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Chappaqua Schools

Making (Up) a Difference: The Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund

November 9, 2022 by Ronni Diamondstein

The HGSF team inside Horace Greeley High School
Photo by Carolyn Simpson

Every Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund Board meeting begins with the reading aloud of a note of thanks from a scholarship recipient or the parent of one. The notes that are scrubbed of identity are heartfelt: “Without you, the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, I don’t know what I would have done. I am GRATEFUL, and words will never tell you how much your contribution is doing for me” and “Please know that I will someday achieve my dreams. I will always look back and be GRATEFUL to the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund forever.” Board President Peggy Macchetto says, “It’s a way of focusing on the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund’s mission of neighbors helping neighbors.”

The Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund (HGSF)’s objective is to “make up the difference” between the actual costs of college and all other financial resources available to students and their families. The goal is to make college a reality for all Greeley students. Megan Conroy is one of the recipients who will be eternally grateful to HGSF. The 2017 Greeley grad graduated from Adelphi University’s nursing school program in 2021 and is working as a medical surgical nurse at NYU Langone in Mineola. “I probably wouldn’t have been able to graduate if I didn’t get the money,” says Conroy. “I was touched that every year I got some grant.”

HGSF Scholarship Recipient Megan Conroy

There’s no question that there is a very high cost of a college education these days. Tuitions are rising yearly for both private and public schools. Macchetto is not surprised about the need in the community. “The cost of education and raising kids has grown exponentially. Families are facing things like that and having the disposable income to pay for college has become more of a challenge.”

Applicants may apply all through their college years and the grants are based on need. It is open to any Greeley grad who is pursuing a four-year degree any of those years and they must apply each year as their financial situations may change. “We are looking for kids to get the degree. We want them to get through and to facilitate that as much as we can,” says Macchetto. The process is objective and extremely confidential. Their newly launched updated website makes it very easy to apply with a very high level of security. An outside consultant reviews the financial situation of each applicant and recommends the distribution to the Board’s Grants Committee. The only member of the Board who knows the identity of the recipients is the Board Treasurer who cuts the checks. It’s entirely a need-based system. “Everyone who qualifies gets something. Based on their gap, we look through how much we can cover that is meaningful enough to get to where they need to go,” says Macchetto. “The current cap per applicant is $20,000 per year. The average grant in 2022 was just over $8,000.” In 2021 they were able to grant $403K of $883K that was demonstrated as need.

“Our donor base is helping the same kid who is on the same sports team as your kid or the kid you’re on line next to at Lange’s. Even though it is anonymous, it’s all about the community, we have a lot to be proud of,” says Macchetto. “And it’s another example of our community prioritizing and valuing education,” says Julianne Cohn Metzger, Vice President of the HGSF Board. “We’re assisting our neighbors, our neighbors’ children and friends to continue the education they’ve been lucky to have here in Chappaqua.”

The seeds for the HGSF were planted in 1945 when the senior class of Horace Greeley High School gave $300 to start a fund for students who needed help paying for college. That spirit of students helping students has continued with the Greeley PTA Senior Musical that is a fundraiser for the HGSF as well as the very popular fall Spelling Bee that is run by the Greeley S.H.A.R.E club. “Another great way of students helping students,” says Macchetto. “The Bee is open to a wide variety of the community. While it’s academic, it’s about having a good time.”

The fall annual appeal mailing and the spring event are the two major fundraising vehicles. “The spring benefit is a nice way of getting everyone together and will be in person this year,” says Macchetto. Another fundraising tool is Senior Signs currently priced at $20.23 for the class of 2023. “It’s a fundraiser but it’s also teambuilding and getting our logo out,” says Macchetto. On the horizon is a Pickleball Tournament, and people may also make donations in honor of or in memory of someone.

Each year two members of the Chappaqua Central School District Community are honored at the benefit. This past spring Rita Santelia received the Taylor Family Award of Distinction for student and community support that goes above and beyond. Santelia, the mother of five, has been a parent volunteer over many years including PTA Chair of both Bell School and Horace Greeley High School. “I was so humbled to receive this award,” says Santelia. “I wondered how this could just be for me since I wasn’t doing each volunteer experience alone.” She was very involved with the Senior Musical, and it means a lot to her to know that her work on the Senior Musicals would be another way to help seniors and the HGSF. “All proceeds from the show are donated. In years prior to Covid, Senior Musical has been a huge benefactor to the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund through the help of the community that comes out to watch the shows,” says Santelia. “We look forward to many more to come, as they will be great benefactors of the Horace Greeley Scholarship again and again.”

Joe Kearns, recipient of the Ed Habermann Award, and Rita Santelia, recipient of the Taylor Award of Distinction.
Photo courtesy of HGSF

Joe Kearns, a Chappaqua physical education teacher and the varsity football coach who was the winner of the Ed Habermann Award last spring, grew up in Millwood and was a recipient of HGSF scholarships. Bridging the financial gap with scholarships from the HGSF made a difference for the 1996 Greeley grad and his three younger sisters who also received grants for their four years of school. Kearns attended New England College in New Hampshire and studied Kinesiology. The award made Kearns appreciate where he came from and how willing people were to help. “It was really cool that a place that’s known for its wealth would have a scholarship set up for people in its own town that don’t have much money,” says Kearns. “It gives you a sense of pride and appreciation to the point where I wanted to come back. When you teach and coach here and you know that it’s a community where the only reason you got to go to college and got to be a teacher was because of the generosity of the people here.”

Winning the Habermann Award that honors a member of the community for their dedication to students was very meaningful for Kearns. “It’s the biggest honor you could get. You’re being recognized for the whole reason you got into education,” says Kearns.

Kearns has thoughts on why it’s important to support the HGSF. “They say charity starts at home. There’s an assumption that nobody needs it. We have a community that’s overall wealthy, but we have people in need, I think it’s important to support them.”

Cohn Metzger sums up the importance of supporting the HGSF. “For many families in our community it makes a difference between enrolling and not enrolling, and for their child to pursue their dreams. Your contributions enable them to do so.”

For more information about the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, or to apply or donate, go to their new and improved site hgsf.org

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Chappaqua Schools, College Tuition, Habermann Award, HGSF, Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, Scholarships

Chappaqua’s Thoughtful ‘Robochaps’ Move into Semi Finals!

February 7, 2017 by The Inside Press

Our Robochaps Team (L-R): Coach Ajay Dhanawade, Neel Roy (5th grade), Arnav Roy (7th grade), Aniruddh Dhanawade (7th grade), Rohan Malik (6th grade), Ellie Slive (6th grade), Jordan Zeiger (6th grade), Benjamin Millerman (5th grade), Daniel Stankiewicz(6th grade), Arjun Dayal (8th grade), Coach Rajeev Malik

An ‘Animal Allies’ Topic for the Group’s Robotic Project Work Brings the Team Closer to the Finish Line

Editor’s Note:  Congratulations to the amazing Chappaqua ‘Robochaps’ for their robotics projects and a recent exciting tournament win that moves them into a semi-final competition!  Here, a note from the participants to Inside Chappaqua:

“We are a group of 5th to 8th graders from Chappaqua, NY who are participating in the FLL. The FLL or First Lego League is an organization where kids from 4th to 8th grade build robots and projects based on a particular topic. This year’s topic is ‘Animal Allies’ (see link below to read more about the project) where we have to find a way to help animals and humans coexist peacefully. We chose coyotes as our project as it is local and affects our residents. Our team won the Sleepy Hollow tournament championship and are moving on to the semifinal with other Hudson Valley FLL teams.”

Animal Allies Brochure 

 

Filed Under: New Castle News Tagged With: Chappaqua, Chappaqua Central School District, Chappaqua Schools, Robochaps, robotics, Students

Spotlights from around the District: Those who can, Teach

October 21, 2016 by The Inside Press

Friends outside school as well as close colleagues Eileen Kenna (left) with Ann Marie Scalici (right)
Friends outside school as well as close colleagues Eileen Kenna (left) with Ann Marie Scalici (right)

By Miriam Longobardi

When people imagine teachers in the summer, they would not envision someone spending six hours on a hot August day rejuvenating old desks with multiple coats of primer and write and wipe paint, yet this is exactly what Ann Marie Scalici was doing. Scalici was recently transferred to Roaring Brook fourth grade from Bell Middle School fifth grade ELA, where she and colleague Eileen Kenna (they refer to themselves as Work Wives), were named Innovative Teachers of the Year.

With adjacent classrooms, Scalici and Kenna transformed their learning environments. They spent hours after school rearranging furniture, cutting legs off old desks and bringing in items from home to create an environment to maximize student engagement and learning. Scalici said,

“Our students are nine and ten years old and they definetly need to move to learn. They are not meant to be confined by physical spaces that bind their intellectual and physical freedom.”

The following year they were awarded a grant from the Chappaqua School Foundation (CSF) for new furniture allowing students the freedom to choose seating best suited for their individual learning as well as team collaboration and student presentations.

Teaching extends far beyond the brick and mortar of a building, and Westorchard Elementary School teachers Liz Morhardt and Erin Posner turned loss into legacy. When their beloved colleague and dear friend Alison Caso Guerra passed away suddenly and tragically last February, our school community wasdevastated, but this was especially painful for the students and staff at Westorchard.

BEFORE - Scalici’s room before its makeover
BEFORE – Scalici’s room before its makeover
AFTER - Scalici’s room working with what she had
AFTER – Scalici’s room working with what she had
Scalici’s room transformed with creativity and a grant funded by the Chappaqua School Foundation
Scalici’s room transformed with creativity and a grant funded by the Chappaqua School Foundation

fullsizerender-2

Erin Posner (center), Westorchard Elementary Principal Jim Skoog (far right) with Go Stride participants.
Erin Posner (center), Westorchard Elementary Principal Jim Skoog (far right) with Go Stride participants.

Wanting to maintain the memory of Alison’s passion for teaching and dedication to her students, Morhardt and Posner, together with Alison’s husband, Philippe, established the Alison Caso Guerra Memorial Scholarship Fund to be awarded to a Greeley senior who had her as a teacher and embodies such qualities as well-respected, hard-working and compassionate, among many criteria.

Their original goal was to award $1,000 each year for the next ten years, thus covering the classes of students who would have had her as a teacher. Last spring alone, the Go Stride for Alison event as well as a clothing boutique raised enough money to cover the next ten year’s recipients, far surpassing their original goal.

Alison’s legacy will reach far beyond the students and lives she touched personally.

In my new role as president of the Chappaqua Congress of Teachers I have had the opportunity to get to know colleagues in all schools and witness collaboration across grade levels. Leading students to investigate problems individually and problem-solve collaboratively is only part of what Horace Greeley teacher Mike DeBellis teaches in his Intro to Engineering course.

DeBellis co-teaches Technology and Design Integration classes with Kevin Kuczma and Paul Bianchi where students grow from learning introductory skills such as sewing, electronics, robotics and 3-D printing first semester, to designing their own problem using a well thought-out plan to solve second semester. Examples of their work include designing watch gears using computer-aided drafting (CAD), creating a fully automated greenhouse, and building a working model of an airplane. Robotics students learn how to code solutions a robot may encounter and investigate real-world problems that may be solved using robotics.

DeBellis, Kuczma and Bianchi work closely with middle school Technology Education teachers Chris Stasi and Bob Raguette.“They run terrific programs; the students they send us are fantastic,” DeBellis reports.

The district has made a huge commitment to this work and staff developers Zach Arnold, Josh Block and Ellen Moskowitz are spearheading the STEAM initiative. With all these moving parts working together, Chappaqua is moving full STEAM ahead!

These teachers are merely a few examples of the hundreds of outstanding and dedicated educators that define the excellence of the Chappaqua Central School District. Their passion, innovation, and commitment to children inspire me daily and I am honored to be among them.

Model of a passive solar home with elements of sound, light, motion, and a sensor, designed and built by an Intro to Engineering student at Greeley.
Model of a passive solar home with elements of sound, light, motion, and a sensor, designed and built by an Intro to Engineering student at Greeley.

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Bell Middle School, Chappaqua, Chappaqua School Foundation, Chappaqua Schools, collaboration, Innovative Teachers, progressive, Roaring BRook, teach, Teachers

Innovation and Creativity Celebrated at Festive Chappaqua School Foundation Fundraiser

April 30, 2014 by The Inside Press

The Enchords, a Horace Greeley a capella Group, entertained.
The Enchords, a Horace Greeley a capella Group, entertained.

By Eileen Gallagher

If a picture is worth a thousand words, can you imagine what a newly printed, three dimensional “picture” is worth? Or an exuberant a capella rendition of John Legend’s “All of Me,” and a robotic car steered across a table? All of these are,  in a word, priceless, and are brought to our community with the help of the Chappaqua School Foundation.

This past Friday night’s benefit offered firsthand glimpses of the impact that funding from CSF has on our children. Students of all ages engaged observers with their sincere and captivating presentations, including a fourth grader’s introduction of “MindUP” strategies for learning, sixth grade demonstrations of 3-D designing, high school robotics lessons, and a sampling of “Peaceful Playgrounds” from kindergarten through fourth grade.

Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent, Chappaqua School District, with the writer’s husband, TK Gallagher.
Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent, Chappaqua School District, with the writer’s husband, Michael Gallagher.

Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent of the Chappaqua School District, remarked that, as standardized tests are being graded, it would be wonderful to be able to include the enthusiasm and level of engagement of the children taking part in these enriching activities.

Around 500 community members enjoyed a delicious buffet and wide variety of generously donated items for the silent auction. Laughter, smiles, and all around good cheer were observed in abundance, as the “village” that raises our children came together.

 

 

 

Allison Wintner, CSF President Allison Wintner with Michael Kaufman, CSF board member.
(L-R): Ingrid Hershman, CSF board member, and Judy Suchman, owner, Chappaqua Learning Center, enjoying the eve.
Allison Wintner, CSF President Allison Wintner with Michael Kaufman, CSF board member.
Allison Wintner, CSF President, with Michael Kaufman, CSF board member.
(L-R): All smiles: John Chow, Assistant Superintendant for Business; former Board of Education member Jay Shapiro; and Andrew Selesnick, Assistant Superintendant for Leadership Development and Human Resources.
(L-R): All smiles: John Chow, Assistant Superintendant for Business; former Board of Education member Jay Shapiro; and Andrew Selesnick, Assistant Superintendant for Leadership Development and Human Resources.
The brilliance of the 3D Design Printer was explained to all.
The brilliance of the 3D Design Printer was explained to all.

Filed Under: New Castle News Tagged With: 3D Design Technology, Chappaqua News, Chappaqua School Foundation, Chappaqua Schools

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