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Greeley

Civic Lessons from Chappaqua’s Historic Women

March 8, 2018 by Dana Y. Wu

Gabrielle Greeley Clendenin (1857-1937) & Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)

2017 marked the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York State.  The New Castle Historical Society celebrated this centennial with an exploration of the women’s suffrage movement and the life of Carrie Chapman Catt, a leading suffragist and former New Castle resident.  Visit the Horace Greeley House to view this special exhibition with displays of photographs and artifacts until May 26, 2018.

In honor of Women’s History Month, The Inside Press focuses on the contributions of these two historic Chappaqua women residents.

In her book What Happened, Hillary Rodham Clinton reflects on “the roles that gender, race an class play in our politics and the importance of empathy in our national life.” This commitment to equality and moral dignity connects her to two other famous women in our town whose civic actions years ago required fortitude, then as now. Like Secretary Clinton, Gabrielle Greeley Clendenin and Carrie Chapman Catt each shared a hope for future generations and harnessed her creative and emotional power in different ways to make tangible differences during her lifetime.

Source: New Castle Historical Society

Gabrielle Greeley Clendenin: A Generous Citizen

When Horace Greeley and his wife Mary both died in 1872, their youngest child, Gabrielle, was only 15. In 1882, her sister Ida died suddenly from diphtheria and Gabrielle became the sole owner of all 78 acres of the Greeley farm in the center of Chappaqua. Gabrielle lived as an independent, educated woman who chose to live in Chappaqua from 1881 until her death.  She resided first in the Side Hill House which burned down in 1890 and then moved to a small house where the New Castle Town Hall is now.  After she married Rev. Dr. Frank Clendenin, the rector of St. Peter’s Westchester (now in the Bronx) in 1891, they remodeled the concrete barn that Horace Greeley had proudly built 35 years earlier and gave their permanent home a biblical name, Rehoboth.  Located on Aldridge Road, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Gabrielle could have had a socialite’s cosmopolitan lifestyle in New York City or capitalized on the celebrity legacy of being the attractive daughter of Horace Greeley, the influential New York Tribune founding editor/statesman/presidential candidate.  Instead, Gabrielle was a charitable and generous neighbor, particularly to young women “in trouble” who were shunned by others, and personally aided her fellow citizens. She gave open house barn parties featuring traditional games and dances, held outdoor Sunday afternoon readings and book sharings under her father’s beloved evergreen grove and volunteered at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Pleasantville.

“Unlike her father, Gabrielle appears to have never involved herself in politics,” says Gray Williams, the town historian of New Castle. Gabrielle’s civic actions were aligned with her strong moral values and she concentrated her efforts to benefit the community where she lived.  Starting in 1883, she donated part of her land for a right-of-way to connect Pleasantville and downtown Chappaqua along what is now South Greeley Avenue. In 1902, she provided the site for the current railroad station and its adjacent town park (Woodburn Avenue is named for her paternal grandmother). She supplied the four-acre property for the Church of St. Mary the Virgin to be the first Episcopal Church in Chappaqua after the 1903 tragic death of her 5-year-old daughter, Muriel, from tubercular meningitis. A Celtic cross commemorates both Gabrielle and her husband in the family’s burial plot at the back of the Church, just north of the grove of majestic evergreen trees that her father planted a half-century earlier.

Creating A Strong Educational System

Gabrielle’s commitment to local affairs influenced New Castle’s transformation from a farm town to a suburban commuter hamlet with a prized school district where students are encouraged to think critically and actively engage in the community.  Most significantly, in 1926, Gabrielle either donated or sold on easy terms 10 acres of land which fundamentally changed the “common school” system of small one and two room buildings that only offered up to 8th grade instruction into a comprehensive school for elementary to high school instruction. Completed in 1928, the Horace Greeley School was a visual centerpiece of the town, built in native fieldstone like the Church of St. Mary the Virgin next door.

Source: NYS Museum http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/biographies/carrie-chapman-catt

Carrie Chapman Catt: A Leading Women’s Suffragist

Carrie Chapman Catt came to New Castle seeking a less hectic lifestyle as President of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) following its greatest success, the passage of the 19th amendment by Congress. Having relentless determination and perseverance with the women’s suffrage movement since 1887 in Iowa, Catt was a leading activist, a dynamic organizer, fundraiser and a brilliant strategist. Catt founded the League of Women Voters in 1919, to provide women with the tools and knowledge for meaningfully exercising their right to vote. Believing that the political process should be rational and issue-oriented and dominated by citizens, not politicians, the League of Women Voters remains true to her ideals and promotes issues of public interest over partisan politics.

In 1919, Catt purchased Juniper Ledge, a 16-acre estate between North State and Ryder Roads in the west end of New Castle and was able to pursue her great love of gardening. An article in the New York Times on June 21, 1921 described a tradition Catt had established at Juniper Ledge of dedicating certain trees to famous suffragists. One tree, for example, was dedicated to Esther Morris, a leader in the passage of the Wyoming suffrage amendment. Another was dedicated to Maud Wood Park, who was instrumental in securing the passage of the 19th Amendment and the first president of the League of Women Voters. Juniper Ledge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a town landmark in 2011.

While 2017 did not bring the inauguration of a first female U.S. President, lessons from 1915, when a proposed suffrage amendment to the NYS constitution was defeated, remind us that the struggle for equal rights up through the present day requires active participation of countless individuals at local, state and national levels. When women gained the right to vote in New York State in 1917, Catt said, “I regard the New York victory as the very greatest victory this movement has ever had in any country.” Catt’s successful “Winning Plan” of a state-by-state approach used New York’s win to propel the federal amendment forward.

“It’s a great connection for New Castle that such an important figure in the suffrage movement lived here. As the leader of NAWSA, Catt was instrumental in putting political pressure on President Wilson to support the 19th Amendment and then mobilizing support for ratification in three-fourths of the states. She is part of a long tradition of women’s rights leaders from New York from Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Betty Freidan and Gloria Steinem,” says Mary Devane, Horace Greeley HS Social Studies Department Chair.

Pursuing Justice and World Peace

Though she enjoyed her country retreat, Catt remained politically active and pursued her twin interests of women’s rights and world peace. In 1927, to be closer to the regional headquarters of the League of Women Voters in New Rochelle, Catt left New Castle and moved to a home on Paine Avenue in New Rochelle where she continued to garden enthusiastically. In her last years, she founded the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, actively supported the League of Nations and championed the newly formed United Nations.

Elevating Women

Knowing how our lives connect to Gabrielle’s civic actions and Catt’s activism can help us, as current residents, to cultivate a new generation of informed citizens in Chappaqua who combine passions with actions against prejudice and inequality. As these notable women recognized the societal issues in their contemporary culture, today we can speak up, stand firm and act generously each in our own way. Their legacy in civics gives us templates for how to build a better world and elevate the status of women.

Filed Under: Chappaqua Community Tagged With: community, famous women, Greeley, Historic women, history, New Castle Historical Society

Greeley Teachers: Looking Beyond the Classroom

June 3, 2017 by Adam Stein

Adam Stein with Greeley Spanish teacher Isabel Irizarry

In January of my junior year at Greeley, I realized that much to my consternation, I would have no Spanish class to take as a senior. When I explained my plight to Ms. Isabel Irizarry, who had been my Spanish teacher two years earlier, she immediately offered to help me do an independent study. While most independent study classes meet once every six or 12 days, she insisted on meeting twice a week to ensure I had frequent exposure to the language. Over the past year, the two of us have read novels, watched TV shows, and had discussions on American politics, all in Spanish. The immense number of hours she has dedicated to helping me improve my Spanish has left a lasting impression on me and further enhanced the extraordinary appreciation I have for Greeley’s outstanding teachers.

Ms. Irizarry’s incredible dedication to her students is not unusual at Greeley. For example, history teacher Robert Zambernardi is well-known for his gregarious personality and unmatched ability to make historical puns. But the most important thing he has taught me is how contagious passion for a subject can be. His enthusiasm is infectious, and he even encourages students to do historical research on their own through his “History IS” program, an independent-study class in which students spend a semester learning about a historical topic of their choice.

Mr. Zambernardi meets individually with these students every week to provide mentorship as they undertake what for most will be the largest research project of their four years in high school. When I took History IS last year to research the decline of communism, Mr. Zambernardi came to every meeting with an arsenal of obscure facts about both the subject matter and the professors whose work I was studying. During a semester when the stress of junior year was overwhelming, my weekly meetings with Mr. Zambernardi were something to which I looked forward. Mr. Zambernardi always leaves his classroom door open, just in case students feel like dropping by to say hello, ask a question about his course material, or vent about how college applications are taking over their lives.

Mr. Zambernardi and Ms. Irizarry are far from the only teachers who make their students a priority. Math teacher George Benack, for example, holds extra-help sessions before and after school every week for students who need them, and even comes prepared with brownies to encourage attendance.

Once, I found myself struggling with a concept but could not attend any of the sessions he offered that week. Determined to help me, he volunteered to meet with me individually after school, and then sat with me for a full hour until he was confident that I understood the material.

Greeley’s staff members have shown time and again that they will do anything to help the school’s students.

Student Life Coordinator Kristin Spillane, for example, worked tirelessly to create an “Ambassadors” program to give students who feel isolated the chance to socialize with older peers. The language department, hoping to give students more opportunities to listen to and speak their target languages, created a “language lab” with software designed to do just that. And, of course, there are the many teachers who act as advisors to student-run clubs.

Greeley teachers do so much more than ensure that students are prepared to ace their AP exams, though they are admittedly excellent at this too. They create a sense of community in their classrooms, and make their students understand that knowledge has no limits.

Twenty years from now, I probably won’t remember the equation for simple harmonic motion, that the 1720 South Sea Bubble helped Sir Robert Walpole come to power in Great Britain, or the details of the Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory (OK, I may have already forgotten that last one). What I will remember are Ms. Li’s field trips to Chinatown, Mr. Metzler’s Tibetan singing bowl, and Ms. Plate’s Band-Aid collection.

When September arrives, I will be leaving Chappaqua and heading up I-95 to the place that I will call home for the next four years. Until then, I plan to soak up every last drop of knowledge that my school and community have to offer.

Filed Under: Inside Thoughts Tagged With: Dedicated teachers, Greeley, Horace Greeley High School, Teacher Dedication, Teachers

Chappaqua Artist’s ‘No’ Logo Graphic Strikes a Chord

February 20, 2017 by Inside Press

By Grace Bennett

A Chappaqua-based graphic designer Alex de Janosi has put pen to paper to make his feelings known about what he thinks about our current president.

Alex de Janosi

“I am definitely not a political person,” says de Janosi, who graduated Greeley in 1986 and currently has one 13-year old son at Seven Bridges and a 17-year old son at Greeley, “but after a year of rubber-necking our political process on TV, it took me until a day before the inauguration to pick up a pencil and sketch a logo in protest.”

As a graphic designer who has created logos for such companies as The Bank of New York, ExxonMobil, Doosan, Chevron, Chartis, Neuberger Berman and many others, he never thought he would leverage his talents in form of a protest.  “I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The fact that Trump was actually going to be in the oval office the very next day just blew me away, so I doodled what would become this logo. Many colleagues were planning on marching and seeing their interest in my logo gave me the push to get it out there.” 

While it is critical for political candidates (and of course any brand) to have a well-executed logo to represent themselves, Alex noticed a need to have a strong and memorable logo in form of a protest as well–one that can simply and effectively capture the message. “Just like Obama had his ‘O’ logo, and Hillary had the ‘Arrow-H’, Trump needs to have a logo for us who do not agree with his policies and views to rally around.”

To this end, de Janosi has designed a logo that has been successfully catching on. “The hair speaks for itself, the short two-letter word fits nicely in proportion to where the face would be, and of course the ‘o’ can be seen as an eye. The shadow from the hair on the white letters creates a bit of dimension to the design,” says de Janosi . “One can’t say everything in a logo design, especially about one’s feelings about this president – but ‘NO’ pretty much sums it up.”

Stickers of this logo are available on Etsy and portions of the proceeds will be donated to Planned Parenthood. “The response has been amazing! Not only have I received an incredible amount of orders from Westchester, folks from California, Hawaii, Alaska, Texas and in between have been supporting the effort.” His goal is that the logo will be one “like minded folks can be proud of and display.” So if your driving along Route 117 and see a bumper with this sticker on it, know that it was not only made in America, but created in your home town!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Unfittrump?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Filed Under: New Castle News Tagged With: Alex de Janosi, Anti Trump No Logo, Chappaqua, Graphic Artist, Greeley, Logo, No Logo

Field Hockey: Greeley’s Hidden GEM

August 25, 2016 by The Inside Press

Greeley Field Hockey team wearing special pink jerseys in order to raise money for Breast Cancer research.
Greeley Field Hockey team wearing special pink jerseys in order to raise money for Breast Cancer research.

By Lauren Neff

My heart had never beat so fast. As I watched attentively to the orange ball on the end of my teammate Megan Graham’s stick, I squeezed the hands of my teammates so tightly that my knuckles turned white. We had fought Scarsdale to a 1-1 overtime draw in the Sectional Semifinals. It was time for the shootout–1 on 1, player vs. goalie. Tensions were high. Nikki Potter and Fiona Grant both managed to score on Scarsdale’s goalie. Our goalkeeper, Willa Kuhn, magically stopped three of four attempts.

It was Graham’s turn to shoot. Graham carried the ball towards the opposing goalie and with her speed, went around her and scored, clinching our win. Tears began to stream down my face. We jumped on Kuhn, then joined together in a group hug. We were going to the Sectional Finals, the first time Greeley field hockey had ever done so.

I could not have been a part of this wonderful program if I had not made the fateful decision to play field hockey in seventh grade. Like every other female athlete in town, I had played soccer since kindergarten. I had moved from the C team to the B team and eventually to the A team. One day, my friend told our group about how much fun the field hockey team is, that her sister had played and said it was a great way to fool around with friends after school. I called my dad asking if it would be alright for me to play. He responded, “as long as it doesn’t interfere with soccer practice.”

Little did we know at the time, it would cause me to quit soccer altogether. Most girls had never played a sport before, so I had a big advantage–field hockey is a lot like soccer, yet with a stick. I fell in love with the sport. Our team was terrible. We won once that year but it was FUN. As the girls mulled their high school options, I wanted to play field hockey, not soccer, and I had a much greater chance at doing so.

Unfortunately, in two years, Horace Greeley High School’s field hockey team may be extinct. This upcoming season, Greeley’s team is comprised of only juniors and four sophomores. There is a whole JV team to fill. Also, there are no cuts. Right now, besides swimming and boys tennis, field hockey is the most successful sport at Greeley. We were league champions in 2014 and made the Sectional Finals last season. With eight returning Varsity players this season plus good JV players, we expect a successful season and an even better one next year.

“When I became the Head Coach,” said Coach Sukhi Sukhwinder Singh, “ we finished 13th in the Section. The next year, we were 17th. It went to 11th, fifth, third and second…The first year, we won two awards at the Awards Dinner. I am happiest about this past year. We won 19.” Coach Sukhi was named Westchester/Putnam Coach of the Year in 2013.

Here’s the issue: Some 60 8th grade girls played for CYSC and club teams. There are three girls soccer teams at Greeley–Varsity, JV A & JV B. Each team is comprised of around 20 girls. Unfortunately, only three to four spots are open on Varsity this year. Around 15 sophomore girls will likely remain on the JV A and B teams.

So when freshmen girls try out for soccer this August, some will make a team and some will not. However, the real question is, how long will they remain on a team? Many girls will end up playing on JV for two years, then not making Varsity. History has shown that about eight to ten in a class will play on Varsity.

It is so difficult to make the Varsity soccer team here that great athletes will end up being cut from the program because of a lack of space. So what can these girls do? The answer is simple: pick up a stick. One of our Varsity players, Cat Brennan, left soccer for field hockey in ninth grade and started many games as a sophomore.

Field hockey allows every girl who plays it to succeed in some way and grow as an athlete and as a person. Whether that is scoring a goal, giving an assist, winning an award or just being there to support the team and have fun, everyone takes something away from this experience. I would have maybe lasted two years on JV soccer teams if I were lucky. In field hockey, I was called up to Varsity as a freshman. This past year, I started each game, scored 11 goals and received several postseason awards. If I can do it, so can anyone. Please join us.

Lauren Neff is a rising junior at Horace Greeley High School. She enjoys field hockey, basketball, and singing in an A Capella group.

Filed Under: Inside Thoughts Tagged With: Field Hockey, Girls Field Hockey, Greeley, Horace Greeley High School

Making A Difference

August 16, 2013 by The Inside Press

The Many Ways in which Greeley Students Help Our Community

By Rachel Schelling

Executive Leaders from Horace Greeley High School’s SADD Club.
Executive Leaders from Horace Greeley High School’s SADD Club.

You are standing in a crowd. Pushing and shoving, kids of various ages rush past you; there is an overwhelming noise, the noise of people advertising and friends chatting and officials planning. You are surrounded by organized chaos. Where are you? A circus, a carnival, a street fair? No – you are at the Greeley activity fair! The Greeley activity fair is a tradition at the high school that features one of the school’s most prominent features: clubs. At the fair, each club is assigned a booth; club members bring signs, flyers and candy to attract new members, who can sign up and get more information regarding club activities and events.

While some people just come for the sweets, clubs do gain new members this way, and it demonstrates just how important clubs are to the Greeley community; so many students get involved in this event because they genuinely care. An incredible variety of clubs, from the engineering club to Make a Wish to the opera club, can be found at Greeley. If a club does not exist, students can apply to form a new one. With such a broad range of clubs, it is easy to see why almost all Greeley students are involved in some way. The largest percent of students are members of SADD or SHARE, two of the most popular clubs at Greeley.

Don’t Be Sad, Be SADD

SADD, or Students Against Drunk Driving, is a national organization that Greeley has become a part of. The Greeley chapter aims to “raise awareness within Greeley about the dangers of drinking and driving, texting while driving, and driving high,” explained one of its presidents, Evan Baitch. This past year, SADD organized a drunk driving simulation to show the student body what happens during a drunk driving accident. SADD helped students to not only actually see what happens at an accident itself, but also to understand the ramifications of such an event.

Other events include D’s Day, where 30 or more volunteers dress up in all black and remain silent to represent the tragedies due to drunk driving every day, and the pledge campaign, when SADD gets hundreds of teachers and students to sign pledges that state that they will drive safe over the holidays; the pledges are then displayed around school to remind students of their promise. The difference between SADD and so many others clubs is that students actually pay attention to the various events SADD holds throughout the year; the Greeley chapter has really spread understanding of the many dangers of driving while under the influence or distracted, which has hopefully made a difference out on the roads here in Chappaqua.

SHARE-ing is Caring

SHARE is the largest community service club at Greeley. It includes 11 ‘projects’: the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, Casa de Lengua, the Pinwheel Project, Boys & Girls Club, Midnight Run, Bunches of Lunches, AFYA, Blood Drive, Food Bank, Blythedale, and Think Fit for Kids. These all center around hands-on involvement in helping the community. Most students involved in SHARE have a hand in many different projects. Lizzy Pott, one of the club’s presidents, said, “To me, the appeal of SHARE is its incredibly wide scope of service and the amount of involvement it influences. Countless students– including me–have joined SHARE with the intention of participating in only one project and have ended up being an active participant in multiple organizations due to the excitement and inspiration the club exudes.”

Since SHARE is so far reaching, it organizes many different events throughout the year that attract a variety of students. Some of these events include two blood drives, the Scholarship Fund’s annual spelling bee, and a night of ice cream scooping at Ben & Jerry’s to benefit Think Fit for Kids. SHARE strives not only to get students involved but also but the entire community, so keep an eye out for upcoming events!

Many clubs at Greeley are either headed by or founded by the Class of 2014.  The students of this class are involved in clubs as far reaching as Students for Social Justice and Global Schoolhouse and as close to home as the Tribune and the Quake, two of the school publications. All students in clubs have chosen to get involved in this way because they are passionate about what the clubs stand for. For those in positions of power in these clubs, there is the added benefit of leadership experience and an increased role in the actions, organization, and event planning of the clubs.

The popularity of clubs at Greeley is due to the incredible things they have to offer. Clubs give students the opportunity to explore and find their passions while making friends, learning new skills, and getting involved in something they believe in. Greeley is fortunate to be home to so many successful clubs that, year by year, work tirelessly and truly make a difference in our community here in Chappaqua as well as in the world beyond.

harold bookRachel Schelling is a senior at Horace Greeley High School. Growing up, her favorite book was Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: clubs, Greeley, Students

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