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Ossining MATTERS, Inc.
PO Box 1012
Ossining, NY 10562
914-510-9320
Or email us
info@ossiningmatters.org
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See Ossining MATTERS' 2009 Newsletter!
New - Download the 2010-2011 Funding Application!
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Happy New Year from Ossining MATTERS!
The Funding Application for the 2010-2011 school year is now available. We look forward to hearing about the exciting projects you are planning.
Applications are due on March 12, 2010.
Decisions will be announced in mid-May 2010.
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Race start 2009, in front of the Ossining Post Office - All photos by Neal Temple
The 7th Annual Ossining MATTERS 5k Run/2 Mile Walk Helps Start the New School Year on a High Note
More than 260 runners and over 220 walkers turned out to participate in the 7th Annual Ossining MATTERS 5k Run/2 Mile Walk on Saturday, September 12. Ossining MATTERS, Ossining’s education foundation, funds enriching programs for students throughout the Ossining school district. This year’s event brought in over $18,000, which will go to support a wide variety of projects, programs, and materials for Ossining’s school children.
Ossining community members, athletes, and runners, ranging in age from seven to seventy-four, were joined at the starting line by participants from all over Westchester and beyond, including a runner from Philadelphia. 125 Ossining student athletes, from 7 different Ossining sports teams, participated this year. After warm-ups led by Club Fit’s Missy Murray and an a capella rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by the Ossining School District’s Cultural Arts Director, Bradley Morrison, the race was on. Tina Hoyt and OHS alum Jesse McCormick led the pack, finishing with the top female and male times overall. Ossining Athletic Director Jim Dennett awarded trophies to them, and to the fastest male and female Ossining Union Free School District residents, Noah Pearce and Sharon Edmonds, as well as first place student finishers Melanie Silverstein and Evan Olin, plus the top three male and female finishers in each age group. And all participants eight and under received ribbons.
Ossining Mayor Bill Hanauer and members of the Police Department and the Recreation Department, along with scores of community volunteers, helped make the day the huge success it was. Dozens of Ossining MATTERS volunteers registered and checked in participants on race day; handed out this year’s t-shirts; took photos and video; marked the race course; and clipped timing chips from runners’ shoes. The Ossining football and swim teams, in addition to participating in the Run/Walk, volunteered their services for set-up and cleanup in the Community Center. Members of the school board and district administration served water to the runners and walkers along the way.
Inside the community center, runners and walkers returned to find the Ossining Teachers’ Association serving up refreshments donated by local businesses and restaurants; terrific student musicians; and the high school drama club staffing the kids’ festival, with games, prizes, face painting, and balloons. Friends and neighbors enjoyed the chance to catch up on news of the summer and the new school year as the last runners came in.
“What a turnout! We are fortunate to live in such an amazingly generous community, where so many people are eager to make better educational opportunities for our students a top priority,” said Ossining MATTERS President Ginny Loughlin. “This support is just tremendous. Thank you all!” added Run/Walk Chair Kathleen Crowley McCulloch.
Congratulations to all who participated, and many thanks to the volunteers, fans, supporters, donors, and community sponsors whose dedication and contributions made the event possible.
See more photos from the race, race results and a full list of our sponsors and donors.
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Help us continue to make a difference for all Ossining students.
Visit our table at your child's Back to School Night! |
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Congratulations
2009 Race Winners
1st Place - Male Overall
Jessie McCormick
1st Place - Female Overall
Tina Hoyt
Ossining MATTERS 2009 5K AREEP Chip Timing Results
Winners by Category
Winners by Age Group
Team Scores
See more photos from the race
Many thanks to our sponsors
and volunteers
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OHS sports team members
before the race |
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Walkers pass the
AREEP timing Booth |
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Ossining MATTERS 2009
Race T-shirts will be available for sale at
Back to School Nights
while supplies last.
Mindful of the current economic climate and recognizing the budget challenges faced by our schools, we pledge to do all we can
to carry forward our mission to enrich the experiences available to all of our students. We thank you for your vital support.
Now more than ever: Ossining MATTERS. |
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See Ossining MATTERS' 2009 Newsletter! |
Ossining MATTERS to Fund New Lights for OHS Auditorium
Plus Twelve Other Grants for 2009 - 2010
Ossining MATTERS Education Foundation launches its sixth year of funding programs and projects to enrich the education of all children in the Ossining School District with a donation of $72,724, supporting thirteen different grants in five of Ossining’s six school buildings.
These grants represent a mix of innovative proposals from Ossining’s creative, dedicated teachers and administrators and continued funding for proven successes. Each grant helps to further Ossining MATTERS’ mission to support and enrich the learning opportunities for all children in the Ossining School District.
Ossining MATTERS is particularly excited to announce that thanks to the success of the Spring Gala Concert and Auction, the foundation is providing full funding for Shine a Light on the Arts, the purchase of a dimmer board and a lighting console to significantly upgrade the lighting in the OHS auditorium, used by performing arts groups from all schools in the district.
In addition, Ossining MATTERS will fund the following grants for the 2009 - 2010 school year:
At Park School
-Continued support of Project Tremors (formerly Formula for Success).
At Brookside
-Continued support of Chess at Recess.
-Continued support of the SPLASH (Science Partners Learning about Animals of the Sound and the Hudson) collaborative science program.
-Curriculum Based Language Workshops for Spanish Speaking Parents, a program for Spanish speaking parents to assist them in understanding their children’s curriculum and to enhance their ability to help with homework.
At Claremont
-Music in History, History in Music, a program in which 175 Claremont students will each build a m’bira (a thumb piano) under the direction of an Artist in Residence, who will teach the students about the music and the instrument, and its place in African and American music. The project will culminate in an assembly where the instruments will be played alongside professional performers.
-Chess at Claremont, which will bring the program that has seen such success at Park and Brookside into the Claremont building
At Roosevelt
-New equipment for the highly successful School of Rock program
-Support for the Ossining DARE program.
-Roosevelt Art Enrichment, a program in which the entire fifth-grade will work together to create new, age-appropriate art (mosaic and mural) for their new school building. |
.At OHS
-The Art of Murals, a program in which 25 OHS students will work together with two teachers to create murals at the high school.
-Yearbook Summer Workshop, a stipend to assist two students with the expenses of attending a summer program, which will provide the training necessary to produce the new OHS yearbook digitally.
-A generous donation to the Guidance Discretionary Fund, which allows the OHS Guidance Office to help students in need pay for testing fees, prep classes, college-level classes, and college application fees.
This donation brings the dollar amount for programs funded by Ossining MATTERS to nearly $325,000 in total support provided to our school district. Founded in 2003, the organization has now funded over one hundred grants.
Ossining MATTERS is grateful not only to the teachers and administrators who propose and implement these fine projects, but also to the generous support of the Ossining community, whose donations of both funds and volunteer time make it possible for Ossining MATTERS to continue to carry out its mission. |
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Rosanne Cash Brings
in
Big Cash for Ossining MATTERS
Ossining MATTERS’ gala benefit concert featuring world-famous singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash and her husband, guitarist-songwriter-producer John Leventhal, raised nearly $55,000, which the education foundation will use to supplement academic, cultural arts, and athletic programs in the Ossining School District. (More)
Bradley Morrison,
our emcee for the evening. |
AMD Jazz Choir performs at the Gala. |
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John Leventhal and Rosanne Cash and on stage at Ossining High School, Saturday April 18, 2009
All photos by David Silbert
See more photos from the
concert and reception. |
Your Donations in Action
Take a look at some what Ossining MATTERS has funded
for the 2008 – 2009 school year.
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New Piano
Photo by Kate Mathews
A music student tries out the performance-level piano an Ossining MATTERS grant brought to the OHS stage. District Director of Music and Cultural Arts Kate Mathews calls it a “wonderful instrument.”
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School of Rock
Photo by Brandon Beck
Sponsoring teacher and coordinator Brandon Beck had this to say about the School of Rock program: “My entire class plays guitar during recess. They teach each other, they teach themselves, and they do not take any breaks! [With the HEROES class,] a total 61 students will be exposed to the guitar and given the opportunity to ‘rock their socks off!’ I am extremely proud of the impact of this program on my classroom. It has developed relationships, given students an outlet, and increased focus. I believe that these are the kinds of programs that are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and I feel that Ossining MATTERS is truly to thank for that. Without you, a teacher would not be able to dream big, increase expectations, and reach all multiple intelligences. The opportunity to run a program like this, during an economy like this, that is actually seeking to improve the lives of others, is unforgettable.”
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SPLASH
Photos by Tara Reynolds
Students in the Science Partners Learning about Animals of the Sound and Hudson (SPLASH) program study and learn about the ecology and habitats of the Long Island Sound and the Hudson River, in partnership with students from two other Westchester County schools. Thanks to a grant from Ossining MATTERS, five second-grade classes at Brookside are participating this year. They went seining in the Hudson River at the Palisade State Park in Englewood, New Jersey. With the help of Naturalist Christopher Letts and a class parent, they caught fish for their classroom aquariums. The students have also toured the Tarrytown Lighthouse, hosted students from their partner schools and created Hudson River murals with them. In addition, they attended a concert by duet Magpie at the Byram Hill High School with their partner school pen pals. Magpie sang songs of animal life and conservation.
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Large Format Printer at OHS 
Angelo Piccirillo and Valerie Holmes unpack the new large format printer
For the past ten years, the talented and dedicated students in Ossining High School’s Fundamentals of Science Research Program have won accolades, prestigious prizes, and over $300,000 in scholarships for their highly sophisticated research on subjects as diverse as sociology and epidemiology, computer science and astrophysics. Beginning in their sophomore year, students in the program work endless hours, with the help of a mentor in their chosen field of research, to conduct original and independent research and to present their results in competition at local, national, and international contests, science fairs, and symposia
To mark the tenth anniversary of the program, its directors, Angelo Piccirillo and Valerie Holmes, wanted to address a distinct disadvantage their students have faced in relation to their peers at many area high schools: They sought to obtain a large format printer, necessary for the production of professional-quality presentation boards. Until this year, students have had to send their projects to offsite specialty printers, at a significant financial cost. Through generous donations from Science Research Program alumni families and a matching grant from Ossining MATTERS, enough funds were raised to purchase the printer for the benefit of the next round of prize-winning OHS research scientists.
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