Teacher Karen Walker’s class took the lead in the festivities to celebrate the Year of the Rat. Students made a dragon out of yellow cloth, cardboard boxes, paper, tinsel, streamers and other materials. Three of them wore the costume and paraded up and down the hallway while another classmate and a staff person played homemade drums.
Congratulations to the winners of the fourth annual Rye Lake Middle School/High School Cookie Bake Off, which took place Dec. 18! Middle School teacher Jesse Fierro won first place for his mother’s Italian anisette cookies. Michelle Carpiniello, an administrative assistant, won second place for her edible cookie dough. She had chocolate chip, chocolate, chocolate chip and sugar cookie dough on spoons for students and staff to taste.
Southern Westchester BOCES’ Tappan Hill School received a new tool this year that gets children moving, helps with hand-eye coordination, requires them to think on their feet, and gets them excited about gym class.
It is the Lü interactive playground, which projects games onto the wall using a giant projector, 3D camera, and light and sound system. Tens of thousands of kids in 20 countries use the Lü technology each week, but Tappan Hill is the only school in the area that has it, according to school Principal Phyllis Rizzi.
Center for Special Services campuses were filled with cheer in the lead-up to the holidays. Students at the Decagon took part in a singalong Dec. 19. Santa Claus attended and gave out candy canes. Several students got up and danced as the band played and children and staff sang along. On Dec. 20, students and staff performed during a concert at Tappan Hill School.
For the fifth year, Culinary Arts teacher Lisa Rudner and a group of her students in the Baking, Food & Retail Service program baked dozens of gingerbread houses for Center for Special Services students to decorate and take home for the holidays. The decorating party, which took place Dec. 19, is something students look forward to each year.
“They talk about it as soon as school starts,” Ms. Rudner said.
Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Santa’s elves, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer all attended the SWBOCES Special Education PTA’s annual holiday party to celebrate the season with Center for Special Services students and families.
The Southern Westchester BOCES Special Education Parent Teacher Association invites all to attend the Annual Holiday Celebration. Due to a forecast for inclement weather the date of the celebration has been moved to Thursday, Dec. 19, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., at the Rye Lake Campus gymnasium, 1606 Old Orchard St., White Plains.
Santa and his elves will return with gifts for all SWBOCES students! Raffle prizes include a 50/50, an Apple iPad, an Acer Chromebook, a Fuji Instax Mini 9 camera and several gift baskets! Raffle tickets will also be available at the door. There will also be singing and dancing, a photo booth, crafts and games, cookie decorating and more!
Amanda Allison recently became assistant principal at Tappan Hill School, but her connection to Southern Westchester BOCES goes back decades.
Her father, Marty Sommer, was a guidance counselor at the Center for Career Services campus. She attended “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” there when she was a child, and when she was older, she brought her car to campus for students in the Automotive Technology Department to work on.
“I feel like BOCES is a second home, so it’s surreal for me to be working in the same organization that my dad worked so proudly for,” she said.
Students and faculty expressed thanks for one another and for their school at the Center for Special Services Thanksgiving luncheon at the Valhalla campus.
