(Boonville, NY – Jan. 17, 2012) The Boonville Black River Canal Museum Board of Trustees would like to announce that they were the recipients of a grant to insulate the Mercantile Building.

The grant is from The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc., the Helen Ney Best Crouse Fund.  The grant money was used to insulate the ceiling in the Mercantile Building.  The work was done by H & K Insulation, Inc. from Holland Patent.

The work was started in mid-December and was completed by Christmas.  Museum Board members and volunteers have stated that the insulation process went smoothly and they were impressed with the professionalism of the crew from H & K Insulation, Inc. as well as their work ethic.

(Utica, NY – Jan. 2012) The Mohawk Regional Information Center will host the T.H.E. Symposium VII on January 12 at SUNY Institute of Technology, 100 Seymour Road, Utica. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Kunsela Hall.

The Technology Heightens Education Symposium is an opportunity for area teachers and administrators to celebrate and share the ways they use technology as a tool to enhance student learning. Representatives from 52 school districts and four BOCES will attend the event.

At the Symposium, teachers and their students from 15 school districts in six counties (see next page) will set up demonstration booths and showcase exemplary uses of technology. Presentations will include: daily blogs by first graders; fifth-grade podcast tutorials; a remix of “West Side Story” music using Garage Band; student-built and programmed Lego robots; student-designed video games; and iPods in health education.

MORIC will also present its annual Recognizing Our Own awards to honor one outstanding teacher and student from each BOCES region for their integration of technology into the classroom or curriculum.

In addition, the Technology Playground will allow elementary students a chance to share their expertise and explore emerging technologies.

This year’s keynote speaker is Travis Allen, the founder of the iSchool Initiative, a student-led nonprofit that seeks to educate students on how to become lifelong digital learners and raise awareness about technology in the classroom. Allen will speak about “How I survive college with only an iPhone” and share his perspectives as a 21^st Century Learner. He will provide attendees with information about using SmartPhones and Tablets to engage in more effective learning. His talk begins at 9:30 a.m.

To register, visit www.moric.org.

Districts presenting at T.H.E. Symposium VII

January 12, 2012

SUNY IT

Madison County

Hamilton

Morrisville-Eaton

Oneida

Canastota

Oneida County

Rome (2)

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (3)

Oriskany

Remsen

Holland Patent

Sauquoit Valley

Herkimer County

Herkimer

Poland

Jefferson County

South Jefferson

Lewis County

South Lewis

Otsego County

Richfield Springs

(Trenton, NY – Dec. 7, 2011) State Police in Remsen arrested 23 year-old Aaron M. Ferenti, of 8415 Posey Hill Road, Holland Patent for one count of fourth-degree Criminal Mischief.

Ferenti was involved in a Domestic Dispute where he took a cement block and threw it into the front windshield of a 2007 Dodge Caliber smashing it.

Ferenti was issued an appearance ticket to appear in the Town of Trenton court on Dec. 12 at 6:30 pm.

(Holland Patent, NY – Dec. 7, 2011)  The Boilermaker Road Race is pleased to award the traveling trophies in the fourth annual Boilermaker 15K School Challenge to Holland Patent Central School Boy’s and Girl’s Teams, at the Holland Patent Board of Education Meeting. The Holland Patent Boy’s team successfully defended its title as the reigning 15K Champion. The Girl’s team unseated the three time reigning champions, Whitesboro.

Holland Patent will be able to display the traveling trophies at the school until the end of the school year. “We felt this event was a great success this year and congratulations Holland Patient Girls for unseating Whitesboro, who have held the title since its inception and the Boy’s team on their second win,” said Race Divisions Director, Kevin Copeland.

Team scoring was based on the average 15K Race finish time of the first five boy’s team finishers and the first five girl’s team finishers. The Holland Patent Boy’s Team won with a combined time of 5:08:07, an average combined time of 1:01:38, the next place team was the New Hartford’s Boy’s Team with a combined time of 5:34:19, an average combined time of 1:06:52.

The Holland Patent Girl’s Team won with a combined time of 6:25:40, a combined average time of 1:17:08 followed by the Whitesboro Girl’s Team with a combined time of 6:26:53, an average combined time of 1:17:23.

Plaques were awarded to the first five males (Cody Racha, Dylan Racha of Holland Patent, Todd Stevens of Rome, Nolan Amos of Prospect and Colin Baldwin of Barneveld) and the first five females (Leah Rice of Prospect, Shay Callahan, Alysa Hoffman of Holland Patent, Cheyenne Petrillo-Lavier of Poland and Jennifer MacMillan of Stittville) on the Holland Patent School Teams.

The following schools were eligible to participate in the Empower Federal Credit Union School Challenge: Adirondack Central, Brookfield Central, Camden Central, Canastota, Clinton Central, Cooperstown, Dolgeville, Frankfort-Schuyler, Hamilton, Herkimer, Holland Patent, Ilion, Little Falls, Madison, Mount Markham, Mohawk, Morrisville-Eaton, New Hartford, New York Mills, Notre Dame, Old Forge, Oneida, Oriskany, Owen D. Young, Poland, Thomas R. Proctor, Remsen, Richfield Springs, Rome Catholic, Rome Free Academy, Sauquoit Valley, South Lewis, Vernon- Verona Sherrill, Waterville, West Canada Valley, Westmoreland and Whitesboro.

Each team runner had to be a full time student between grades 7-12 as of June 1, 2011 or a 2011 graduate of the school they attended.

(Dec. 5, 2011) To help “kick-off” recycling and waste reduction programs this fall, the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority teamed up with Nike Reuse-A-Shoe to conduct sneaker drives in local schools. The initiative was offered to all public and private K-12 schools buildings in Oneida and Herkimer Counties.

Schools were asked to collect as many worn out sneakers as possible, instead of throwing them in the trash.  Then, OHSWA collected and sent the sneakers to Nike Reuse-A-Shoe to be recycled into rubber, foam and fiber materials used for building new places, such as playgrounds, running tracks, football fields, basketball courts and more.

The purpose of this program was to continue to raise student and community awareness of reducing, reusing and recycling.

Fifteen schools in the region participated in the program this fall. Many schools had Student Councils, Green Teams, and other Environmental Clubs take charge of the program.

“Some schools developed contests for the program that helped increase participation and awareness as well,” said Jamie Tuttle, Authority School Recycling Coordinator. “Keeping students thinking and excited about recycling only helps us spread awareness and increase recycling efforts.”

Through promoting this program, students have been motivated to think “outside of the box” and realize that there are many items outside of paper, plastic, metal and glass that can be reused or recycled.

“Once items are past the point of being reused, we hope that our residents look to our many recycling opportunities before they settle for the trash can,” stated Tuttle.

This initiative has allowed schools in the region to work together for the same cause—promoting environmental stewardship, diverting waste from our landfill and conserving natural resources and energy.

The cooperative efforts between participating schools proved to be successful as OHSWA collected almost 1,000 pairs of sneakers from participating schools during the last week of November. The amount of sneakers collected weighed approximately one ton.

“The schools that participated should be very proud,” continued Tuttle. “This is a perfect example of how people can come together to make a big difference through simple actions.”

*The 15 schools that participated are as follows:

1.       Poland Central School

2.       Holland Patent Middle School

3.       Dolgeville Elementary School

4.       Clinton Middle and High School

5.       Jones Elementary School (Utica)

6.       Staley Upper Elementary School (Rome)

7.       Camden Elementary School

8.       Jarvis Junior/Senior High School (Mohawk)

9.       New York Mills Central School

10.   West Canada Valley

11.   Camden Middle School

12.   Harts Hill Elementary

13.   Marcy Elementary

14.   Ridge Mills Elementary

15.   Sauquoit Valley Middle School

Youngsters Jayla Springer (left) and Riley Sanner added a heaping dose of whipped cream to the dessert for Paul Dumas.

(Utica, NY – Nov. 24, 2011) There were 950 meals served by volunteers made from 100 turkeys, all for the Great Thanksgiving Banquet Thursday at the Rescue Mission of Utica, Executive Director Rev. Bill Dodge said.

“Simply put, what everyone is doing here today is Christian service — service above self,” he noted.

Volunteers Liana Myalik and Geoff Raehm, seniors at Whitesboro High School, put it another way.  ”I feel it’s necessary to share love and joy with others, especially on this day,” said Myalik. Added Raehm: “We just want to help out people who are not as fortunate.”

The students were among scores of drivers delivering 600 meals to shut-ins.

Rev. Dodge, expressed delight and amazement at the enthusiasm of volunteers who prepared the delivered meals, which averaged one meal every 12 seconds during the first hour of serving.

“They packed 540 meals in the first 35 minutes,” he said.

Utican Nick Fazio, who was serving some of the 350 meals in the dining room with his wife, Theresa, noted: “It’s amazing what they do here. It’s wonderful.”

Jeff Green of Whitesboro, who was back for a second year serving meals with daughters Mindy and Caitlyn, said: “You feel good doing something for somebody.”

Gail Pinkerton of Holland Patent was there with family in memory of her mother.

“My mom died (in May) and we wanted to change the routine, especially this Thanksgiving, so we decided to start giving back.”

Youngsters Jayla Springer and Riley Sanner, who were volunteering with their families, wielded cans of whipped cream, sprucing up a dessert for guest Paul Dumas, who had found himself homeless two weeks ago and was welcomed by the Mission’s Emergency Shelter staff.

Amazed at what he saw, Dumas said: “This Mission is a tribute to the greater social consciousness of the region.”

In addition to serving meals, there were several Thanksgiving Day donations to the mission’s food pantry – one donation was more than 3,500 pounds of food, and a Utica police officer surprised them by bringing in two turkeys to help for future needs.

(Rome, NY – Nov. 2011) The Annual 4-H Achievement Banquet was held this past Saturday at the Stanwix Heights Fire Department.  4-H Members, Leaders and Volunteers from the past and present were in attendance to recognize the accomplishments of our youth.

To be eligible for an award youth must meet strict criteria of record keeping, project participation, public speaking, leadership and citizenship.

The following youth received Certificates & Project Recognition Medals:

Whitney Semans, Whitesboro-Personal Growth Certificate, Arts & Crafts, Citizenship, Leadership, Public Speaking

Michaela Whitman, Rome-Citizenship, Leadership, Public Speaking, Dairy, Horse

Stephanie Finn, Holland Patent- Dairy, Goat, Swine, Citizenship, Leadership, Personal Growth Certificate

Nicholas Finn, Holland Patent-Personal Growth Certificate, Dairy, Goat, Citizenship, Leadership

Andrew Smith, Westernville-Personal Growth Certificate, Dairy, Swine, Citizenship

Katie Wilson, Canastota-Arts & Crafts, Citizenship

Rachel Carrock, Remsen-Personal Growth Certificate

Katie Lastowski, Boonville-Personal Growth Certificate, Horse, Citizenship, Leadership

Paige Snell, Oneida-Arts & Crafts, Photography, Citizenship, Leadership, Personal Growth Certificate

Gavin Doell, Holland Patent-Dairy, Personal Growth Certificate

Makayla Cornelius, Deansboro-Personal Growth Certificate

Caitlin Petrie, Canastota-Horse, Personal Growth Certificate

Patty Galway, Cleveland-Horse, Personal Growth Certificate

Maddie Jurenko, Central Square-Horse, Personal Growth Certificate

Brittany Spear, Westernville- Rabbit, Personal Growth Certificate

David Ballard, Westernville-Horse, Personal Growth Certificate

Abagail Pilbeam, Stittville-Personal Growth Certificate, Rabbit

Sarah Papa, Oneida-Dog, Horse

Brittany Papa, Oneida-Dog, Horse

Clara Runfola, Camden-Personal Growth Certificate

Ross Runfola, Camden-Personal Growth Certificate

Victoria Spear, Westernville-Personal Growth Certificate

Theodore Scheiderich, Lee Center-Dog

Additional awards were given to:

Stephanie Finn, for receiving the Outstanding Animal Science Award, Stephanie will be attending Career Explorations at Cornell next June.

Michaela Whitman, for receiving the Outstanding Personal Growth Award will be representing Oneida County at Capital Days in Albany in March.

Leader Recognition

The family of Alberta Schallenberg was in attendance to receive recognition for the 75 years of volunteer service that Alberta gave to the Oneida County 4-H Program.  Alberta’s dedication, determination and smile were shared with countless numbers of youth throughout her life.  In remembrance of her dedication, the Alberta Schallenburg “MY FAVORITE LEADER” plaque will be displayed at Cornell Cooperative Extension Building in Oriskany.  Future leaders nominated by youth will have their names added to this award.

Citizenship is a large part of 4-H.  We were pleased to have Mark Smith from the FEED OUR VETS FOOD PANTRY in attendance to speak to us and receive the food that was gathered for our Vets.

Thank-you to the following local businesses for support of the 4-H Program:

Chobani Greek Yogurt

Tops of Rome

HP Hood

Cargill Animal Nutrition

Farm Credit East, ACA

And Thank-you to Abagail Pilbeam for being our Hostess

For more information about Oneida County 4-H Visit our website at www.cceoneida.com  View ON THE MOVE our 4-H Newsletter for information about past and present activities or call 736-3394.

(Trenton, NY – Nov. 9, 2011)  On Nov. 7 State Police in Remsen arrested Rebekah A. Abbott, 8, of 7640 Glass Factory Road, Holland Patent and charged her with fourth-degree Grand Larceny, a Class “E” felony.

Abbott is alleged to have stolen in excess of $1,000 from her former employer, the Subway store located in the Town of Trenton.

She was issued an appearance ticket returnable to the Town of Trenton Justice Court on Nov. 14, 2011.

(Oneida County, NY – Oct. 2011) October 2-8 is National 4-H Week, and Oneida County is celebrating the 4-H youth who have made an impact on the community, and are stepping up to the challenges of a complex and changing world.

Recent findings from Tufts University’s 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that young people in 4-H are three times more likely to contribute to their communities than youth not participating in 4-H. Notably, the Tufts research discovered that the structured learning, encouragement and adult mentoring that 4-H’ers receive play a vital role in helping them actively contribute to their communities.

In Oneida County, more than 300 4-H members and 120 volunteers are involved in 4‑H.  The Oneida County 4-H program reaches over 3000 total youth through after-school programs and other 4-H sponsored activities throughout the year.

Oneida county 4-H members are involved in a wide variety of projects from animals to robotics.  They actively participate in public communication events, community service and project specific shows and competitions.  4-H volunteers guide youth by using their individual expertise and mentoring them throughout the year.  An abundant amount of local, state, and national opportunities are available to those involved in 4-H.  These opportunities and more are available through the 4-H program and help us build our leaders of tomorrow.

Learn how you can become involved in 4-H by calling Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County at (315) 736-3394, extension 122 or email Kristi Cranwell at kac292@cornell.edu

(Syracuse, NY – Sept. 28, 2011) The Central New York Region has everything a traveler could want out of a visit to New York State, from something old (historical landmarks, museums and rustic B&Bs) to something new (state-of-the-art science centers, modern theatrical performances and high-end spas). To emphasize the “something old,” the area is overflowing with quaint shops touting eclectic antiques and collectibles, offering a slice of the region’s rich past. It is truly a picker’s (and a historian’s) paradise.

For starters, the Madison-Bouckville area offers a year-round antique venue with over 30 shops featuring hundreds of dealers, plus the largest antique show in New York State every third week in August. This event, the Madison Bouckville Antique Week, draws more than 2,000 dealers for a weeklong show along one two-mile stretch of Route 20. Another superb find for antique hunters in Madison County is The Market at Oneida Commons, a neat little mall open year-round that’s packed with vintage items, crafts, jewelry, books, furniture, locally-produced Pride of NY foods and other odds and ends that stretch as far as the eye can see.

Cobbler & C. in Sharon Springs, Schoharie County, offers a treasure trove of antiques. Up on the second floor is a wide array of used, but “new to you” goods: a collection of old dishes, glassware, books, magazines and other collectibles.

In Oneida County, the Westmoreland Antique Center features 80 dealer spaces with a vast array of antiques and vintage collectibles like holiday merchandise, milk bottles, postcards and advertising collectibles, plus a vast selection of glassware, china and furniture.

Charlotte’s Antiques in Chenango County welcomes antique enthusiasts to pore over home décor, women’s clothing and jewelry, and rare collectibles, among other specialty items. For Iroquois artifacts, one-of-a-kind classics and various collectibles, Carriage Barn Antiques, Iroquois Antiques and Pheasant Farm Antiques are a few popular stops in the area.

The Little Falls Antique Center in Herkimer County showcases oldies but goodies from 18 dealers. Just a ways down the street, Stone Mill of Little Falls houses everything vintage from lighting, to clothing, to decorative arts and prints, plus local treasures like Oriental carpets from Erie Canal Carpets, sterling silver and cookbooks. The unexpected can be expected in the old factory atmosphere of this 1839 mill built on the banks of the Mohawk River, as the inventory is ever changing. Greater Binghamton’s Clinton Street, aptly named the “Antique Row,” is a hot spot for antiquing, hosting as many as 30 dealers at a given time. The locale makes perfect sense, as Clinton Street itself is an antique – it existed long before the city of Binghamton.

Cooperstown in Otsego County is saturated in antiquing opportunities. More than 50 shops line the area, from main streets to country roads, including NYS Route 7 corridor from Unadilla to Oneonta, the NYS Route 28 corridor from Oneonta to Cooperstown, and US Route 20, the road to the Madison-Bouckville Antique Show. For those seeking a myriad of vintage items, from china and glassware to historic textiles and furniture, shops like Barkley Barn Blue Ribbon Antiques, Lake Antiques and Antiques & Artifacts are must-sees. Even the antiquing venues themselves are fascinating and range from charming homes to old barns brimming with collectibles.

For some, a successful hunt for the perfect antique can take months or even years. The Central New York Region’s seemingly limitless supply of rare antiques and collectibles in dozens of shops across the area, however, can certainly help to shorten the duration of that hunt and make it quite enjoyable along the way.

For more antiquing opportunities and other information about the Central New York Region, check out:www.JustGoCNY.com.