A day of opportunities; CYC Youth Fair
By Naj Wikoff
POSTED: May 9, 2008
Article Photos
We were standing in the Lake Placid High School gymnasium. Wrapped along the walls and down the center were tables representing different agencies and local businesses displaying career and volunteer opportunities. They were brought together through the efforts of CYC, Connecting Youth and Communities, in cooperation with the high school and the Lake Placid Central School District. Behind the counter CYC coordinator Monica Clark and Glenda Mitchell were preparing sandwiches, salads and homemade cookies for the many volunteers in attendance.
Harlee Stanton said, “McKenzie is trying to get me to work at Santa’s Village. She says I’ll be an amazing Alice. I like kids, so I may do that. I want to finish school, go off to college, and work with kids.”
“Are you planning on becoming a professional skater?” I asked Alexis Nichols who, with Lauren Tomich, were checking out the Lake Placid Skating Club’s table hosted by skating instructor Mary Catherine Preston.
“I am a skater,” said Alexis. “I just do it for fun. I’m not really thinking of a career.”
“We are trying to teach the kids how to survey,” said surveyor Bob Marvin who was there with his son Dan. “We brought some of the tools of the trade to show them.”
“We are trying to show them a career that they may not have thought about,” said Dan. “When dad started out as a surveyor they were still using steel tapes and chains. Now we use GPS. The changes over the past twenty years in this field have been amazing.”
“Bob, the tools you used were very similar to those used by George Washington,” I said, holding up the chains.
“Yes, he would have recognized them, but not now. Everything is digital and the information is put immediately into a computer while we are in the field.”
“What questions have you been getting?” I asked New York State Police Trooper Todd Claremont.
“How long have you been on the job? How old do you have to be? When can I sign up? Do I have to have gone to college first? Did you arrest me for speeding? Are you local?” Trooper Claremont said, who is local. “Some of them just want to come up and say hi. Most have very legitimate questions about the profession. I really enjoy doing this, talking with the young people, and I really enjoy meeting the other people who are here exhibiting.”
“I get similar questions,” said Brian Felton, an Essex County Assistant DA who was at the table next to Trooper Claremont. “What do you have to do to become a DA? I tell them you have to go to college for seven years first to get a law degree. What type of crimes is your office prosecuting? Who do we work with? I point to Trooper Claremont. I remember you from court. Now, that was an interesting comment.”
“What’s your impression so far?” I said to Emma Roach.
“I went over to Santa’s Village,” she said. “I may do that this summer. I also went over to the Adirondack Medical Center table. I may do that. I broke my leg and had to have surgery, so I was in the hospital. It seemed like an interesting place to work.”
“We have two opportunities for the kids,” said Jessica Buehler of AMC’s Adirondack Wellness Network. “The first is Health Scholar, a one hundred hour paid internship. They get to be a job shadow. They get placed in their area of interest. We want them to understand the wide variety of jobs that are available in healthcare beyond being a nurse or doctor. We also have Camp Med, which takes place July 14-18 and provides them an overview of the hospital.”
“How has the response been?”
“It has been very good. They come in packs, several kids all at once. We try to let them know what’s available at the hospital.”
“I’m going to major in biology and then go to medical school,” said Sydney Halperin. “It will be neat to be a Health Scholar. I plan to sign up for that.”
“We have the Junior Bobsled program, which I direct,” said Johnny Muldowney, who was anchoring the ORDA table. “We give them the opportunity to compete. We have 42 sliders. We also give them the opportunity to volunteer at World Cup events — to be a part of the logistics team, which also includes being a volunteer for the Junior Bobsled program. They like the free stuff obviously, the pins and stickers, and a number have taken to wearing Bob Marvin’s orange survey tape. We haven’t gotten too many signing up for volunteer slots, but I think we will as they need to complete a certain amount of volunteer hours to graduate. So far most of the interest is in joining the bobsled program.”
“I have been interested in art pretty much all my life,” said Samantha Rawdon, who was talking with Nip Rogers and looking at his illustrations. Nip teaches the CYC arts class in Wilmington. “I have been drawing all my life. I am interested in being an illustrator. One of my teachers said, ‘You are very talented. You could go to college for this. Do you know that?’ I said, ‘Yes, that’s what I want to do.’ So it is fun being able to talk with Nip and see his art.”
“It was a really good time today,” said Jon Fremante, director of the Shipman Center. “We had a really good turnout by the kids. I think it opened up some ideas for them on volunteer work and career opportunities. I think they had a lot of fun.”
“A successful day,” I said to Monica Clark, CYC coordinator. “Congratulations.”
“Yes, it achieved our organization’s goal of bringing kids together with many different people in the community. It is great to see the wealth of opportunities, the interest by the kids, and the adults connecting with each other as well as with the kids. It was a good day. A lot of people worked hard to make it happen, the school district was very supportive. It was a wonderful community effort.”
