Archive: Around Town

Each year Ithaca City School District (ICSD) students, staff, and school programs receive awards and scholarships totaling more than $6,000 from funds managed by the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI). Grants and awards are distributed annually based on the special named funds’ criteria and to enhance education opportunities.

Awards from the Ithaca High School (I.H.S.) Senior Class Fund recognize a new teacher who exemplifies enthusiasm and creativity, a school club that makes a positive impact on student life, and a staff member.  The recipients are selected by ballot by the seniors. Kapono Liu and Oseoba Airewele, president and vice president of the Class of 2014, presented these awards at the Senior Awards Convocation. This year’s New Teacher Award of $200 went to Steven Cass, television production teacher, along with a gift of $150 to the high school library in Cass’ honor. The Student Organization Award of $300 went to The Tattler. Joaquin Lira, library aide, received the Staff Member Award of $200, and a gift of $150 went to the high school library in Lira’s honor.

The recipients of the Carol Jean Buckley Scholarship for Students in the Arts are Michael Stern and Archer Cowen, I.H.S. seniors. Music teacher Nicki Zawal presented the $1,500 awards to each student at the senior convocation. Established by Carol Buckley’s family and friends, the scholarship provides assistance for talented students pursuing advanced study in the arts.

The Noreen Moore Memorial Award was awarded at the I.H.S. awards presentation on June 5 to senior Brian Okumu. The scholarship is presented to a senior who has the potential and desire to make the world a better place. Barbara Bergman, the I.H.S. Family Liaison, presented the $400 award in memory of Noreen Moore, who was an active member of the school district staff and community and advocated throughout her life for families in need.

Julian Korfine, a junior, received the Raymond C. Loehr Environmental Science Scholarship Award at the June 3 Awards Ceremony for Underclassmen. Presented by Dr. Jamie Loehr, the $150 award recognizes an underclass student who shows promise in environmental science. The Raymond C. Loehr Innovative Science Teaching Award which recognizes innovative science teaching, with a gift of $300, will be presented at the district’s All Staff Meeting on September 2, 2014.

Fifth grade students throughout the school district are the beneficiaries each year of the Ian Alberta Fund. Established to support Kids Discover the Trail! activities at the Cayuga Nature Center, the $500 award provides students with books that complement the program. A plaque with a picture of Alberta, Ithaca High Class of 2001, hangs at the Cayuga Nature Center where he made a special impact on all who visited there.

The Phyllis B. Brodhead Library Media Technology Fund helps school district library media centers keep current with technological advances. For the second year in a row, the $1,000 award will be used to purchase digital audio books that allow challenged readers to listen to a book professionally read aloud while following the text. This learning mode helps develop reading fluency, vocabulary, story sense, and comprehension. The digital books will be housed at the Boynton Middle School library, where Phyllis Brodhead was a dedicated teacher and librarian for 33 years, but will be available for loan to other libraries. Boynton’s teacher-librarian Annarose Foley notes, “This purchase provides a differentiated modality for reading enjoyment, gives our students access to the most current technology, and in so doing, helps foster a life-long love of literature and develop the 21st-century skills so crucial to the college and career readiness described by the Common Core State Standards.”

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