The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Sanctuary

A Summer Music Day Camp Unlike Any Other!

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Music in Chappaqua’s New York Rock Academy is a Sanctuary for Campers, an Uplifting Environment where Kids & Teens Experience Self-expression, Camaraderie and a Stimulating Music Education

Angie Angier is the founder and owner of the New York Rock Academy Performance Summer Camp and of the famed Music in Chappaqua.

Chappaqua, New York–The New York Rock Academy Performance Summer Camp is back for 2022! Established by musician, educator and longtime Chappaqua resident Angie Angier, the New York Rock Academy Performance Camp, under the auspices of the famed Music in Chappaqua, is about music community and togetherness. In the wake of these challenging times we are all experiencing, Ms. Angier explains, “Now more than ever, music becomes a great unifier, an ultimate healer, and an essential element that allows campers/students to reclaim their identities, connect with their peers, and share in the joy of self-expression.”

Our New York Rock Academy Performance Camp, Ms. Angier states, “allows each camper to develop their own voice as budding artists. Here we celebrate and have a great love of every individual. We care for them, and we value their individuality. It’s a nurturing music environment where students make great friendships. It’s truly a safe haven, and a mecca for young artists.” The Academy is an immersive rock ‘n roll day camp consisting of five independent week-long sessions for aspiring rock stars.


Sessions include:

– Beatles Week
– The Ultimate ‘70s Rock Camp
– Green Day Vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers
– The Amazing Music of the Big ‘80s
– The Ultimate Nirvana Grunge Rock Camp

The structure of the Academy, with its five week-long sessions geared to specific rock eras, represents the future of the summer program, Ms. Angier says. “We stand on the shoulders of giants,” she says. “The musicians of these different decades gave us so much musical intelligence. We delve deeply into the riches they left us.

“This is really the vision for the Academy and the music school,” Ms. Angier adds. “I like the ‘deep dive’ idea into the decades of rock and roll. I think it’s a wonderful, unique approach – to cover five weeks of different periods of rock and roll.” She hopes ultimately to allow campers/students to take their expertise on the road and travel to different areas of the country, emulating the great rock musicians of decades gone by.

Music in Chappaqua provides instruction in a range of musical instruments for campers, and features a series of programs aimed at bringing out the inner musician in every child. Programs include:

• Private Lessons: Offering instruction in piano, voice, violin, guitar, bass, guitar, cello, double bass, flute, trumpet, drums, clarinet, voice and songwriting

• Rock Workshops: Ensemble play providing a practical, exciting way for students to participate in a real band in an actual band setting

• Indie Workshops: A terrific opportunity for young vocalists to find their own voice, sound and style

For more information about the Summer 2022 New York Rock Academy Performance Camp and all programs at Music in Chappaqua, Call Music in Chappaqua at 914.238.3123, contact the school via email at mail@musicinchappaqua.com, or log on to its Web site, www.musicinchappaqua.com. 

 

Wellness Garden Gives Back in the Time of COVID

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Staff members at Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) gathered in the new Wellness Garden to enjoy a bounty of summer produce, learn how to care for plants, and taste some of the first harvest.  

Vegetables from the garden will be “prescribed” to patients who face food insecurity when they are discharged.  The patients will leave the hospital with fresh, organic, ready to eat fruits and vegetables selected to meet their nutritional needs by staff dieticians.

Northern Westchester Hospital staff in the Wellness Garden

However, the garden was created to provide more than physical nourishment. It also serves as a sanctuary for hospital staff, who plant, weed and harvest the garden on a voluntary basis.

The garden is the culmination of a year-long effort on the part of Zack Couzens, who graduated from high school this spring and dedicated his Eagle Scout project to the heroes of Northern Westchester Hospital. He and his fellow scouts, classmates, family, and more than 30 volunteers built the 27 raised beds that comprise the garden. He also created a GoFundMepage that raised more than $3500 for the project, double his original fundraising goal.

Zack was inspired to give back to the hospital because of the care it provided for his family. In March 2020, his parents were among the first Covid-19 cases in Putnam County to be admitted to NWH. In the harrowing weeks that followed, his mother was released, but his father was put on a ventilator and spent three weeks in the hospital. Zack, who was born 10 weeks early, weighing only two pounds, eight ounces, also owes his life to the care he received at Northern Westchester.

“The Hospital has given so much to my family, saving both my parents’ lives, and my own,” he says. “Fortunately, everyone recovered, in large part, due to the extraordinary care my family received. My hope is that when people look back at the Covid-19 pandemic, this garden–dedicated to the heroes of Northern Westchester Hospital–will remind them of how the hospital’s staff worked tirelessly to keep the community members well.”

Northern Westchester Hospital leaders recognized that many staff were themselves recovering from their experience with the pandemic.  A Wellness, Recognition and Resilience Committee was formed to further support NWH providers during this unprecedented time and the idea of a Wellness Garden.

“The idea quickly grew beyond helping staff,” says Rebecca Martin, a committee member and the senior director of Dining Services at the Hospital. “We realized that if we built a garden of raised beds, we would be able to grow organic vegetables for the community.”

Story courtesy of Northern Westchester Hospital