CHICOPEE, MA — College of Our Lady of the Elms celebrated its 90th Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 15.  Elms College conferred 311 undergraduate degrees and 91 graduate degrees, including Kyle Powell, from Porter Corners, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. 

Elms College is a co-educational Catholic college offering a liberal arts curriculum that prepares students holistically for a purposeful life in a diverse and interconnected world. Founded in 1928 by the Sisters of St. Joseph, Elms College has a tradition of educating reflective, principled, and creative learners, who are rooted in faith, educated in mind, compassionate in heart, responsive to civic and social obligations, and capable of adjusting to change without compromising principle. 

MILTON — TCT Federal Credit Union has announced an initiative to support music education in the Stillwater and Cambridge Central Schools. “Playing it Forward” is a musical instrument drive. TCT is asking anyone who would like to donate their clarinets, French horns, violins, and any other band/orchestra instruments, music stands, cases, and more to any one of the four TCT branch locations: 416 Rowland Street, Milton; 4 Hunter Brook Lane, Queensbury; 17 Gilbert Street, Cambridge; 520 Vischer Ferry Road, Clifton Park. 

“Music can give children a way to express themselves creatively, develop social skills, by working with members of the band or orchestra, and develop stronger coordination and memory, as well as math and language skills,” said Jeannie Dickinson, Community Relations Manager of TCT Federal Credit Union. “By hosting an instrument drive, we hope to provide each music program student with their own instrument to possess on and off campus. This will allow a student to take their instrument home to practice, and the opportunity to develop their skills can expand beyond class. Our goal is to provide a variety of instruments to both school districts with needs and expand their inventory.” 

For more information on TCT visit www.tctfcu.org

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Belmont Child Care Association officially opened its new child care center at Saratoga Race Course with a formal ribbon cutting.

On Wednesday, July 14, the Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. (BCCA) hosted a ribbon cutting to celebrate the official opening of Faith’s House, the newly constructed child care center designed to serve children and families of the Saratoga backstretch community during the summer. 

Faith’s House will provide child care and early education programs to children this summer. The center will be open seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate the schedules of backstretch workers and horsemen. 

Faith’s House offers dedicated rooms for infants, toddlers, and pre-school aged children, in addition to an outside play area. 

Funded by Michael and Lee Dubb, the 4,300 sq. ft. child care center is named in memory of Faith Dubb, mother of BCCA founder and board chairman, Michael Dubb.

The Saratoga facility complements BCCA’s sister child care center Anna House, which serves families of the Belmont Park backstretch. More than 1,000 students have participated in Anna House’s programs since its opening in 2003.

The opening coincides with the annual summer meet at Saratoga Race Course, which brings approximately 950 backstretch workers and their families to the Spa.

NEW YORK — New York State Department of Health, in accordance with the CDC, has released interim COVID-19 guidance for child care, youth camps, and summer schools. 

The NYSDOH has published a 20+ page detailed guideline in accordance with the CDC’s “Guidance for Operating Youth Camps.” The guideline describes COVID-19 protocols for summer child care, day camps, overnight camps, and it aligns with the recommendations for summer school.

The CDC stated the following:

“Youth camps can play an important role in the lives of children, including supporting their social, emotional, and physical development. Camps provide opportunities for children to try new activities, develop relationships, develop social and emotional skills, and be physically active. In addition to allowing for free play and unstructured learning, many camps also incorporate educational content. The interim guidance is intended to help camp administrators operate camps while slowing the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 thereby protecting campers, their families, staff, and communities.”

For camps where everyone is fully vaccinated, it is safe to return to full capacity without social distancing and mask use. People who are fully vaccinated do not need to undergo routine COVID-19 screening either.

For camps where not everyone is fully vaccinated, the following guidance should be taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19:

Firstly, camps are encouraged to strongly promote the vaccination for eligible staff and campers, and individuals who are not fully vaccinated may still undergo screening, testing, and contact tracing. 

Mask use is still strongly encouraged indoors. Outdoor mask use is only encouraged in high transmission risk areas/situations, and masks should not be worn during outdoor water-related activities. Camps should be supportive of campers and staff who choose to still wear a mask. They may also continue to require masks, regardless of vaccination status, when it is difficult to tell who has been vaccinated, or to set an example for campers who have not been fully vaccinated. 

Social distancing will be maintained in “cohorts.” These small groups of campers and staff will remain together throughout the duration of camp to minimize exposure. At overnight camps, “household cohorts” will be made; these will be the campers and staff who are staying together in a cabin, bunkhouse, etc. Camps will take into consideration age, grade level, and other grouping factors. 

Saratoga Springs City School District released a message on their website regarding how the updated face mask protocol and health and wellness screenings apply to the school district’s 2021 summer programs.

Masks are no longer a requirement for in-person instruction or any outdoor instruction and activities. Unvaccinated staff must continue to wear a face covering indoors and children who are not fully vaccinated are encouraged to still wear their masks. All staff and students must continue to wear masks on school transportation. Social distancing recommendations are still in place, and the school will continue to use the Pinpoint Wellness screening service, per NYSDOH guidelines. The guest/summer staff and student weblink and QR code to complete the wellness screening can be found at: www.saratogaschools.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Innovation Center at Saratoga, Inc. is kicking off its programming this summer with two one-week sessions of a Roller Coaster Camp in association with Clarkson University. Camp will be held July 26-30 and again August 2-6 at the Maple Ave. Middle School. 

The camp offers rising 7th and 8th graders the opportunity to experience the creation of a roller coaster and theme park while working in small teams. Students will learn the science behind roller coasters, use Roblox to create their dream coaster as part of a theme park and visit the Great Escape to see a theme park in action. 

Camp registration includes four days of in-class exploration of physics, math, computers and artistic components as students learn to theme their parks and coasters, and one day at the Great Escape. 

The camp is based on the Roller Coaster camp developed by the Physics and Math Departments at Clarkson University. The Innovation Center educational team will be trained by Clarkson University faculty who run the camp on Clarkson University’s Potsdam campus. 

For more information visit innovationcentersaratoga.org/summer-camp.

CAPITAL REGION — As students and teachers cross the threshold from a full year of remote learning and begin to address the learning loss resulting from it, AT&T and leading national nonprofit Connected Nation are continuing work to put the connectivity solutions vital to education into the hands of those who need it most. 

AT&T has announced that it has given two local Capital Region organizations, the Albany Fund for Education and The Salvation Army of Saratoga Springs, 1,000 free wireless hotspots as well as free internet connectivity for one year. Each organization has received 500 hotspots with free connectivity. They are part of more than 100 organizations and school districts that will benefit from a $10 million commitment from AT&T, first announced last year, to provide free internet subscriptions and wireless hotspots to 35,000 vulnerable students across the country. 

The Albany Fund for Education and The Salvation Army of Saratoga Springs will distribute the hotspots to under-resourced students across the Capital Region. The hotspots come at a critical time for many students – the final months of the school year – with many students in remote or hybrid learning, and ahead of summer break, where home connectivity can be used to catch up from learning loss caused by the pandemic. Students will have the opportunity to use the free connectivity to prepare for the 2021-2022 school year and will have the connectivity available when school begins in the fall to assist with homework and other learning opportunities to position them for educational success. 

An estimated 17 million K-12 students nationwide and approximately 11,000 students in the Capital Region currently lack access to the connectivity and devices required for successful online learning. While this homework gap is not new, the pandemic has heightened the challenges – most acutely in rural and under-resourced neighborhoods, where the effects of the pandemic have disproportionately impacted 1 in 3 students of color, students with disabilities, and roughly 10 percent of all public school teachers. 

The Salvation Army of Saratoga Springs will distribute the 500 hotspots with free wireless connectivity they are receiving from AT&T to assist with the issues many students and families face with remote education and access to the internet for school. The organization will distribute the hotspots directly to families across Glens Falls, Schenectady, Troy, Albany, Gloversville, and Saratoga Springs. Providing direct access to the internet for education will allow children to set the foundation for a better, more secure future. Since the start of COVID-19, The Salvation Army of Saratoga Springs has helped serve 61,951 meals and 175,000 pounds of food, has assisted more than 50 families with paying rent and utilities, and has continued to find ways to help those in need. 

In addition to contributions to organizations like the Albany Fund for Education and The Salvation Army of Saratoga Springs, AT&T is expanding wireless affordability and flexibility for all schools in its service with unlimited wireless data plans that include content filtering services to support online safety protocols. Learn more at www.att.com/closethegap.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Essity, a leading global hygiene and health company with local operations in New York, has awarded a $2,500 scholarship to Alexandra Stilwell to attend Colorado State University Global Campus, as part of Essity’s annual scholarship program for children of employees. 

This year, students received a combined total of $75,000 in Essity scholarships to use toward their full-time education at an accredited U.S. or Canadian university for the 2021-22 school year. Since creating its annual scholarship program, Essity has given $826,00 to high school seniors and college students. 

The recipients were selected based on their academic achievements, demonstrated leadership, and participation in school and community activities, honors, work experience, statement of goals and outside appraisal. 

Essity has over 350 employees in upstate New York at its mill in South Glens Falls, converting facility in Greenwich, and distribution center in Saratoga. For more information about the company, visit www.essity.com 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Children’s Theatre (SCT) has big plans this summer for their brand-new space.

For the last 12 years, since they formed in 2008, the SCT has rented all over the city of Saratoga to rehearse – the senior center, the town hall, Saratoga Springs High School, and even traveling to Round Lake to perform. Their new, permanent space at 615 Maple Avenue has everything they need at one site: dance studios with a semi-sprung floor and full-mirrored walls, private lesson space, office space, and a black box theater. 

“It’s unbelievable,” said Leigh Berenis, Executive Director of the Saratoga Children’s Theatre, about moving into the new space. “I’ve been with the company for 6 years now, and it’s been at the top of my list. It’s kind of crazy taking on a huge space but it’s the dream.” 

They are past stage one of construction, and are fully moved in. To move on to stage two, which includes getting seating and lighting for the black box theater, they will need to keep raising money and finding grants. 

“We are a small nonprofit, and a big misconception with theater is that it’s a frivolous activity,” said Berenis. “But it’s so much more than that. It’s learning to public speak, to work as a team in an ensemble, learning in-depth about script analysis and character analysis, how to speak about and tap into your emotions. We work with so many underprivileged kids, and we don’t turn anyone away for a scholarship even if we don’t have the funds available, we will always figure it out.”

Summer Performances

SCT’s Summer Camp performances will be held in an open-air theater, under a large tent outside, that will be safer with COVID. The youngest at the summer camp, five and six-year-olds, do a basic song and dance performance every week. The 7-12 age group learn to incorporate more acting and performing techniques in their 30 to 40 min. performances, and the teens put on full-length shows.

Performances are rain or shine, bring your own lawn chair. You can get tickets at saratogachildrenstheatre.org. The schedule is as follows: 

July 9: How I Became a Pirate (12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.)

July 16: Pippin (7 p.m.)

July 17: Pippin (1 p.m. and 7 p.m.)

July 23: Frozen Kids (12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.)

Aug. 6: Dear Edwina Jr. (12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.) 

Aug. 13: Glee (12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.)

Aug. 20: Freaky Friday (7 p.m.) 

Aug. 21: Freaky Friday (1 p.m. and 7 p.m.)

The Community Market & Open Mic 

SCT has partnered with neighbors Artisanal Brew Works, Caffe Lena, RomCom Candles and 30+ other rotating local vendors for the first year of their outdoor Community Market. Community Markets and Open Mics will be at their new space (615 Maple Ave) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the following Sundays: July 11, July 25, Aug. 8, and Aug. 15.

“We hope that we can help out the community and have people here using this space all year round,” said Berenis. “It’s been a tough year for everybody and since we have the space to have a market and draw people here to support every kind of business that we can possibly support, then we are going to do it. That’s what the idea was behind the Community Market.”

There is no fee to attend the Community Market or Open Mic. The Open Mic is a way for anyone to get out and perform – children and families, poetry, or bands, etc.

In addition, Warm It Up, A donation-based low-impact workout class will be held at 9 a.m. before the Markets begin. All you need to bring is a yoga mat or towel.

Interested in being a vendor, or want to sign up for Open Mic? You can find the link to the forms onlineat www.saratogachildrenstheatre.org, or email info@saratogachildrenstheatre.org. 

CORINTH — Cornell Cooperative of Saratoga County’s Farm to School program originally launched in 2018, with the aim to connect schools throughout NYS with farms and food producers within their community to strengthen local agriculture, improve student health, and promote regional food systems awareness. Saratoga Springs CSD was the only school to partake in the first year of the grant to wildly successful results. The positive commentary surrounding the program brought three more local schools. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and with a little creativity, the outcomes continued to be exceptionally positive. 

A favorite “game” the students like to play is the “Caught Eating Your Veggies” contest. Students respond well to the fun competition and strive to gain the most stickers to show they’ve eaten their vegetables.

Corinth Central School is one of the three new schools participating in the program. Through the collaborative efforts of the Pitney Meadows Community Farm, CCE Saratoga, and Corinth CSD’s very own Food Service Director, Lisa Tevendale, Corinth’s Kindergarten–Fifth graders competed for three days in May. Ms. Haack’s third graders received 66 stickers between the 15 students to win the contest. Each student received a Seed Starter goodie bag that included a “No Farm, No Food” sticker from the American Farmland Trust, assorted seeds from Pitney Meadows, Stewart’s single scoop coupons donated by the Corinth PTSA, and Lisa Tevendale contributed the seed starter kits.

The Farm to School Grant program has been widely well-received and will continue into the 2021-2022 school year. Contact Nicolina Foti, CCE Saratoga Farm to School Grant Coordinator, for more information at 518-885-8995.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Independent School (S.I.S) celebrated its first 8th grade graduating class on Thursday, June 17. This first group of Middle Schoolers started sixth grade at S.I.S in the Fall of 2018. During the ceremony, several 8th grade students gave speeches, and 6th and 7th grade students gave a choral reading of a poem that they wrote collaboratively based on Langston Hughes’ “I Dream a World.” The ceremony ended with the students singing the School Song with a special verse composed by the 8th grade. 

Graduates of the class of 2021 will attend Emma Willard, Eaglebrook Academy, Questar’s P-Tech Early College in High School program, the AIM Academy, Saratoga High School, Burnt Hills/Ballston Lake High School, Stillwater High School, and Queensbury High School. 

In an effort to leave behind a legacy, the 8th grade class raised money to buy more books for the new middle school library. The new library was built in conjunction with the Capital Campaign to build the new middle school. The 8th graders had a goal to raise $600, and together they raised over $1,000. That money was used to purchase many new books for the library. The students designed bookplates for the new books, wrote book recommendations, and created artwork for the walls, all of which will be cherished by many students in the coming years.