Neighborhood News

Details: Written by Joanne Wallenstein; Published: 13 January 2015; Created: 13 January 2015; Last Updated: 13 January 2015; Hits: 9127

The Kang family of Edgemont has sent out the following letter to thank everyone involved in the search for their daughter Christine who was located on Sunday night January 11 after nine days at large. According to reports she is safe and healthy:

Here is their letter:

Kang family would like to express our tremendous appreciation to everyone who took Christine into their hearts last night. We would like to thank all those whose tireless efforts and relentless search brought Christine safely home. We would also like to extend our gratitude to all who kept her in their thoughts and prayers for her safe return to home.

We would like to give a special Thank You to the gentleman who recognized Christine in the Church of Saint Agnes. In addition, we would like to thank Chief McNerney, Captain Ryan and the team of the Detective Division of the Town of Greenburgh Police Department who immediately implemented the search. Their efficient and powerful investigation identified Christine's route promptly, which enabled the search to focus on the area of Manhattan. Furthermore, their determined and unyielding efforts played a critical role in finding Christine safe and healthy.

We would also like to thank all of the members of the Edgemont community. Their
tremendous outpouring of support for Christine and our family have enormously helped us to continue the pertinacious search. Especially, we would like to thank Aubrey Graf- Daniels and the Edgemont Care Committee members, the Edgemont High School and the Edgemont Korean Mom Association. Through this network and our family's friends, we could have distributed more than 4,000 flyers in areas of Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey. All of their help and support has been beyond our family's imagination.

Once again, thank you to everyone who helped.

Sincerely,
The Kang family

Details: Published: 07 January 2015; Created: 07 January 2015; Last Updated: 08 January 2015; Hits: 6201

Hockey 1

The stands were packed with many nail-biting fans on Monday night at Murray's Ice Rink in Yonkers as the Scarsdale Raiders took on the Mamaroneck Tigers in hockey. Along with the usual crowd of Scarsdale high school students and parents, teachers and even college students showed up to support our Raiders in the rivalry. So far, the team has had an exceptional season. They are currently on an 8-0 winning streak, and, in the first statewide ranking, the Raiders hockey team was named #1 in New York. Although the team has won previous games by as much as 9 goals, their victory over Mamaroneck proved a bit more difficult to achieve.

Hockey 2 At the start of the first period, it was easy to tell that the teams were evenly matched. So far, the Tigers have won 9 games and lost only 2 games. Mamaroneck has been a tough opponent and a big name in hockey over the years, but the Raiders certainly proved themselves with this win. 4-Year Raiders hockey player James Nicholas remarked that "the sun used to rise and set on Mamaroneck hockey. Not anymore--we've changed that and it is a great feeling. Mamo bested us in the football playoffs this year, so we knew we had to take them down in hockey."

Midway through the first period, Nicholas scored his first goal. At the end of the period, Scarsdale led 1-0. Goalie Gabe Harousseau made some great saves to keep us leading by a goal into the third period, but Mamaroneck eventually scored, tying the score up at one through almost the end of the game. Nicholas, however, had an unbelievable tie-breaking goal late in the third period that saved the day. "My second goal was just one of those moments that you can't explain. The puck kinda fell on my stick and I just got it on net and it went in. It was a great moment and it couldn't have come at a better time" said Nicholas. Younger brother Stephen Nicholas also had a fantastic goal from inside the blue line toward the end of the period, making the final score 3-1 Scarsdale.

Overall, the team seemed to feel very proud of their performance. Defensive player Brandon Bank remarked that he felt he played well and put his all into the game. "I knew it was my last time playing Mamo, so I gave it everything I could." Co-captain Devon Schell agreed the team had a great game as well, but explained that they can always do better. Still, "anytime we beat Mamo, we're happy" added Schell.

The Raiders will be taking on Niagara falls tomorrow at 5:50 PM at EJ Murray's Ice Rink.

Details: Written by Joanne Wallenstein; Published: 11 December 2014; Created: 11 December 2014; Last Updated: 11 December 2014; Hits: 12116

The Scarsdale Public Library has launched a new online homework help program switching to brainfuse.com from tutor.com. The programs are almost identical and offer students of all ages live, one-to-one online help from certified tutors. Scarsdale Public Library cardholders can access the service for free from the library website, www.scarsdalelibrary.org by clicking on brainfuse.com.

Brainfuse went live on Wednesday, December 10. Tutor.com will remain on the library website until Thursday, December 18.

"This type of educational service has proved extremely popular with usage up 264 percent this fiscal year," said Elizabeth Bermel, library director. "Brainfuse.com offered us a flat annual fee, while tutor.com's fee was based on usage and with the significant increase in use the cost for tutor.com could be far greater than brainfuse.com"

Brainfuse.com has sections for students from kindergarten through college as well as an adult learning center and a career guidance center with live, one-on-one tutoring, a real-time writing center and 24/7 access to worksheets, video and tutorials on just about any subject. The hours remain the same, daily from 3 p.m. to midnight for the live online tutoring and resume writing service.

Brainfuse.com's services include:

• HelpNow, which provides a complete tutoring system consisting of tutoring, collaboration, and study tools for homework help, skills building, test preparation and writing assistance for a wide variety of subjects.
• The Adult Learning Center, which offers services similar to HelpNow and additionally offers test preparation (including GED and USCIS citizenship tests).
• JobNow, which provides fundamental career-enhancing skills for job seekers including interview coaching via live chat, resume and cover letter writing guidance from trained experts and a 24/7 career resource center to help users target jobs they are best suited for.

"Education is a core value in Scarsdale" Bermel said. "The response to an online tutoring program via the library website has been excellent and exceeded our expectations. Now, with brainfuse.com we can continue to provide an equal service at less cost.

"We can also continue having the library open virtually 24/7 for patrons when it comes to learning and assistance. This program allows all Scarsdale library holders to get the extra help they may need or guidance no matter the time of day or night."

Details: Written by Joanne Wallenstein; Published: 31 December 2014; Created: 31 December 2014; Last Updated: 31 December 2014; Hits: 4950

uke1 Music Together®, the national early childhood music and movement program developed in Princeton, New Jersey, is offering a three-day Teacher Training Workshop at Over the Moon Music and More, LLC, in Scarsdale, New York, from Friday, February 6, through Sunday, February 8, 2015. The teacher training is open to anyone desiring an overview of music development, including parents, university faculty, students, and preschool directors or teachers. Workshop participants will learn Music Together's research-based approach to teaching music and movement to children ages birth through kindergarten.

Participants who successfully complete the training will be eligible to teach Music Together parent-child or preschool classes, either at an existing Music Together center or by applying for a license to open and operate a Music Together center of their own. The flexibility of challenging part-time work with young children and parents appeals to musicians, actors, dancers, parents, and educators. No formal academic degrees are required.

The workshop provides opportunities to assess children's rhythmic and tonal development, techniques for presenting musical material, and strategies for lesson planning. There will be live early childhood music demonstration classes on each day of the workshop, teaching children and their parents using the Music Together curriculum.

Since 1987, Kenneth K. Guilmartin, Founder/Director of Music Together LLC and coauthor of Music Together, has been a pioneer in teaching parents and caregivers how to nurture their children's musical growth. "The whole purpose of the Music Together program is to enable children, as well as the adults participating with them, to become more comfortable with musical expression, and to develop musically at their own pace," says Guilmartin. He adds, "Childhood music development is a natural process just like language development."

Recent research shows that children's innate ability to make music is strongly supported as children observe the adults with whom they have an emotional bond actively engaging in making music. This is possible regardless of the adult's own musical ability. Music making is fun and engaging for children, parents, and teachers--and, as a highly beneficial side effect--contributes to the development of language and other intelligences, including spatial and mathematical.

The Music Together approach to early childhood music is taught worldwide at more than fifty teacher trainings per year. (For more information, visit www.musictogether.com.) Licensed Music Together teachers currently teach children in parent-child and preschool classes in approximately 2000 communities in all 50 states and over 20 foreign countries. In addition, many teachers trained by Music Together apply the curriculum and philosophy in preschools and childcare centers.

The cost of the three-day workshop is $475. Graduate Credits, CMTE Credits, and CEUs are available for completion of the teacher training. For additional information about the workshop or to register, visit www.musictogether.com, or contact Lisa Chouteau at (800) 728-2692 x329, [email protected].

Details: Written by Joanne Wallenstein; Published: 03 December 2014; Created: 03 December 2014; Last Updated: 07 December 2014; Hits: 14884

norcina Diners who patronize Spadaro in New Rochelle will be pleased to learn they have opened a new restaurant right here in Scarsdale. The Spadaro's know how to cook – and in New Rochelle everyone was treated like family. There were no menus and the meal was served family style. Plates and plates of delicious food emerged from the kitchen- all good – but in quantities that were difficult to manage.

The new Spadaro Ristorante has opened at 753 Central Park Avenue in the space formerly occupied by Za Za. The décor has been stripped down – leaving the bar and a large pizza oven. There's plenty of room for small and large tables and the atmosphere is lively but not too loud.

We visited on the weekend before Thanksgiving and the place was hopping. When I learned they had only toast been open for a few weeks I feared service would be slow or haphazard – but our waitress was on her toes and ready to help.

We started with wine – the restaurant offers the usual by the glass as well as special selections by the bottle. On the blackboard that night were Amarone, Brunello, Chianti, Montelpuciano and more. While we considered the extensive menu and the specials we munched on toasted tranches of Italian bread doused in olive oil with garlic. Yum.

The menu includes a tempting array of appetizers, pizzas and calzone– made in the brick oven, ten pasta choices, salads, soups and meat, fish and chicken entrees. How to choose? We shared a mozzarella caprese - with a hearty portion of fresh cheese and delectable cherry tomatoes. We also ordered the zucchini in carrozza – a special that night. It was irresistible.

For dinner I had a hearty-sized plate of Rigatoni "Norcina" with sausage and more cherry tomatoes. The sauce was delicious and at $15.95 it was enough for the four of us. For his entrée, my husband chose an item from the menu – Maree Monti, which is papperdelle with shrimp, asparagus, parmesan and smoked mozzarella – another good option. There's plenty for those who don't eat meat including Pasta Alla Nino, Bucatini (hollow spaghetti) shrimp with mozzarella, eggplant, capers, black olives and red peppers. Pictured here it was flavorful and abundant. One of us ate more sensibly and chose the grilled Branzino which was grilled whole and deboned.

The meal was satisfying and reasonable priced – and there were many more dishes I would have liked to try. As we were taking our last few bites a charming magician appeared at our table. David Ferst or Magic Dave as he is called, was clever and amusing, peppering his banter with references to the 60's about Soupy Sales, S&S Green Stamps and 45 records. With amazing dexterity he stumped us with his card tricks and used his skills as a mentalist to correctly guess many personal facts about the people in our party.

Between the drinks the food and the magic it was a successful night at a reasonable price. Try Spadaro in allanino Scarsdale before you can't get in.