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Profiles in Character
Featured students: MOVE Dance Club, Grades 9 – 12, Saratoga Springs High School: Sometimes high school’s a hard place to fit in. But that’s not a problem for students who belong to the MOVE Dance Club at Saratoga Springs High School. The club was nominated to represent “tolerance” and prides itself on welcoming members who love to dance, regardless of intellectual ability, race, ethnicity, economic means or beliefs. “We’re like our own little family,” said club member Baleigh Closson. “Everyone’s welcome here.” A fitting attitude for a club whose mission state is about “celebrating and accepting diversity.” “It’s a great place to be a pop star,” joked Joshua Lake, another club member who loves the “pizzazz” of hip hop dance and is glad to have an instructor who can break down the sometimes complicated dance moves. The club meets every Friday afternoon in the Teaching Auditorium of the high school. Club member Vera Cucio says she looks forward to it each week because it’s a break from academics, “for that book report you didn’t do yet.” While all of the members have benefited from the club’s open and welcoming atmosphere, joining has been an especially positive experience for a few members. Abby Griffing was new to Saratoga Springs High School last fall. Having come from a much smaller school she said she was a bit overwhelmed at first. She was poetic in her description of joining the club. “It was like the color started to flow again.” Several club members are students with special needs and for some it’s the first club that they’ve been a part of. “This has been perfect for my son,” said one mother who was watching the group as they practiced several new dance moves. “Okay, let’s add the arms,” yelled Skidmore College Club Choreographer Laura Moran over the pulsing beat of hip hop artist Rihanna’s Don’t Stop the Music. “It’s like brushing dust off your shoulders,” she said as she demonstrated a new move. The club employs a Skidmore College Dance student as choreographer and instructor. Each instructor appoints a successor and mentors that person until graduation, providing for a seamless transition for the following year’s club members. In fact, the club’s name is derived from its first Skidmore instructor, whose name was Melissa – Melissa’s Outrageously Vogue Ensemble. This year’s instructors Moran and Jesse Kovansky, are dance majors and members of Rithmos, Skidmore College’s hip hop/jazz dance group. The brainchild of High School Math teacher Mary Ann Fantauzzi, the club was first formed back in 2001, with funding from the non-profit Saratoga Springs Dance Alliance, and grants from Soroptimist International of Saratoga County and the City of Saratoga Springs. Fantauzzi, who is also a local fitness instructor and Dance Alliance board member, wanted to create a “positive activity for teens after school that they could afford and that they would love.” There’s no charge for students to join and no special equipment requirements either. In addition to practices, the club performs occasionally too. “We don’t get paid, but we still call it a gig,” joked Fantauzzi, who said they’ve been invited to perform this June for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Other nominations:
From Geyser Road Elementary School:
Taylor Zeppetelli, Kindergarten, Age 6: Taylor is kind and caring toward everyone. She shows respect and tolerance everyday.
Jack Dawson, First Grade, Age 7: Jack is always the first one to offer to help. He is willing to assist all of his classmates. He is kind and caring to everyone.
James Lynch, Grade 4: James is a wonderful friend to everyone around him. He is patient and supportive to his peers and teachers. He is also tolerant toward his own learning and is never afraid of doing multiple copies of work to produce an amazing final copy.
From Saratoga Springs High School:
Jessica Podesva, Grade 11, Age 16: Jessica is one of the most outstanding student leaders we have in our NCBI (National Coalition Building Institute) program at the high school. Jess consistently demonstrates tolerance and inclusion of people from all aspects of the school community. She is intelligent, mature, energetic, and extremely responsible and is the consummate model of accepting people from diverse social, ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds.
Congratulations to all of January's nominees!
If you know a young
person in the Saratoga Springs City School District who deserves
recognition in the “Profiles in Character” feature please send in a
nomination form. The forms are available
here. Complete the short form and
forward it to the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention, 36 Phila
Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. You can also fax the form to
581-1240, or email to
partnership@preventioncouncil.org.
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