Budget Cuts Force Changes In Popular Program

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Budget Cuts Force Changes In Popular Program

Written by Mary Ellen Porrazzo, hicksville@antonnews.com Friday, 25 January 2013 00:00

Undaunted, Boys and Girls Club

Peer Tutoring Program thrives

The budget may have been slashed, but the enthusiasm remains strong for the Peer Tutoring Program at the Hicksville Boys and Girls Club.

The club was humming late one recent Thursday afternoon with tutoring sessions underway in quiet upstairs offices away from the happy noise of the first floor lounge where students played games, read or relaxed after school.

Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Tom Bruno said that “magic happens” when tutors first sit down with new students. Photo by Steve Toscano Executive Director Thomas Bruno says a one-third reduction in county funding from last year forced them to make changes.

“Right now we have 29 matches,” he said, with some students coming more than once.

Matches, or tutoring sessions, are held Monday through Friday between the hours of 4 and 5 p.m. in the club’s headquarters at 79 West Old Country Road, a white two-story house warmly outfitted to young people’s needs and interests – including games for recreation and socialization and computers and quiet space to study – all within walking distance of the nearby Middle School and High School.

In a recent interview in his second floor office, lined with photos and awards, Bruno said, “We lost $50,000 from the county and had to cut back our hours.” Last year the sessions ran until eight o’clock Monday through Thursday evenings – three hours longer than right now.

“A kind of magic happens,” he said when the tutors first meet their students, who are about the same age as they are. “The kids have a real feel for each other.”

Most tutors, he said, are high school students and the closeness in age and year in school between the tutor and student makes for a special relationship that is sometimes absent if an older adult is involved.

“We have such a nice variety of kids. They’re from Hicksville, Syosset, Plainview and Jericho,” Bruno said of the tutors.

After they formally apply for the position, he said, volunteers are screened, interviewed and asked to provide references. When they are approved, they are matched up with a student who requests help “in any subject,” he said.

He smiled at the recollection of one of his “many success stories” involving that of a young man who came to them “shy and withdrawn.” The experience provided him with a newfound confidence and he went on to become a tutor himself. He said kids who come to the club hear about the program through school or their friends.

Once their service is over, Bruno said he provides the tutors with a letter from him praising their work. With colleges placing a greater emphasis than ever on community service, these letters are a prized possession and part of the

Another casualty of the budget cutting, Bruno said, is the popular English as a Second Language Program (ESL), although he remains hopeful it will return and some of the funding restored.

News

Hicksville Native Wins FIT Award

Thursday, 23 May 2013 00:00

Hicksville native Jae Lee recently rose to the top of his senior class at New York Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), winning the Critic Award for sportswear. But fashion wasn’t the path that Lee originally chose.

In high school, Lee excelled in art classes and thought that he wanted to go to college and major in fine arts. However, he said, it was while watching an episode of “Project Runway” that he had a revelation. “All of a sudden I was thinking that it was something I could/should do and that’s what kind of led to it,” he said. He made up his mind that he was going to apply to fashion school and enlisted the help of one of his art teachers in school to help him. “We really scrambled and put together this presentation in about two weeks, where other people, I’m sure, worked on theirs for months,” he said. Lee said that when he went to present his portfolio, he didn’t think the meeting went well at all. “Everyone was really well prepared,” he said. But, he admitted, it must have gone better than he thought, because he was accepted to FIT.

WWII Armor Museum Opens

Thursday, 23 May 2013 00:00

In the face of cancelled air shows and the downgrading of NYC’s Fleet Week, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano announced on May 9, that American soldiers will be forever honored on Long Island through the creation of the Museum of American Armor to be built at Old Bethpage Village Restoration thanks, in part, to a million dollar gift from Lawrence Kadish.

“We are watching powerful tributes to our American military reduced or eliminated across the nation and its just plain wrong,” stated County Executive Mangano. “Fortunately, the Memorial Day weekend air show at Jones Beach will be held regardless of the loss of the Thunderbirds, but Fleet Week in New York City will be greatly diminished and across the country air shows are being cancelled weekly. Nassau County is moving in another direction. An armor museum that honors every American soldier will be created on county property this year which will not only pay tribute to those who have defended our nation but will also strengthen the county’s tourism and destination industry and provide a new source of revenue.”

Sports

For The Love Of Tennis

Thursday, 23 May 2013 00:00

Hicksville residents honored by tennis association

The U.S. Tennis Association Long Island Region has recognized several Hicksville residents for their tennis playing or volunteering achievements. The group was honored at the USTA Long Island Region’s 23rd Annual Awards Dinner, which recognizes superior efforts both on and off the tennis court.

Terry Fontana received the Vitas Gerulaitis for the Love of Tennis award. She has been a longtime fixture in the Hicksville tennis community and is the driving force behind the Hicksville Community Tennis Association (CTA), which, since 1995, has been promoting the development of tennis as a means of healthy recreation and physical fitness and to create a community resource for physical activity throughout the area.

Lady Comets Honor Departing Seniors

Thursday, 23 May 2013 00:00

It was a cold season for softball this year, colder than usual. Anyone who knows the sport recognizes that the weather can be changeable, but this softball season was fraught with snow, pouring rain, cancelled games, frigid temperatures, and blowing winds that would cause any team to crave the warmth of indoors.

That wasn’t the case with the Hicksville High School Lady Comets Varsity Softball team. They played through it all like champions, and endured the rough weather like superstars.