The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

residents

Lifelong Learning Through Chappaqua’s Continuing Education Program

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For more than 40 years, Chappaqua Continuing Education has created a unique community for ongoing learning. As one of the only community-sponsored, school district run programs in Westchester County, Chappaqua’s Continuing Education program invites Chappaqua residents to come together and take enriching classes on the campus of Horace Greeley High School.

Every year, about 1,200 people take classes through the Chappaqua Continuing Education program, which is a nonprofit organization run in conjunction with the Chappaqua Central School District. “Originally, the program was designed to be a give back to the community and a thank you to empty nesters for sticking around. Their children graduated, but they still lived here, and we wanted to keep them involved in the community,” states the Director of Continuing Education, Maura Marcon. The program evolved into a community-oriented opportunity that spans all ages and crosses over to people in nearby communities who do not have access to this type of programming.

An Array of Options

“The Chappaqua program is unique because it’s community based and supportive, providing a wide range of classes for just about everything,” notes Katie Goldberg who has taught art and Mahjong classes through Chappaqua Continuing Education for the past 25 years. Goldberg is right about the range of classes. This fall, Chappaqua Continuing Education will offer 90 classes in everything from art, cooking, and dance to gardening, exercise classes, finance, and foreign languages.

According to Marcon, the 10-week Spanish, French, and Italian language classes are extremely well-attended. Many people who take Spanish joined the class as beginners and have taken all four levels of Spanish together, developing friendships with one another and with the instructors. “They even socialize outside the class, going out for drinks or dinner with the instructor.”

The most social classes, the games classes, which include Canasta and Mahjong, often bring groups of friends together who want to learn something new. And the finance classes, covering topics from retirement planning and Medicare to understanding estate taxes and financial planning for women, are particularly popular with empty-nesters.

Empty-nesters and people in their late 50’s and 60’s are the most frequent participants in the program. Senior citizens from Chappaqua can receive up to a 50 percent discount on certain classes, and Chappaqua Continuing Education even offers some free classes. The single session, 90-minute classes are favorites of many 30- and 40-something residents, who take advantage of these $30 classes as a plan for an entertaining, educational night out.

Artist and art teacher Quincy Egginton isn’t only a teacher in Chappaqua’s Continuing Education program, she is a 35-year resident who raised her two daughters here. “It feels like home when I go to Greeley to teach,” says Egginton, who enjoys running into her daughters’ teachers and credits the Greeley custodial staff with supporting the work of the program.

Egginton, whose favorite class to teach is watercolor painting, is one of several local residents who teaches in this program. Even the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps runs a class on American Heart Association Family and Friends CPR. Marcon encourages any interested residents to submit proposals for classes, as she encourages the community to get involved in any way possible and is always open to new ideas and creative classes.

Making Lifelong Learning Accessible and Fun

“I love the positive feedback that I get from people about our teachers, classes and wide array of class offerings,” says Marcon, who loves her creative, people-oriented position. Goldberg and Egginton agree that their students are extremely positive about their experiences. “Many of my students have told me that I’ve made complicated, intimidating subjects easy and fun by breaking things down into enjoyable ‘bite-sized nuggets,’” said Goldberg.

Chappaqua Continuing Education offers classes from September through December, January through February, and March through June. Classes meet Monday through Thursday evenings for one to two hours. For more information about Chappaqua Continuing Education, visit their website, ccsd.ws/district/departments/chappaqua-continuing-education, or check out one of the seasonal catalogs that are regularly distributed throughout Chappaqua, Millwood, Armonk, Bedford, Briarcliff, Mount Kisco, and Pleasantville.

What New Castle Residents are Saying!

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We turned to the Chappaqua Moms forum on Facebook to ask what “sold” current residents on our town and to share reasons a prospective home buyer might also want to choose the greater New Castle area as a wonderful place to choose to raise their family. Great schools, a sense of security, a convenient commute with easy parking and compassionate, caring neighbors were recurring themes. Here, just some of the answers we received:

When we moved here, we were coming from out of state and knew nothing of Westchester. We started our search based on school rankings and needing to be on a train line that went through White plains. When we were looking at houses in Chappaqua…I was amazed at the people who were so open and welcoming and loved talking about their town….the feeling of living on a forest with wildlife all around us sealed the deal.

–Parke Anderson

Great schools with a reasonable commute into the city and getting more house, more property and more privacy for the same money as lower Westchester. I also love that we are a generous and compassionate community.

–Ann Styles Brochstein

paige schoenberg

I had infant twins and we were living in a tiny two bedroom cottage in Nyack. Something had to give. We started looking at towns in Westchester because of the train line. My sister was living in Chappaqua and I knew the schools were excellent. One weekend I had set up some time to take a look at homes in New Castle. I had the enormous double stroller and I was standing on King Street on a beautiful fall day. There were many people gathered. All of a sudden this parade starts. Tons of the cutest kids ever were marching in all sorts of costumes. There were princesses, lions, firefighters, superheroes, vampires and so on. Once I saw the Ragamuffin parade, I knew this was the town for us. My kids have not marched in that parade for years, but the memories remain.

–Ellen Davis

Girl Scouts PoliceIt is the closest you can get to living in the country while still being within commuting distance to NYC. We feel like our home is vacation. Why go to the Berkshires when you can stay in your backyard? Also it really is the best bang for your buck if you are looking for a larger lot. You can’t get as much land for the price unless you go farther north.

–Jennifer Neuren

Schools. Still reasonable commute to Manhattan. The beauty of the area. The people.

–Jonathan Birenbaum

I heard that the merchants know you by name, the town is hilly, the area bucolic and the schools are good. I had a memory of visiting my Dad’s business colleague when I was a teenager, the house on Spring Lane and Quaker Road. I remembered it was on a hill and the architecture so interesting…like a storybook home. So when my husband brought up Chappaqua because he had a colleague too who lived here, with the prior image etched in my mind, I jumped at the suggestion.

–Barbara Fine Buxbaum

sledding at gedney pic

We came for the schools, the bucolic setting and the commute. Stayed after kids finished Greeley…for the people!

–Emily Haft Bloom

We were looking for good schools, larger lot size and better values, and it felt more country than suburbs to us. –Joan Sepler Close commute to NYC, NJ, and CT. Not far from New England…it’s quiet, peaceful, secluded…more spacious than lower Westchester.

–John Nadler

I commute daily and we have two young kids so we were looking to live closer; however, nowhere felt as country-like. It is beautiful up here, a great break from the city and much less congested than many towns we looked at. We figured if we were moving to the ‘burbs, we wanted it to look and feel like the burbs.

–Amy Luparella Boyle

Schools and beautiful setting. I love Chappaqua!

–Marianna Piedra

Schools and trains. We’re a terminus and a first stop.

–Melissa Kapper Zuckerman

Schools….Less of a “rat race” than Southern Westchester. –Harriet Stillman Helfenbein We are living in a beautiful part of the country, and enjoy seeing all the wildlife we have here. It’s also a safe place to live…There are many offerings for children and adults through the rec department. I could go on and on.

–Pam Percus Rosman

rocks lady and frend and kid

I love the sense of community, the caring and sharing both within and beyond the New Castle borders, the willingness of the many and multi-talented residents to pitch in at a moment’s notice.

–Eileen Gallagher

I love that we come together to help those in need, people we don’t even know–whatever the case may be.

–Georgia Hobaica Frasch

I love the sense of community and outreach that makes us who we are.

–Beth Wagshul Besen

I love the memories I have with my children playing at “police man park” and sitting by “The Duck Pond”–two New Castle landmarks, even if the kids have changed the names a bit. I really do love New Castle. It’s made this Bronx girl feel very much loved and at home.

–Rita Madonna Santella

The Bell School (the architecture) made a terrific impression as I drove into town…I wanted to learn more. I thought the downtown was adorable, and I loved the Pocket Park.

–Leslie Pierson

Introducing Inside New Castle

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InsideNewCastle-logo-300Dear New Castle Neighbor,

After 12 years of faithfully publishing Inside Chappaqua and benefiting enormously from being an 18-year citizen of New Castle myself, I am engaging in a unique collaboration with the Town of New Castle.  Together with the fantastic cooperation of multiple departments in Town Hall , the Chappaqua Central School District, the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce and an array of other organizations from in and around town, I am thrilled to be managing a team of contributors who have been hard at work this spring producing pages for a quintessential welcome guide for families just moving into the neighborhood but useful for any one residing here already too!

It is such an exciting time when you first arrive–exploring offerings in and around town, understanding the lay of the land and forming new, life-long friendships for you and your children! There can be challenges too, so this guide is being produced as a handy free resource for present and prospective residents–and will shortly be offered to New Castle and Chamber merchants next for sponsorships too!

Inside my New Castle will be chock full of relevant information to take advantage of as a year-round reference rounding up and highlighting programming here and near, in our town and in our schools, and so capturing “The Spirit of New Castle.”  The guide will be available online too post print publication via Town Halls’s site, www.mynewcastle.org and my own, www.theinsidepress.com.

A Key Feature:  “What New Castle Residents are Saying!”

I need your help for the guide too! I would really love to hear and include what you are thinking about your years living in New Castle.

Inside the guide, I hope to include different quotes from many of you too so that TOGETHER  we can help explain to any prospective resident why choosing New Castle to raise your family is the best decision you will ever make!   Please send your comments ASAP in confidence by June 15th to insidemynewcastle@gmail.com.

–Grace

*The guide’s launch has already been made possible due to generous merchant cover support, and via the generous sponsorships of area realtors who will be distributing thousands throughout the year to prospective residents too.

*Ad space limited to quarter page spots of $550 each. Ad size: 2.5″ W x 4.22″ H.
We will include every advertiser’s name, address, website and phone number in a separate directory. New Castle Merchants will be given a first opportunity to reserve.  Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce members will receive a 10% discount on their ad!

12,000 Printed Guides Planned!
For more information about advertising* in the upcoming guide, write to
insidemynewcastle@gmail.com