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Chappaqua

The All-Inclusive Quakers!

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The Award-Winning Wrestling Team with Compassion

Competing in wrestling meets across the region, the composition of Horace Greeley’s team is like no other.

For the last four years, the Greeley wrestling team has been inclusive where the Quakers have students with special needs practicing and competing with the team. The three students this year aren’t just managers simply helping out, but athletes that put the same work and dedication into their craft just like every other wrestler on the team. Their addition has been both incredibly rare among local wrestling circles and undeniably beneficial.

“I think it changed the culture of our team in a positive way,” head coach Mike DeBellis said. “It seemed like the kids had more compassion for each other and tried to help each other more.” DeBellis has been coaching wrestling in the district for the past 16 years and currently teaches Introduction to Engineering, Robotics and Technology, and Design Integration classes at Greeley. He was this year’s recipient of the Ed Habermann Award from the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund’s annual gala last month for being an exemplary role model for students in the district.

Awards Abound for the Quakers

While more compassion seems to be counterintuitive in a sport where a moment of mercy could spell disaster, the results for Greeley can’t be questioned. The past two seasons, senior Nicholas Ng, junior Ho Jin Lee, and sophomore Brady McCarthy, who all are special needs students, have been part of a team that has finished in the top ten both years in all of New York State.

Captain and senior Aaron Wolk was crowned state champion for his weight class at 172 pounds. He is the third Greeley wrestler to win the state championship. Previous state championship titles by a Greeley wrestler were won in 1978 and 1995. Wolk will continue wrestling next year at Brown University. Captain and senior Matt Schreiber took fifth overall for his weight class and captain and sophomore Isabella Garcia finished second in the New York girls state championship this year.

Lee, who has Down syndrome, joined the team four years ago. McCarthy, who also has Down syndrome and Ng, who is autistic, both joined the team two years ago. The three students are able to participate because assistant coach Anthony Tortora is certified to instruct students with disabilities. (He works as a physical education teacher in the Bronx with special needs students.)

The three boys are at practice daily, going through the same grind as everyone else and occasionally compete at meets in exhibitions matches against grapplers from other schools. All three boys are also certified to wrestle.

Brady’s father, Kevin, said wrestling has given Brady a boost in confidence and allowed him to meet more classmates he wouldn’t normally get to know. When Brady performed in a school play this year, many of his teammates attended the show.

Physically, it’s been great for him, and allowed him to be part of something bigger than himself. While Brady has played other sports, a certain temperament is needed to wrestle.

“He likes competing,” Kevin said of his son. “It made him a more complete person.”

DeBellis has made it clear anyone that wants to join the team is more than welcome. DeBellis has been known to recruit students in the hallway to join the team.

“Wrestling is a unique sport in that when you do it, you’re a wrestler for the rest of your life,” DeBellis said. “No matter what happens, you’re a wrestler and it’s a totally different sport than any other sport out there.”

“Wrestling really is the only sport where it is all-inclusive,” he added.

Trio Serves as Role Models for the Team

Tortora said the inclusion of McCarthy, Lee and Ng in the program lights up the day for every other wrestler in the room.

McCarthy has even become known for his pep talks at meets and being the most passionate person cheering for teammates. He’ll sit right next to the coaches while a teammate is on the mat and repeatedly tell him, “You can do it, you can do it.” His father encourages his son to, “be there, be vocal.”

And it certainty doesn’t go unnoticed. His teammates love watching him wrestle because there’s no denying how passionate he is. When Brady gets the opportunity to shine, he puts all his effort into it.

Schreiber said he’s learned to be more patient and pay attention to every minute aspect during practice. Wrestling can be a very detailed oriented sport, he noted, which requires his three disabled teammates to focus intensely. Garcia added while wrestling can be incredibly arduous, anyone with the right mindset and desire, like McCarthy, Lee and Ng, can participate. And Wolk said he’s learned to never give up. While it might take his three disabled teammates more time to grasp a new wrestling move, their attitude is only positive and optimistic.

There are no excuses for another wrestler who’s been given the gift of able body and mind to get frustrated or complain when there are three teammates with disabilities who refuse to settle. “They always have so much energy at every practice and it is great to see,” Wolk said. “It shows the rest of the team, don’t give up.”

First Ever Halloween Doggie Costume Contest a Hit at the Chappaqua Farmers Market

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Wet weather didn’t put a damper on the first ever Halloween dog costume contest at the Chappaqua Farmers Market on Saturday, November 3rd. The event was originally scheduled for the Saturday prior to Halloween but it was raining cats and dogs (ha!) that day so it was rescheduled. The event was sponsored by A New Chance Animal Rescue. The Bedford Hills-based non-profit operates on a foster home model, with the strong belief that boarding and shelters are not replacements for experiencing home life that prepares a dog for successful adoption. A New Chance Animal Rescue relies solely on approved foster homes to house and care for all dogs.

The costumed contestants and their owners marched along the booths of the Farmers Market much to the delight of the vendors and shoppers. Lou, the UPS Dog won 1st Place, Arlo the Hot Dog came in 2nd and the adorable Bumble Bee, Gracie took 3rd Place! Each contestant got yummy doggie treats and the lucky winners received gifts from Wags and Whiskers, Aardvark Pet Supplies and Pets A Go Go, plus of course bragging rights! Proceeds from the event were donated to A New Chance Animal Rescue.

Spotlight on Community Day 2018: A Yearly Tradition Courtesy of the Rotary Club Filled with Fun for All

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Greeley senior Andrew Kassin said the event was a great opportunity to fundraise and raise awareness for the Matthew Larson Foundation, as he and other students sold T-shirts and sweatshirts in remembrance of their classmate, Casey Taub.

The aroma of roasted hot dogs and cotton candy competed with the sounds of guitar strums and cheering children at the 2018 Community Day. The Rotary Club-sponsored event brought more than 70 organizations to the heart of Chappaqua. Kids sporting butterfly face paint and their parents interested in various local groups lined the train station parking lot. The September 15th  event served not only as a community gathering but also as a chance for organizations to network and fundraise.

“We are here to support the community of Chappaqua,” attendee and Chappaqua resident Dara Dubs said. “It is also great to see old and new friends and our kids love going on the rides.”

While groups including the Chappaqua School Foundation and Chappaqua First Responders return to Community Day each year, Tea Town, and the Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors were a few of several organizations who participated in the event for the first time. This year’s Community Day also featured new activities for children, including a pony ride and a scavenger hunt.

But not only did little kids take advantage of what the 2018 event had to offer, Greeley students also attended, performed and volunteered at Community Day. Executives from Greeley’s largest community service organization, S.H.A.R.E, distributed T-shirts for A Kids’ Brain Tumor Cure, adding to the bracelets, pins and flying discs that various non-profits and local businesses also circulated.

(L-R): Barbara Klein, George Furman, Donald Roane, Peter Davidson PHOTO BY MADELINE ROSENBERG

Greeley senior Andrew Kassin said the event was a great opportunity to fundraise and raise awareness for the Matthew Larson Foundation, as he and other students sold T-shirts and sweatshirts in remembrance of their classmate, Casey Taub.

“Jonathan Taub’s message has been to keep Casey in everyone’s mind, to keep honoring him and to never forget him,” Kassin said. “Being here is a great way to carry that on.”

As community members of all ages enjoyed the activities that local groups sponsored, Rotary Club of Chappaqua president Eileen Gallagher said Community Day also serves as a natural way to bring attention to the Rotary Club itself.   

“We look forward to more and more people coming each year,” Gallagher said. “We really want people to know we are here for them.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAWN GREENBERG
(L-R): Sarah Platkin, Catherine Zhu, Jordan Rattner, volunteers from S.H.A.R.E.
PHOTO BY MADELINE ROSENBERG

Greeley Alum Shapes a New Era of Theatre

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Carly Brooke Feinman, a Chappaqua native and Greeley alum, is making a splash in the theatre world just two years after graduating Wesleyan University. This past summer, her original musical co-written with Cassie Wilson, If Sand Were Stone, made its Off-Broadway debut as part of the New York Music Festival. As if that wasn’t enough, her play Reflux was selected to premier Off-Broadway a few weeks later as part of the Broadway-Bound Theatre Festival.

Feinman loved growing up in Chappaqua.  She always enjoyed poetry and writing and assumed that would lead her to a career in journalism or poetry.  Her favorite teacher at Greeley was her creative writing teacher, Mrs. Chadwick. She “was the first teacher to really take interest in me and encouraged me to continue writing. I’m so grateful for her,” Feinman says.

Feinman’s road to musical theatre began when she took a class in college with the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote In the Heights with Lin Manuel Miranda. “She changed everything for me… She is an epic human and one of my dearest friends and mentors. She showed me that the things I love about poetry and the fun language gymnastics I get to do really do lend themselves to theatre.  She pushed me to dig deeper and take more classes and I found that I loved it,” recalls Feinman.

If Sand Were Stone Actors (L-R): Mari Uchida, Jhardon DiShon Milton, Jennifer Reed , Alexis Floyd and Tabatha Gayle PHOTO BY HAYIM HERON

It was in Hudes’ musical theatre class where Feinman was paired together with Wilson for an assignment. They immediately clicked and became great friends and collaborators. “To find someone that you want to work with for the rest of your career is such a gift to receive at a young age.  We’ve been working on the musical for two and a half years. There will be future iterations of it and it’s more fulfilling every time we touch it,” says Feinman.

If Sand Were Stone is a musical that follows a poet as she and her family grapple with her early onset Alzheimer’s Disease at the peak of her career. It’s based on a true story about Wilson’s grandmother. Despite the sad subject, there is joy to be found in the moments on stage between family members. In preparation for writing this musical, Feinman and Wilson volunteered at an assisted living facility for memory care. “Just as many times as we would leave crying, we would leave laughing.  Where there’s sadness, there’s joy. That’s a fundamental belief of ours,” says Feinman.

Feinman is proud of the fact that the musical’s creative team was all female, under 25, and included women of color. “Cassie and I are from very lucky backgrounds, we are hyper aware of the advantages we’ve had, and we have no interest in doing anything besides trying our best to be inclusive and to use what we’ve been given and share,” she explains.

Her other production this past summer, Reflux, is an absurdist comedy in a dystopian world where a man and woman are paired together randomly, and sent by boat to navigate the ocean to the honeymoon island where they must have sex. They try to figure out what sex and marriage is and how it fits into society’s expectations spoonfed to them since birth. 

In Reflux, the couple is played by two gender non-conforming people of color. “We have all seen the man-woman romantic comedy and I was really interested in disrupting that whole Adam and Eve archetype… I’m interested in centering historically marginalized places and including people who have historically been disenfranchised by the institution of theatre. That’s not something that I’m looking for applause for. I just think it needs to be more of the norm,” says Feinman. Generally, she is drawn to art that disrupts and is different than anything she has seen previously. She was greatly inspired by the musicals Hamilton, In the Heights and Fun Home.

PHOTO BY HAYIM HERON

Feinman is not afraid of laying bare her creative work.  “I don’t think you could fail if you try. This summer, if both of the shows were flops, that wouldn’t have been a failure to me. The failure would’ve been chickening out and saying that it would be too much to do in one summer,” she contends.

Feinman is living her dream career. “I’ve only ever wanted to be a writer. To be a songwriter was one of my early goals as a young girl but I don’t know how to play any instruments. In writing musicals, I’ve been able to call myself a songwriter. I’ve always wanted to be a poet and in writing plays, I’ve been able to do that.  I’ve always wanted to collaborate with artists I admire and I’m getting to do that now. I’m so happy,” she concludes.