WASHINGTON, D.C. — A local student will have the opportunity to study political philosophy in Washington, D.C. this summer, gaining first-hand experience with the world of politics.

Matthew Hogan, Jr., a graduate of Saratoga Springs High School and a rising senior at Villanova University, was accepted into the Hudson Institute Political Studies 2023 Summer Fellowship, where he will spend the summer studying political philosophy.

Hogan is one of 54 students from colleges across the country who will attend the program.

The Hudson Institute fellowship involves the study of political thought and public policy, with students participating in “courses led by master teachers, policy workshops directed by field experts and experienced government officials, and a distinguished speaker series of exemplary figures from public life,” according to the Hudson Institute website.

Hogan is a double major in political science and humanities at Villanova, and also holds a double minor in Italian and French. He said he enjoys studying political philosophy to help learn from the past.

“I like the study of political philosophy because I think we can learn a lot from the past to help combat issues and problems that we currently face, and in the future,” said Hogan.

He said the experience in D.C. will be valuable, and said he is looking forward to meeting new people and making connections.

“That’s one of the points that I’m most looking forward to about this program,” Hogan said. “Because I could just spend the summer here, reading political philosophers on my own if I really wanted to, but it’s that interaction with other people. … I want to be in the office, doing stuff, and interacting with people, because I just appreciate that a lot about life.”

“We’re very thrilled for him,” added Matthew Hogan, Sr., Matthew’s father. “He’s going to meet with a lot of people from D.C. that are in the political realm.”

Hogan Sr. is also an alum of Villanova, and said it is meaningful to see Matthew succeed at the school, saying he is “a phenomenal kid.”

“I’m thrilled he goes to Villanova, because that’s where I went,” said Hogan Sr. “The way I always describe him is, he got my wife and I’s best qualities without getting our worst qualities.”

To apply for the fellowship, Hogan wrote an essay detailing why he wants to study political philosophy, and also submitted a writing sample and a letter of recommendation along with his resume. After going through a phone interview, he was accepted into the program. 

“I’m very ecstatic about it,” said Hogan. “Political philosophy is one of the fields that interests me the most. Accruing hard data, or quantitative data, is an important aspect of political science, but I also think that there’s a lot to be derived from the theoretical realm as well. You can’t just stay confined to the quantitative. I think you have to venture out into the qualitative and kind of incorporate them both together.”

While Hogan said he is unsure of his career aspirations after college, he has been gaining a wide variety of experience. In addition to the Hudson Institute fellowship, Hogan has studied abroad in France, and will spend the fall 2023 semester in Bologna, Italy.

“I’m directly enrolling in the University of Bologna, and I’ll take all my political science classes and humanities, which is my second major,” Hogan said.

He said his variety of experiences are his way of “feeling out the waters,” and said he hopes to have an idea of his career plans as the year continues.

“I’ll just be in the town, so I’ll just be able to fully immerse myself, which will be a challenge, but nonetheless, I think it will entail a lot of personal growth,” said Hogan.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Builders Association, Inc. has awarded two student cash scholarships. One is the annual SBA Scholarship for $1,000 and the second is the annual “Bob Best” Memorial Scholarship, also for $1,000.

Alexandra Coffinger of Greenwich was awarded the SBA Scholarship. Alexandra is a senior at Schuylerville High School and will be attending Millersville University to pursue a career in Construction Management. 

Zachary Pingelski of Mechanicville was awarded the “Bob Best” Memorial Scholarship. Zach is a senior at Mechanicville High School and will be attending Hudson Valley Community College to pursue a degree in HVAC.

The Saratoga Builders Association makes these student scholarship awards available annually to high school seniors or college students who are planning to pursue a career in the construction industry. 

BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa High School seniors were presented with a safe driving message during the days before the Senior Prom on June 3, encouraging them to avoid accidents caused by distracted or impaired driving.

A simulated crash demonstration took place on May 25 in front of the school in the bus loop at 9:45 a.m. Several students, as well as various emergency responders, participated in the event. 

The event was coordinated by the BSHS Administrators and Deputy Pedro Garcia, the school resource officer, with assistance from Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo and area emergency responders. 

“This is a great program to teach kids about everyday safety involving distracted or drunk driving, but especially around the prom when these things become more prevalent,” read a statement on the Ballston Spa Fire Department’s Facebook page. “Thank you for your support and we hope this conversation continues at home, as we hope this drill never becomes a reality for any of us.”

The BSFD thanked Mangino Chevrolet Buick GMC for donating cars used in the demonstration. They also offered thanks to the Community Emergency Corps, the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, Ballston Lake Emergency Squad, Malta Ridge Volunteer Fire Company, Armer Funeral Home, and the BSCSD administration.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Maple Avenue Middle School honored longtime band teacher Rose Marie ‘Ro’ Koch on Thursday, hosting a concert at Trombley Auditorium in Koch’s memory.

Koch taught in the district from 1977 to 2008 and passed away in 2009. The concert was highlighted by the sixth-grade band’s performance of “The Gift Forever Ours,” the world premiere of a piece commissioned by Koch’s sister, Lynne Cooke, in her honor.

Jonathan Doyle, music teacher at Maple Avenue Middle School, said he was first taught by Koch at age six, and said the concert was “a good way to honor her memory.”

“She was a sixth-grade band teacher herself, so we just figured that would be a good way to honor her memory and celebrate her life in that regard,” said Doyle. 

Doyle said he also took piano and clarinet lessons with Koch. He eventually began working alongside Koch after being hired as a music teacher at Maple Ave in 2003.

“So she was my piano and band teacher for several years, and then in 2003, I came up to interview for a position in the school here, and she was on the committee that was interviewing me,” Doyle said. “She gave me a huge hug when I came in the building, and when I got the job, we were working together.”

Doyle’s experience was just one of “thousands” of students who were influenced by Koch and her love of music. Doyle said Koch taught elementary band lessons, traveling to various elementary schools in the district, before becoming the sixth-grade band teacher at Maple Ave when it originally opened.

Koch established the Saratoga Schools Low Brass Club, and traveled often, visiting more than 40 countries. She was also a passionate Girl Scout leader and volunteer, and was a recipient of the Thanks Badge, the highest volunteer honor in Girl Scouts.

“Easily thousands of kids had her, either as a band teacher or general music teacher,” said Doyle. “She just always had this very friendly and joyful way about her. A great laugh, always encouraging. Just trying to get kids to really have fun with music and really love it.”

He said Koch was remembered by colleagues as being “very generous of spirit and laughter,” saying several retired co-workers returned to attend the concert.

Doyle said students were excited to perform the piece, saying it is “a gorgeous piece of music.”

“The first time I heard it, it was just a computer recording, but I could see the potential in it,” said Doyle. “Once we started playing it with the whole band, and got all the pieces together, it’s a fantastic piece.”

Doyle also stressed that his students worked “really hard” to bring the performance to life.

“They’re very excited about the fact that they are premiering a piece that has never been performed anywhere else in the world,” said Doyle prior to Thursday’s performance. “The whole idea of this world premiere is very exciting for them.”

Doyle said that ultimately, he feels the concert was his way of repaying Koch for helping guide him on his current path.

“If it wasn’t for her pushing me to always be a better musician, and supporting me through college and through my career, I would not be here right now,” Doyle said. “I see this as my culmination of being able to tell her, ‘Thank you so much for giving me an incredible role model.’”

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A class of 23 local leaders graduated this week from the Leadership Saratoga program. Sponsored by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, this award-winning program is dedicated to the development of leaders who will serve their communities today and in the future.

The first Leadership Saratoga class graduated in 1986, and the program has since assisted in training and educating more than 600 leaders in the Saratoga community.

This year’s graduating class was honored on Wednesday at a ceremony held at Anne’s Washington Inn in Saratoga Springs. The class includes Matthew Cohen of Skidmore College, Andrea Cole of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, Denise Czerpak of Polyset, Katelynn Ethier of The Wesley Community, Scott Gresens of National Grid, Leon Herrera of Quick Response Restoration, Kylie Holland of Curtis Lumber, Brittany Hoosier of AIM Services, Inc., Joseph Juracka of Smiles for Life Dental Care, Stephen Licciardi of Stewart’s Shops, Nick Marchese of ADNET Technologies, Kathryn Marsh of Double H Ranch, Donna McCarthy of Business for Good, Megan Rabbitt of Wellspring, Barbara Reyes-Conner, Daniel Roohan of Roohan Realty, Lucas Ruglis of J.P. Morgan, Christopher Shiley of Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Thomas Tiberio of EOS Technologies, Jessica Valcik of CAPTAIN Community Human Services, Tracey Wardwell of Capital Bank, Kevin Weaver of Saratoga Eagle Sales and Service, and Dustin Wetzel of Bonacio Construction.

Each year, members of the Leadership Saratoga class work on projects intended to create impact in Saratoga County. The 2022-2023 class helped The Academy for Life-Long Learning, provided support for the Friends of the Saratoga Springs Public Library and assisted Wellspring with a countywide labor and employer connection project as well as CAPTAIN Community Human Services with a countywide transportation solution.

The purpose of the Leadership Saratoga program is to inform and educate members of the community who want to ensure its success by giving of their time, talents, energy and expertise. This is often in a volunteer capacity such as serving on a board of an impact sector organization, a board of education, a land use board or becoming an elected official. 

Applications are now being accepted for the 2023-2024 Leadership Saratoga program, which will run from September 2023 to May 2024. The application period, including interviews, is open through June 23. 

Anyone interested in learning more about Leadership Saratoga or considering applying to be a member of the class of 2023-2024 can visit LeadershipSaratoga.org for additional information. 

BALLSTON SPA — TCT Federal Credit Union recently presented Barbara McCune at Wood Road Elementary School with their Teacher of the Week award. The award is based on personal nominations sent in from students, parents and peers. This award is a public recognition award recognizing those who are effective, caring and provide outstanding results observed by the school community, the students and their families. 

As a Teacher’s Aide in the Special Education classes, Mrs. McCune treats every student like they are her own child by caring for their individual needs. According to her nomination, she makes each student feel important and heard. Parents love and appreciate everything that Mrs. McCune does for her students at the Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa. 

Jeannie Dickinson, Community Relations Manager at TCT FCU, visited the school to announce the award and congratulate Mrs. McCune. This recognition comes with a plaque, some prizes and gift cards from TCT FCU. This award is sponsored by Adirondack Broadcasting and TCT Federal Credit Union as well as supported by businesses throughout Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties.  

TCT FCU is a huge supporter of both the students and school staff in the Ballston Spa Central School District, providing not only this award but also financial support for the district’s community literacy initiatives, Sponsor-a-Scholar program and the Scotties BackPack program during the past year. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs City School District hosted the Knowledge Matters Campaign on May 16 and 17, allowing members of the campaign to view the district’s literacy work with the American Reading Company.

Members of the Knowledge Matters campaign sat in on classes, and held roundtable discussions with both teachers and students about the impacts of the district’s new ELA curriculum, ARC Core.

The district adopted the ARC Core curriculum at the K-2 level prior to the 2021-22 school year, and has begun to see the impacts. Dr. Michele Whitley, the district’s Director of K-12 Humanities and Elementary Instruction, said a committee of roughly 50 people chose the curriculum after reviewing elementary literacy programs under their curriculum renewal cycle.

“They selected American Reading Company because it is a program that builds knowledge in students, along with engaging them in learning reading and writing,” said Whitley. “Our teachers are very focused on skill-building, and teaching children how to read. But this particular program also came with a plethora of resources to help engage children as readers.”

Barbara Davidson, executive director of the Knowledge Matters Campaign, said that the idea of the campaign is to advocate for “restoring content into the elementary curriculum in particular.” Campaign members travel to school districts across the country to showcase schools that embrace “strong, knowledge-building criteria.”

Davidson said in past years, curriculums have focused on reading comprehension skills, such as comparing and contrasting, and inference. However, she said these skills “can’t really be taught in isolation.”

“What we know now is that it’s really so much more important the knowledge students bring to the reading,” said Davidson. “So if they encounter a word that’s unfamiliar to them, they may be able to learn to sound it out, and that’s important. You need good curriculum that’s teaching them how to do that. But also, they need to be able to make meaning out of those words. That takes them knowing about the natural and social world.”

Whitley said that the district is seeing reader engagement and students’ writing skills increase, saying, “We’re really proud of the work teachers have been doing.”

“As we’re in the second year of the implementation of it, we’re seeing our students’ love of reading, and reader engagement, soar,” Whitley said. “Their writing skills have really blossomed, and their stamina has increased greatly.”

Dr. Lisa Cutting, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, said the curriculum provides consistency across the district’s six elementary schools.

“You want to be able to provide a consistent curriculum, so students know what to expect, and also so that the middle school knows what kids are coming in with, and what they have been exposed to,” said Cutting.

She also said that the program helps teachers better track the progress of their students.

“If you asked any one of those teachers, they could tell you the same thing about their students,” Cutting added. “I can’t reinforce enough the availability of resources at their fingertips.”

Davidson said the amount of student engagement stood out when observing classrooms, as well as the instruction from teachers.

“I’ve seen some pretty amazing instruction,” said Davidson. “There’s not a classroom that we’ve walked in, whether we’ve stayed for an hour and watched a whole lesson, or whether we popped in for 15 minutes, where the kids haven’t been so on fire with what they’re learning. … You saw 100 percent of these kids involved in the lesson.”

She said allowing the teachers to simply focus on delivering the curriculum, rather than also having to develop it, allows teachers to deliver higher-quality lessons and instruction.

“Back in the day, we asked teachers to write these lessons themselves,” Davidson said. “Come up with this curriculum, figure out the texts, figure out the topics, figure out how it is you’re going to go about delivering it. Now, we’re saying, ‘No, let people whose job it is to do that develop that curriculum.’ You become a master at delivering it. That’s what we’ve seen here. They’ve just mastered it.”

Whitley noted it was great to hear the teachers’ feedback, saying they “have worked so hard to adjust to the new normal in school.”

“They’ve collectively worked hard to embrace this curriculum, and the change that they see in their students,” said Whitley. “That is hard work, so it’s so awesome to sit here and listen to their perspective.”

Cutting said that while a new curriculum was “a very, very big lift on top of the pandemic,” it has provided valuable support for students.

“I think it worked out very well to provide that support that they needed, and that push and that rekindling of the love of reading, and writing, expressing yourself, after the pandemic,” Cutting said.

“We want our children to be readers, learn how to read, love reading, but also build knowledge along the way,” said Whitley. “We know that there’s a knowledge gap in the nation, and we want to be addressing it through the work that we’re doing in our schools today.”