The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

youth

The New Castle United for Youth EXPERIENCE

by

Two Greeley Students Describe How the Coalition’s Interns Made an Impact

By Janice Seong and Violet Christensen

This summer, a group of Chappaqua teenagers log onto Zoom and discuss youth substance use, eager to make a difference in their community. Every year, New Castle United for Youth (NCUFY) provides an opportunity for local teenagers to work on projects surrounding youth substance use and healthy decision-making through a summer internship program.

Interns meet in two-week chunks with six total work days. The first week of the internship focuses on learning skills such as data visualization and the components of successful public health interventions. The second week of the session consists of more project-based work, where we break into groups to create final projects centered around youth substance use or promoting healthy lifestyle choices.

While working as interns, we share our perspectives as teenagers and work collaboratively with our peers. Intern Ian Freeman relates that the internship offers a unique way for “youth [to] help out other youth as opposed to adults because people are more likely to listen to others that they can relate to more.” Michael Huaca adds that he got to interact with students that were “freshmen, upperclassmen, or students below [his] grade.” The internship held by NCUFY allows us to interact with other youth that we otherwise would not share classes with at school.

Last year, one session focused on finding a way for families to spend more time together during quarantine. The project produced a family cookbook; the main inspiration behind it arose from an activity in which we each had to find and present an item that reminded us of a moment we had with our families. In making the cookbook, we picked various cuisines and included recipes that would be accessible to all age groups. Another project we made emphasizing familial connections was a family craft booklet that included tutorials on activities like making bead bracelets and creating a family tree. Due to the limited amount of activities that were available during quarantine, we wanted to share engaging activities families could participate in together.

Another summer session project was a survey on what a typical weekend looks like for Chappaqua teenagers; its main purpose was to show that a typical weekend does not involve risky activities and drinking–contrary to what many teenagers may believe. Because there was not enough time to fully develop this project in the summer, we began to have weekly meetings on Wednesdays. Throughout the past school year, we reviewed the work that the summer interns did and continued working on a survey for Chappaqua teenagers to complete. The results of the survey show that a majority of the teenagers (94%) do not use substances including marijuana or alcohol on a typical Saturday. We plan on using the results to develop an infographic to share with local youth.

Alex Mancini, a summer intern involved in creating the survey, finds the weekly meetings to be beneficial. He says, “The most rewarding part of participating in the meetings is completing projects that we have been working on and putting them into the real world. Also, the idea that what we are doing could be helping someone in our community is very reassuring to think about.”

As the school year starts, students interested in NCUFY can get involved by joining the weekly Coalition Youth Leadership Council meetings held throughout the school year. An easy way to join is by emailing the Coalition Coordinator, at ncufycoordinator@gmail.com. For more info, visit newcastleunitedforyouth.org. Moreover, students can join Greeley’s SADD club, led by NCUFY member and Greeley Student Assistance Counselor Carolyn D’Agostino who works closely with the Coalition to inspire smart choices in and outside a school environment.

It’s greatly satisfying to have a meaningful impact on your community. NCUFY gives Greeley students the perfect opportunity to put our heads together and reach rewarding outcomes

Janice Seong is a rising senior at Horace Greeley High School and one of the Editors-in-Chief of the Greeley Tribune. A part of New Castle United for Youth for three years as the Youth Sector Representative, she enjoys giving back to her community and working with her peers to make a lasting impact.

Violet Christensen is a rising sophomore at Greeley and has been working with the NCUFY coalition for two years. She is also a member of Greeley’s SADD club and enjoys contributing to the well-being of the community. In her free time, Violet can be seen playing softball, volleyball, and video games.

New Castle United for Youth, a coalition funded through the federal Drug Free Communities grant program, aims to create a supportive and interconnected community for New Castle youth and their families. Each summer, NCUFY hosts an internship program for local teens to hear their perspectives and to empower them to support each other.

 

My Idea of Beauty at 19 and Now

by

Author and his wife Laurie

It was the late 1980’s and a Grateful Dead cover band was playing it hot at a local college bar. Across the room I saw her. A classic Deadhead chick in faded jeans and a tie-dye, covered with a loose peasant blouse. She was balancing a beer in a plastic cup while un-self-consciously bopping to the music. To say she was an enticing vision would be an understated lie. She was just outstanding. At 19, I probably fell in love at least twice a week but this moment stood out. I was not the type to approach a girl in a bar and I may have stared a little too intently but it definitely felt like lightning had struck.

As it turned out I eventually got to know this stunning hippy girl, just a little, and away from that moment in time the magic was gone. She was sweet and cute but there was no connection. In retrospect that moment at the bar, aside from my unwieldy 19-year-old ardor, was a great summation of my understandably naïve take on beauty.

Back then I was limited in my perception of so many things. If I were to consider my opinion of what was beautiful at that time it would now seem dated and superficial. I’ll present here, embarrassing as it may be, what might have been my vision of an ideal evening at that time even if it was, in reality, completely out of reach. I’d pick up my date (picture the hippy chick above but really into me) in my new red Porsche 944 (one of the company’s few failed models), we’d have a fine meal at TGI-Friday’s (who knew mozzarella could be deep-fried!) and then we’d head off to the movies to see the latest John Hughes teen angst flick (to this day I still don’t quite understand Eric Stoltz’s big plan in “Some Kind of Wonderful”). I know. This scenario is not appealing.

Cut to 2019 and the world is spinning wildly out of control and we the people are divided. Social media is pervasive and invasive and we’re clearly, as a society, moving forward into unchartered territory in so many ways. As for me, I’m as immersed in the chaos as anyone else but I endure and now I believe, I have a more credible and learned perspective on the subject of what constitutes beauty.

I can now see beauty in so many things that had been inconceivable to me when I was a younger man. Obviously, watching our children grow and evolve is a no-brainer but is also a profound movement away from inherent pre-kids self-absorption. Having worked for many years, I now recognize the allure of someone doing a job, any job, with commitment, honor and excellence. I’ve been fortunate enough to have unexpected friendships that make life more fulfilling and fun. I’m also lucky to still be able to compete athletically at sports I loved as a child. Not to mention the pleasure of good food be it a bacon and egg on a roll or fresh summer peach.

I can now see beauty in so many things that had been inconceivable to me when I was a younger man.

Undoubtedly, the most consistent and important aspect of beauty I’ve been fortunate to be exposed to is my wife. Laurie is the embodiment of gorgeous both physically and spiritually. I’ve known her a long time and am completely secure in our relationship yet I still have moments where I shake my head and say, “How the hell did I achieve this”? On a typical morning, she’ll get dressed for work and ask me how she looks. This daily exchange has occurred for years. My first instinct is usually to say “beautiful” because that’s the truth. However, I usually choose a more work-setting appropriate adjective. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I look forward to that interaction every day.

Way back, at 19, I had another one of those memorable moments not unlike at the bar with the Deadhead chick. A lovely girl pulled up in a funky orange European car wearing a red-sweater and blue jeans. She had stunning coffee-colored eyes that matched her long hair. My heart fluttered a bit as I caught sight of this beautiful young woman. It was years later that we got to know each other well. Of course, it was Laurie and the lesson I’ve learned is that true beauty can even transcend the naivete of youth.

New Castle United for Youth: Educating the Community on Substance Abuse Issues

by

Uniting the community and making our younger residents feel that they have a safe place to turn can be challenging, even in our welcoming town. Enter New Castle United for Youth (NCUFY). Formed in 2016 as an outgrowth of the Coalition for Youth (CFY), NCUFY is a supportive, encouraging resource that uses youth-focused strategies to promote a safe and healthy community.

The committee’s founding members, Steering Committee Chairperson Lea Barth and Steering Committee members Leslie Kuhn and Victoria Goodman, were originally members of the Chappaqua Central School District’s R21K PTA Committee. They started attending the monthly meetings of the Westchester Coalition for Drug and Alcohol Free Youth and soon realized they could re-invent the Town of New Castle’s drug prevention committees following this model. Working with members of the community, CFY applied for the federal Drug Free Communities grant which was awarded to CFY in 2016. This grant gives the Coalition $125,000 a year, renewable annually for up to ten years, to fund prevention work in the Town of New Castle.

“Our goal is to promote a positive message and help students and teens feel empowered to make positive choices. We want them to feel confident making social choices that are right for them,” says Barth. To achieve this, NCUFY brings together parents, youth, the Chappaqua School District, the Town of New Castle, police, local businesses, medical professionals, local media, religious organizations, and others to work together to apply data-based approaches to influence the way kids make social decisions.

“We are fortunate to live in an open and accepting community. Our kids have the capacity to accept the choices of others,” states Kuhn, who has helped to spearhead several initiatives to engage local teens. Last October, NCUFY partnered with the school district to bring the motivational speaker, Ty Sells, to Horace Greeley High School. Sells discussed the importance of developing positive relationships, and the value of open conversations between parents and children about drugs and alcohol. Dr. Steven Dewey, a NYU Medical School neuroscientist and researcher was another guest that NCUFY invited to speak at Greeley’s iLab and science research classes this spring. He helped elucidate the science behind the impact of drugs and alcohol on a teenager’s brain.

In addition to participating in Community Day, with a hard-to-miss, enormous “blow up” brain, and hosting a booth at the summer concerts, NCUFY funds a prevention specialist who splits time between Bell Middle School and Seven Bridges Middle School and hosts after school clubs and presentations. Goodman hopes this specialist will promote a “good culture shift and great prevention programs.”

Summer Interns Guide Future Programming

This summer, NCUFY hired two young professionals, a social worker and a counselor to run a summer teen internship program. With over 20 students participating, this group was charged with researching potential initiatives and information, as well as developing positive prevention messages that appeal to an audience of their peers. Barth enthusiastically notes that the “kids have been great.” Kuhn adds, “We have smart kids in this community, when you give them the information, they can process it and draw their own conclusions.”

The NCUFY Steering Committee lauds the efforts of the Town of New Castle, which they find to be exceptionally helpful to and supportive of NCUFY’s initiatives. The town raised age restrictions for buying vaping equipment and cigarettes to 21; smoking is prohibited in town parks; and the town has prevented vaping stores from renting space near Chappaqua schools. “Rob Greenstein is a doer. He is consistently supportive and responsive. So is Jill Shapiro,” notes Kuhn.

And NCUFY is growing. “When we applied for our initial grant, our objective was to change people’s perceptions about teen alcohol use, hopefully reducing the amount of teenage drinking,” notes Barth. Now, they are working to increase their social media traffic, to continue increasing partnerships within the community, and to get across their consistent, positive message of preventing substance use and abuse. Long-term, the Steering Committee hopes to build something that is sustainable; they want to build something that can be passed down to a new generation of New Castle’s parents, administrators, and influencers who can support this community’s youth.

While the Coalition has yet to determine whether they have encouraged a substantive behavioral change in New Castle’s youth, Goodman says, “All of this started a great conversation.” Hopefully, this conversation will resonate throughout the community.

Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester Celebrates its Youth(s) of the Year

by

BGCNW Youth of the Year finalists (L to R): Isiash Pratt-Wade, Rolando Trinidad, Eric Lopez Duarte, Tatiana Restrepo, Stephanie Trejo and Adam Campbell. PHOTO BY Ana Slaviero Werner

 

The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, founded over 150 years ago in Hartford, Connecticut, is stated as one which will “enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”

Spend an afternoon with local Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester (BGCNW) CEO Alyzza Ozer and Director of Teen Programming Athenia Lee, and you’ll see that mission in action. Arrive at 3 p.m. or so and witness area school buses rolling up to the BGCNW front door, and kids of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds jumping out, eager to take part in a myriad of the club’s after-school programs.

One such program, the prestigious High School Youth of the Year competition, recently concluded its local awards. From the six Club kids (see Finalist Group Photo here) chosen as High School finalists, Tatiana Restrepo was awarded Youth of the Year and Rolando Trinidad was named the Chris Cutri Memorial Award recipient. After this edition went to print, Tatiana competed in a state-level competition in Albany.

Alyzza Ozer, BGCNW CEO
PHOTO By James Poster

Historically, this state level sees approximately 45 competitors, each of whom has the chance to cap their previously submitted packages of background information with a prepared speech before a panel of judges. The winner of the state competition goes on to the Regional competition and the Regional finalists all get together to compete one more time in Washington DC. Ultimately, the winner in DC will begin a one-year term as teen spokesperson for all the Clubs’ members nation-wide.

How does a BGCNW member become eligible for High School Youth of Year? According to Ozer, the requirements (for any student in grades nine through twelve) are one year as a Club member plus 25 hours of community service for the year. However, Ozer is quick to point out that “most kids have much more.” She goes on to explain that the opportunities to give back to the community begin with preschool and continue on through the years, ultimately culminating in the youth leadership group known as the Keystone Club.

Keystone is a dynamic program invested in academic success and career exploration in addition to community service. With so much going on at the club at every level, it is no small surprise that Youth of the Year contenders have garnered many more years and greater hours than the basic eligibility requirements. In fact, says Ozer, “in many ways, Youth of the Year is the personification of the [BGCNW’s] club mission–academic strength, community commitment, civic responsibility.”

Adds Lee, a BGCNW Club kid herself and now, eight years into her position as Director of Teen Programming, sees herself as a mentor to all those following in her footsteps, “Some kids are eager to apply, others are reluctant and we need to encourage them. We largely let them self-select, but there’s a whole long application process and some need more encouragement than others.” She adds that, in some cases, the fear of public speaking gives pause to many a qualified student, so part of her mentoring goal is to help those students open up and trust that they have something worthwhile to share. Whether one-on-one or through some of the other Club programs, teens are empowered to find their voices.

Speaking of teen voices, I’m immediately struck by Tatiana’s poise and maturity when we are introduced. She has a firm handshake and a winning smile. Asked how she feels about her new Youth of the Year title, Tatiana thinks for a moment and then, with another bright smile, says “it’s a great honor.” She goes on to share that she’s been coming to the BGCNW for 14 years, and that the Club “shaped me as a person; taught me what to strive for, gave me confidence to reach my full potential and achieve my aspiration to go to college.”

Athenia Lee, BGCNW Director of Teen Programming
PHOTO BY Ana Slaviero Werner

In fact, Tatiana recently made her final college decision and will be attending Pace University come fall. She is proud that, like her older brother, she is part of her family’s first generation to attend college.

Cutri Award recipient Rolando is equal parts humble and proud of his honor too. A young man with a strong and confident demeanor and handshake, he too reflects upon his time with the BGCNW, saying “the Club has allowed me to show leadership and achieve my goals. In particular, Mr. Cutri has given me confidence to be strong and stand up for my beliefs.” Rolando plans to attend Manhattanville College where he will study sports business with the ultimate goal of becoming a sports agent.

National statistics have repeatedly shown that, from preschoolers on up through high school, children who participate in Boys & Girls Club programs perform better in school and make smarter life choices. Whether they are official Youth of the Year honorees or simply moving forward as more focused students, participatory community members and contributing citizens, BGCNW kids, without doubt, all deserve a round of heartfelt applause!

Check the Boys and Girls Club website, www.bgcnw.com, for the update about the state competition.

 

Greg Murray’s Star Shines at a Focus on a Cure Event for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation

by

Risng Star Awardee: Greg Murray

By Molly Alexander

Greenwich, CT – A Focus on a Cure in March was an evening of dining, auctioning and, most of all, awareness for Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative colitis for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. These diseases, like many others, are not visible on the outside so it’s difficult for many to understand the toll it can have on one’s body. While it appears invisible on the outside, it’s wreaking havoc inside.

Guests had the opportunity to hear in depth about the struggles of Crohn’s and colitis through speeches given by Jeremy Schaap of ESPN and our own Horace Greeley junior, Greg Murray. Greg was diagnosed around his second birthday with ulcerative colitis. For the past 14 years of his life, he has been meeting with doctors from different states and cities, going through many procedures and changing medications. Having his first colonoscopy at only 20-months old, Greg had all the usual symptoms of a UC patient. Since his diagnosis, Greg has been dealing with constant flare-ups: really bad stomach aches and cramps. Some days he has been better than others but despite all his pain, baseball is what has kept Greg feeling normal and continuing his life like any other kid. He’s played the sport all his life and has been dedicated to the Greeley baseball team as well.

Not too long ago, Greg underwent three surgeries over a period of five months after conventional medicine failed to help him.  Surgery restored a sense of normalcy in Greg’s life, and of course, allowed him to play in the final two games of his baseball season.

“Here I am today and I feel great. It’s a relief not having to take any more medicine on a daily basis. My dream to be able to go away to college and play baseball is now possible and I am excited about my future,” he said. For this bravery and tolerance throughout his life, Greg was awarded the 2017 Rising Star Award, and walked off with autographed gear from his favorite teams. The event raised over $550,000 to benefit the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and research to find a cure. If you’re interested in becoming involved, don’t hesitate to email Lisa Harding lharding@crohnscolitisfoundation.org or visit chronscolitisfoundation.org to find out about programs and events.

Molly Alexander, a junior in the LIFE School at Horace Greeley High School, is an intern for Inside Chappaqua and Inside Armonk Magazines this spring.