, the High School level and then the Community. Lastly, there was a championship round between the winners from all competing levels to determine who would earn the ultimate prize of the trophy and winning title.

Hmm (L-R): Helen Harrison, Maria Sanderleaf & Michelle Ramahlo

Words were called out by the pronouncer, then written on white boards by the contestants. Judges held up green or red cards to indicate if the word was spelled correctly or not. At the end of each round the judges would display a number to show how many words each team spelled right. Ties moved onto a sudden death elimination. Prizes, such as bee themed water bottles and stuffed animals, were given to the winners of each section and awarded to teams with the best costumes.

As the closing round drew to completion, the tension in the gym heightened. The pronouncer’s voice called over the microphone with a final “Boards Up!” The two remaining contestants raised their white boards, but only one showed the word “CATARRH” spelled correctly. The 9th Annual Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund Spelling Bee was over. Team Hmm, a trio of Chappaqua teachers and previous winners Helen Harrison, Michelle Ramahlo and Maria Sanderleaf, was awarded the coveted trophy and the title of Queen Bees.

The Spelling Bee requires skill to win; “effervescent”, “bourgeoisie” and “cayenne” are not easy words. But this event is about so much more than determining who is the best speller. The competition was ultimately created in support of a cause close to our town’s heart: education. Seth Berk, a second-year competitor who doesn’t consider himself a particularly skilled speller, remarked that he was “very happy to humble himself in support of the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund; a great cause.” In total, over $22,000 was raised, making it the most successful Bee to date.

Ironically, the HGSF Annual Spelling Bee can be summarized with a word that is not difficult to spell: “Community”.

Congratulations to the participants and the winners and especially to the SHARE students who did an un“bee”lievable job organizing this very special event.