growing up

The Joy of Growing Up Here and the Beauty of Returning Home to Chappaqua

April 20, 2020 by Megan Klein

The Sense of Community ‘Boomerangs’ Feel has Been Heightened During this Time of Coronavirus

Chappaqua, NY — Townies. Every town has them. Here, maybe they are those who frequent The Kittle House every weekend for brunch or those who go to Wednesday night summer concerts even when it’s raining and they’re held indoors – the loyalist of fans.

What many people don’t realize is that each town is made up of the Real Townies, the Boomerangs. The people who were born and raised, scored their first goal, had their first kiss, went to prom and graduated from high school all in the same town, returning so their kids could do the same.

Try imagining Chappaqua without a nail salon or pizza place around every corner. It’s hard, but that’s what these Boomerangs had to grow up with. They had Family Britches for their suit needs and Lickety Split for their sweet hankerings.

Of course, ever since COVID-19, we have all been living like a Boomerang without having access to the nail salons or the luxury of walking into Lange’s and seeing everybody we know. Despite losing all of our typical routines and days, it’s not so hard knowing that we are living in an incredibly united community.

Just look at how the town came together to help raise funds to support local restaurants and healthcare workers. Within a week, we were able to raise over $60,000. It’s now been almost a month and over $100,000 and 3,000 meals have been provided!

Eileen Kloper Cohen, a Greeley graduate and current Chappaqua resident, is grateful to be living in a community like ours in a time like this.

“I see many Facebook groups formed quickly to contribute to the critical mask making efforts. People sharing sewing machines, fabrics, elastics and other supplies to help in this. I see a new Chappaqua Facebook page to help others in our town with information which has been changing each day. Where to find specific items that are hard to find, where you can drive up and not get out of your car, and things like that. I do see people pulling together and trying to help one another.”

I personally had a hard time growing up understanding the “hype” around living here. I’ve grown up in a house that is 1.2 miles down the road from my dad’s childhood home. I’ve heard about the ‘crazy’ times my dad and his friends had at ‘that house’ down ‘that road’ on ‘that night’ back in the 80’s. I’ve asked my dad, why? Why do we live here, when we could be living anywhere else?

His answer was simple. “It was nice to have my parents be able to babysit whenever I wanted.” Good one Dad. Besides that perk, the proximity to the city and the memories of his great childhood made him realize that’s what he wanted his children to experience too.

Although most can’t imagine leaving their childhood home to simply relocate to a new one down the road, lots did it.

One of those kids was Cohen, Greeley ‘85. “I thought I was leaving not to be back except to visit my parents. We ended up buying a house from somebody who I used to carpool with to religious school and I ended up moving a mile and a half from my parents.”

While raising three kids here, she watched the town grow bigger, more organized and backed with more community support. Most importantly, Cohen wanted her kids to experience the amazing, competitive education that she did.

“All the reasons people choose to live in Chappaqua now are the same reasons people did back then.” And like her daughter’s senior musical production of High School Musical this year said, “we are all in this together!”

Julie Langer Lowitz (right) and her best friend Cathy Volpato Forstl

Julie Langer Lowitz, Greeley ‘84, is yet another local who gravitated toward Chappaqua because of her parents and how much she loved it as a kid.

The sense of community that Chappaqua provides in times of need, such as power outages or bus stop emergencies is Lowitz’s favorite part about raising a family here.

“We have met so many wonderful people since 1995 when we bought our house – they feel like family…”

Naturally, there are differences in the childhood memories of someone who grew up here now versus then. Lowitz noted the increase of traffic, houses and people, and Cohen mentioned the build-up of developments such as Hardscrabble Lake and Random Farms – which makes me wonder, where did people go trick or treating back then without those two?!

In terms of socializing, Cohen reminisced about the Wampus Pond parties, seeing bands play or simply meeting in town to get candy. Now, “it seems as if people need to be more stimulated,” to have fun.

Eric Green, ‘88, moved back for both the sense of community and the schooling, and he feels as if our town’s school does a great job of embodying both of those things. “Greeley is one of the most unique high schools anywhere… [It] recreationally, educationally and socially [gets] you prepared for what is next,” he said.

What’s next for the upcoming generation of Boomerangs? We’ll see.

I for one, couldn’t wait to get out of town when I was growing up. I was tired of being surrounded by the same people and hearing the same things. However, after going away to college, each time I come home I love it more and more. I started to think, “Oh man, I’m going to end up here, aren’t I?” Mom, Dad, start looking for houses about a mile down the road; you’re not getting rid of me that easy.

As for now, I’ll just savor each moment I return. And until I can leave my house again, I guess I will savor each moment that I am quarantined here! Soon, I will be able to see everyone I know in the Walgreens parking lot, get french toast from Le Jardin and of course, a Klein sandwich from Lange’s.

One Last Lap: Saying Goodbye to 13 Years of Chappaqua Sports

June 3, 2017 by Gillian Hand

Walking through Chappaqua on a Saturday morning, you see bright green specks spread out across the Recreation Field. It is a team of AYSO kindergarteners, featuring miniature players with uniforms down to their ankles and stubby shin guards strapped to tiny legs. Among the mass of little athletes, you spot a girl standing off to the side.

She sprouts curly pigtails from the sides of her head, sports her very first pair of cleats, and holds a bright pink soccer ball in her small hands, although she has no idea what to do with it yet. Right now, all she can think about is her own excitement. She has no idea how busy, crazy, and extraordinary her life will become after these very first moments of her Chappaqua sports career.

That girl is me. Thirteen years later, I am not much different, even after a whirlwind of sports, teams, practices, games, coaches, teammates, schools, and memories.

For as long as I can remember, I have been playing sports in Chappaqua. I have hit almost all of them–soccer, track, basketball, lacrosse, softball, swimming, tennis–and have proudly worn the names of Chappaqua and Greeley across my uniforms.

I always wanted to be doing something, and luckily for me, I always had a home on a Chappaqua team.

Things changed, naturally; these past few years, it became less likely to find me on the upper soccer field at Gedney Park, but much easier to catch me warming up on the Greeley track or out on a run around town. Even so, Chappaqua sports are among the most defining aspects of my 18 years in this town. In this ode to the crazy schedules, amazing memories, and incredible friendships that went along with these many years of sports, I can finally say thank you.

As I near the end of my ninth and final season running for Greeley, I find myself struggling to describe just what track did for me. Despite being an individual sport, track is united, supportive, and team-centered; the friendship I feel for and from my teammates is unparalleled, and it is this camaraderie that has kept me coming back each season.

We train and compete together, and we savor all that the experience has given us, championing each personal athletic achievement and celebrating the relationships that got us there. Looking back, these connections were there every step of the way, from the track to the field and beyond.

Of course, my athletic experience was not perfect. There were injuries. There were bad moments. There were times when I lost my confidence, and others when I questioned my participation altogether. Really, I was never the best at what I did. I was never the athlete you noticed, the girl who stood out amongst her teammates and competitors.

But on the eve of my graduation from Greeley, everything looks different. As the things that I thought would last forever become “lasts” themselves, I choose not to remember the negatives. How could I? I have so much to be thankful for. It was a wild ride, and I would not change a thing.

For me, the ending is perfect. Greeley track and field won the League Championship, and I am coming full circle with one last season of soccer on the coed high school AYSO team. However, it is bittersweet. It is certainly not easy to walk away from 13 years of Chappaqua sports. Somehow, the fields at Gedney Park will always belong to me. The Greeley track will always feel like home, even when it is being reconstructed.

And when I walk through town on a Saturday morning and see young athletes running around in front of their cheering parents, I will think about the incredible years they have ahead of them. It is their turn now.

While I am excited for what lies ahead, part of me will always be here, in a green uniform three sizes too large, kicking my pink soccer ball around the field next to Town Hall. And who knows? Over college breaks, you just might catch me on a run around Chappaqua. Some things never change.

Farewell, Sweet Swing Set

June 3, 2017 by Daniel Levitz

The gardeners took down the swing-set the other day.

Laurie and I had been talking about removing this once vital backyard play-center for at least a year, our main motivation being that it’s under-utilized as our kids have gotten older, and years of Chappaqua weather put a beating on the old wooden war-horse.

Also, my daughter’s best friend is something of a champion swinger and still uses ours. The thought of him pushing the set to its final strained limits and potentially flying feet-first into my already not thrilled neighbor’s yard is not appealing. I’m generally a pragmatic person yet the thought of the swing-set ending has made me reflect upon this slight, yet distinct, turning point for our family.

When the big swing-set was installed years ago the kids were not just a little excited. There were huge plans for the club-house area, big-kid solo climbs up the ladder, the glory of three chain-linked swings (two full, one baby) and, of course, The Orange Slide of Destiny. The first thing we did was set up the kiddie-pool (first of dozens) at the bottom of The Slide. The immediate gratification of sliding head-first, feet first, laying on one’s back, the kowabunga surfing pose, any way at all with the resultant explosive splash was thrilling for the kids (and us)!

Even better, the swing-set became a destination for all of us. The kids could play independently in an old school (no screens!) visceral manner, learn safety lessons and, best of all, we could sit and watch, read and watch, eat and watch, maybe even have a drink and watch. You get the picture.

Before we moved to Chappaqua from the city the thought of being excited about having our own swing-set was something I’d never considered nor cared about in the slightest. Going to the neighborhood park and swinging the kids was a simple pleasure of city living. However, as the Manhattan to Westchester culture-shock ensued I realized that my urban perspective would need some tweaking if I was to adjust to a bucolic life. I remember walking into town with my daughter in a Baby Bjorn, something I’d done a thousand times with both kids in the city, and feeling that somehow this was different. And, it wasn’t only because there weren’t yet sidewalks on 120, and people seemed to be staring.

Part of the conversation about removing the swing-set was what to do with the physical space it once so organically filled. That got me thinking about what I might want as the kids get older. Before Chappaqua I may have envisioned being a gardener Dad. The previous owners left us with a gorgeous cornucopia of flowers, trees and bushes. The thought of working in the yard, being outside and physically maintaining my property was highly appealing. In theory at least. A wise Chappaqua friend quickly advised that doing one’s own yard was “too much work.” I’ll just reiterate that it was the gardeners taking down the swing set recently, not yours truly, so that particular Dad vision faded quickly.

It’s funny how you find yourself reflecting upon something as simple as removing a piece of playground equipment. I texted my son at college and asked him for any memories of the swing-set and I was sure it would be some near miss compound fracture or some crazy sport he invented. His surprising response was remembering coming home from sleepaway camp, sitting on a swing alone and feeling not really sure what to do with himself. Certainly not the image I expected but somehow connected to my swing-related contemplation.

I never really seriously questioned our decision to remove the swing set. I did manage, as I do sometimes, to consider the meaning of these little practical changes in life and found myself thinking a bit about my two great kids and how they’ve evolved. Raising children can really fly by and the symbolism of this small event somehow struck a chord with me.

I envisioned the nuts and bolts being taken out of the foundation of the swing-set, and the hard-weathered wood gently laid upon the ground, leaving a sentimental skeleton of a once thriving play-center that was so central to my family’s life.

I could hear the background music, think “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day or “Cats in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin, playing as the deconstruction slowly occurred. However, this semi-emotional Viking-funeral fantasy was quickly obliterated when I watched the gardeners take the whole thing down in about two minutes with a chain saw… an emotionally sobering moment for this Dad and probably just in the nick of time!

Here’s to “Love Beyond Measure” and a PRESSURE-FREE Valentine’s Day!

January 29, 2014 by The Inside Press

I’m not here to argue that Valentine’s Day is a made-up commercial holiday that exists only to remind singles how sorry they are to be alone. In fact, it’s been around for perhaps some 1500 years–WAY before Hallmark ever existed. It’s not the romantic pressure of needing a “Valentine” that bugs me, but it’s the inevitable and underestimated and underreported social pressure in our schools while growing up that left me with a heavy heart on several Valentine’s Days.

In my otherwise happy-go-lucky life as an elementary school youngster at Roaring Brook, there were three occasions that gave me anxiety: 1) sporadic lice epidemics, 2) school play auditions, and 3) Valentine’s Day. Each year, with a stern expression, my teacher decreed that if we hand out any Valentines, we must hand them to everyone in the class. We also took home letters to our parents outlining this directive.

I basically agree with the premise: Every child should have the same number of Valentines so there is no one feeling left out. However, little did I realize, an arms race would ensue as to who could come up with the biggest and best Valentine. When I realized my Hershey Kiss taped onto printer paper heart cutouts could never measure up to my classmate’s six-dollar goody bags packed with Godiva chocolates galore and custom decorated cookies, I felt embarrassed by my own creations.

While I understand and appreciate the attempt at fostering equality here, it really just permanently etches materialism into kids’ vulnerable minds and puts pressure on parents to not let their child be outdone. To avoid this issue, I suggest that teachers have children write cards in the classroom using the same art materials to work with. It’s not like they don’t get enough candy on Halloween.

In middle school, the Valentine dilemma became only slightly less daunting. Some homerooms allowed students to exchange cards, but I don’t recall it as a concern. Even so, there was a new, perhaps greater problem looming: kids started dressing up super wacky for Valentine’s Day. Instead of your average red shirt, the halls of Seven Bridges were a swarm of colorful knee socks, pink boas, tiaras, heart-shaped sunglasses and layers upon layers of beads.

While this was festive and fun, it also seriously promoted cliques. It was up to you to establish a group to match with and shop for gear together, and dressing up alone signified being a loner. At an age where cattiness is at an all-time high, you can imagine how being left out would feel. Buy $30 worth of pointless tchotchkes solely to suggest your membership in a group? Now I’d say, no way! Then I’d say it was a requirement.

Fast forward to high school. The rule established in elementary school had disappeared and turned into the opposite: Valograms. They’re a great idea, as they fundraise for the American Heart Association, but they’re also a downright popularity contest. Each year, one purchases a number of “Valogram” cards for their friends, and senior-class volunteer “Cupids” hand them out in classrooms, accompanied with a flower per Valogram. This is literally a public announcement of exactly how many friends you have.

There is no being discreet here, as there are flowers to show for it. It’s just like the scene in Mean Girls where Damien hands out candy cane grams, “FOUR for you, Glen Coco! You go Glen Coco! Cady Heron, one for you … and none for Gretchen Wieners. Bye!”

If someone you thought was your friend sends a Valogram to all of your friends but you, what’s that supposed to mean? What if you send one and don’t receive one in return? How disheartening! Can’t we just have a simple bake sale or dance or something instead? Oh, and students continue  to go all-out with Valentine’s Day attire, so there’s still that hanging over your head.

Despite evidence here to the contrary, I happen to like Valentine’s Day. However, I like Valentine’s Day because it celebrates love for those you care most about, whether that is a significant other, family, or close friends. I enjoy yummy treats and teddy bears as much as the next person, but I believe the love you give and receive should not be laid bare for all of your classmates to observe.

Throughout childhood and into high school, kids are quite impressionable and vulnerable. I know I was. So, rather than make some children feel less than equal among their peers, I suggest we teach our children that love is beyond measure.

Anna Bennett graduated Greeley in 2010 and is a senior at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

“Oh, the places you’ll go!”

August 16, 2013 by The Inside Press

Dr. Seuss’ words, repeated to me on the threshold of graduating elementary school and then middle school, have again begun to swirl around my mind. That book was the main inspiration for my first-ever Inside Chappaqua article back in 2010, but Dr. Seuss’ messages and motivations have stuck with me and made more sense as I’ve grown and matured. It seems rather silly, doesn’t it? A seventeen year-old obsessing over a children’s book. That’s the wonder of it all, though; our younger selves had no idea of the impact those stories would have on our lives.

Sure, there’s a huge, terrifying, wonderful world outside of Chappaqua. I read all about it in the Magic Tree House books, going on adventures and first learning about history through the eyes of two young children not so different from myself. The books of my childhood shaped who I am, the messages within staying with me and taking on new meanings as I’ve gained more experience in the world.

From Potter to Gatsby, Tolkien to Hemingway, books have always been part of me. I know that between the covers of a book I will always find escape and a place in which I can lose myself and forget about “real life” for a while. This lifelong love of reading has fueled my excitement for the first-ever Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival this October.

I am beyond thrilled to reprise my role as Inside Chappaqua guest editor-in-chief and to again work with the original “Dream Team” of Greeley writers, all of us about to enter our senior year. I thank them for their incredible work and not hesitating to be part of both this and our first issue in September 2011, and wish them all the best this year, in college and beyond. A huge “thank you,” of course, to Grace Bennett, for again providing this extraordinary opportunity, and to my family, for always being there for me. Their constant support and belief in me has increased my confidence and shown me that I have the ability to accomplish anything I put my mind to.

And thank you, Chappaqua, for being an open, enlightening community in which youth can grow and flourish. Our formative years here will no doubt influence the decisions my classmates and I make going forward; Chappaqua has played a key part in shaping who we are, and now it’s time to put all of that into the “real world.”

Our experiences growing up and the messages we’ve absorbed will stay with us forever, and help us to rise to unexpected and exciting places.

Oh, the places we’ll go, indeed.

–Lindsay Hand

HGHS Class of 2014