SCIL kids vie for Renaissance grant

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Creative problem solving and thinking outside the box are routine fare for the eight Sullivan County Interacademic League (SCIL) teams from the county’s school districts, but designing a funded Sullivan Renaissance Phase One project that could bring their ideas to life with a $1,000 grant—now that’s something even more engaging.

Conceived by Liberty math teacher Deborah Stolow as a new wrinkle to channel the bright and adaptable talents of SCIL kids into something that could affect their communities for years, the idea was to bring Sullivan Renaissance consultants, including director Glenn Pontier, steering committee members Denise Frangipane of the Gerry Foundation and Kathy Davidoff of The Beaverkill Foundation, into the process on November 27. Students were challenged to design and budget a grant proposal and to present it to the three judges. At the conclusion of the process, the plan deemed most worthy by the Sullivan Renaissance team would win the grant, affording the students a hand in altering the future environment of their own locality.

Teams met to determine the nature of their project and how it would fit within the parameters of the budgeted amount. Tasks included submitting an actual grant application for a phase one project that could be implemented, would demonstrate collaboration between two groups, would reach out to the community, result in an aesthetic improvement and include a slogan.

The budget would require clean delineation of how monies were to be spent and an identification of additional sources of funding.

Each group had to construct a timeline from December 2007 until July 2008, along with two sketches showing the proposed site before and after its improvement.

At the end of the morning, each team made a presentation to the judges that was assessed for its style, description, short and long-term benefits and its slogan.

Among the proposals were the Monticello’s team’s call for composting, presented in a humorous skit that depicted Rebecca Perlman as fruit first deposited in a garbage heap, but later rescued to useful composting; the Roscoe team’s proposal to create a garden commemorating victims of the recent floods; and the Eldred team’s Rio Dam project, complete with an eagle observation desk, a welcoming kiosk and a slogan: “We give a damn about our dam.”

The Sullivan West planners called for a revitalization of Callicoon Creek Park, via a collaboration with Jeffersonville Enhances Main Street and the National Honor Society. Monticello’s second team proposed a clean up, renovation of the tennis courts and the painting of the shed at Somerville Field, with a long-term plan to “Go Green,” with solar lamps for the field. Livingston Manor students had another park project, with a proposal for improvements to the skating venue and surrounds of Rotary Park.

Fallsburg used a creative rap by team member Andrea Zalkin to spin the plan to upgrade the Sullivan County Historical Museum by restoring the front steps and sprucing up the building with a new paint job, using help from the residents of Daytop Village.

Tri-Valley kids, seeing their school track and football/soccer field as a nexus of interest, posited that the addition of lights would make night events, not limited to sports, an attraction for the tiny hamlet of Grahamsville. “Light the way for better days,” was their rallying cry.

Liberty’s plan to develop a new trail at Walnut Mountain, replete with picnic tables and benches and a new spin for a proposed walkathon, showed merit.

Pontier told the students, “These are some terrific ideas. You can feel the tension between having a vision of what you want to do and the reality of how to go about it.”

The judges advised the Monticello team that had proposed improvements to Somerville Field to apply for a grant, and the composting initiative remains a possibility as well. The judges wished to discuss further possibilities with Liberty and Sullivan West, and encouraged the Roscoe team to apply for a future grant.

Click here for an album of pictures from SCIL III.