The Learning Web's Youth Outreach Program

By Caitlin Noerenberg and Aly Dixon


With the holidays approaching, many young adults around Ithaca are counting the days till they get to go home to see their family and friends. However, many youth around Ithaca face the uncertainty of not actually having a permanent place to call home. To help combat this uncertainty, The Learning Web's Youth Outreach Program, a non-profit organization, offers support to independent youth in any way possible.

The Learning Web's Youth Outreach Program got its start in 1990 with the help of Larry Farbman. The program started with the desire to help youth that found themselves in transient, with no stable place to live, going from couch to couch. These youths have left home for many reasons, and have found comfort in the services of Youth Outreach.

The program aims to help these independent youths, ages 16-25 get on a healthy, successful path in order to fully reach their own goals. The program has case managers that currently provide services to about 20 clients each. When trust is built between case managers and their clients, that is when the real work starts happening.

Case managers help to set up apprenticeships with local businesses for these young adults in order to learn the skills they are going to need to obtain a job in the future. Along with this, the program helps youth to find stable housing, have the ability to afford food, manage and budget their money, and at times form friendships with other clients in the program.

The Youth Outreach offices provides these services through a variety of programs. Group meetings are held at their office weekly, as a chance for the youths to get together and share in common interests. Dinner club is another program in which youths that have obtained their own apartment invite some other program participants, as well the case managers, over to their apartment to cook dinner. Youth Outreach provides the food and helps to cook, as a way of showing their support.

Also, for those youth struggling with the uncertainty of parenthood, Youth Outreach provides programs on learning how your child will grow and develop, and how to healthily progress as a parent.

During the holiday season, Youth Outreach operates like any other time of the year, providing any service they can to help youths feel like they have a support system. Of course, the stresses of the season are present just like any where else, but Youth Outreach does all they can to calm this anxiety.

On December 22nd, Youth Outreach plans to hold a walk-in celebration of the holidays by keeping their door open all day, inviting anyone who might want to come in and celebrate. Youth Outreach also provides gifts to their client's children, making the holiday season one for them to actually look forward to.

All in all, the Youth Outreach program has had unmeasurable accomplishments, citing every type of success story imaginable. This program is getting young adults back on their feet, finding places to live, to work, and to reach their potential.

Ithaca Keeps it Artsy this Holiday Season

(Final Report)
By: Tracey A. Casseus, Joy Kucinkas, and Emma Tanner

During this holiday season Tompkins County shoppers are looking to find gifts locally to help support small businesses and local artists.

Annually the Community Arts Partnership (CAP), the Arts Council for Tompkins County organizes and facilitates a summer and winter show and sale of work by local artists. CAP was founded in 1990 as a not-for-profit agency that would serve the public by providing services to the arts in the County.

The exhibit showcases an array of artists’ paintings, drawings, photographs, collage, prints and sculpture. Additionally, the Ithaca Artists' Market usually attracts holiday shoppers. This years Holiday Artists Market was held on Saturday December 13th, 2008 at the Women’s Community Building. Artists Ryan Curtis’s work was showcased in the exhibit.

"It was good," said Curtis. "It wasn't a bank crazy New York City show, and nor was I prepared for such a thing, but it was a really nice scene for Ithaca. It was a pretty crowded market and it was nice to meet some of the other artists and nice to share the work."

Ithaca prides itself on being a community of artists. Art in this city comes in different forms: poetry, novels, dance, music, painting, drawings, and even ice sculptures.

The commons are aglow with festive ice sculptures created by local artists for the 2008 Downtown Ithaca Holiday Festival. The main attraction is the Holiday Parade of Ice, which is Central New York’s largest ice sculpture display. On December 11th the ice sculptures were shown to the public in an Unveiling Ceremony that included performances by carolers and musicians.

Several local businesses in the commons have decided to festivities and have paid local artists to have ice sculpture created for their store to be displayed out in front.


Ithaca Glass co-owner Tim Merrill was very satisfied with the ice sculpture proudly displayed outside the entrance of his store.

"I haven't necessarily noticed our sales go up that much, it's more of the recognition that we receive being on the Commons with an ice sculpture out front and people taking pictures of it, especially with it being our logo," said Merrill.

Having an ice sculpture is optional for local business, which incurs a fee that Merrill said he was glad to pay.

Merrill said, "We chose to do one, it's a way to support the Commons. It's a good cause."

News Story on The Commons




To see more of Ryan Curtis' artwork, view his collection at the ABC cafe through January 2009.
The ABC cafe is located in Collegetown (Ithaca); below is a map to help you naviagate your way!


View Larger Map

Photo Album--The Commons at Christmas, Ryan B. Curtis artwork at the ABC cafe

"God Bless America" and Its Politicians?

- Michelle Skowronek

In Depth Politics Story

Short, tall, large, tiny, medium, average, young, old, dark-skinned, light-skinned, foreign and domestice congregates file into churches, synagogues, and other places of worship once a week.

They come to read scripture.  They come to reflect.  They come to center their lives. They come to escape from their hectic schedules, the screeching sound of tires at red traffic lights and the millions of advertisements that are thrown in their faces on a daily basis.  The everyday American does not go to Church looking to hear who to vote for - at least not in Tompkins County.

Recently in the news, congressmen have been speaking out against pastors who have been endorsing political candidates while on the pulpit.  Labeled as non-profit organizations, religious places of worship receive a tax exemption code from the IRS.  To keep this exemption, churches must stay out of politics; however, with so much controversy surrounding this year's presidential election some pastors have crossed the line between church and state.

Dr. James R. Henery, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, strongly disagrees with clergy members who speak for or against a specific candidate while in church.

"Weaving politics and faith and church into a compatible relationship is not something that Presbyterians historically have accepted," Henery said in his Sept. 14 sermon.  "We believe in separation."

Ithaca College Jewish Chaplain, Michael Faber, agrees with Henery.

"As a chaplain, I am obliged to stay out of politics," Faber said.  "I am a very firm believer that religious leaders are making a gigantic error if they enter the political fray.  Religious leaders who do, perform a great disservice to their followers."

Lee Imbriano, Ithaca College Catholic Community assistant and correspondent to off campus Catholic affairs, submerged himself into this issue on Oct. 9.  Imbriano spoke at the discussion entitled "Who Should I Vote for as a Catholic?" downtown at Ithaca's Immaculate Conception Parish.  The reason behind this gathering was to discuss the importance of making educated, conscious decisions when voting in any election.  By the end, the panel, of which Imbriano was a member, simply told the attendees that it is their job as faithful citizens to get informed, research the issues, and pray.  The Catholic Church could not tell them who to vote for.

To hear what else Imbriano had to say on the matter, check out this video:

Ithaca, as most know and agree, is a very liberal and politically enthusiastic place. With Ithaca College and Cornell University sitting on its two peaks, the general population cannot help but give off an intelligent aura.  Henery agrees by saying his congregation is too clever to let him get away with telling them who to vote for. 

"Imagine this morning if you had come to this sanctuary, and I had began to tell you whom you should vote for," Henery said in his sermon.  "Imagine I tell you what kind of car you should drive, what kind of food you should eat, where to shop, what movies to watch, all sorts of decisions that I have no business to dictate but used scripture or some faith statement to support my directions.  You should have got up and walked out."

Here is a map of some of the local Ithaca churches:

View Larger Map

The above photo was taken at a Catholic mass at Ithaca College on Sunday Oct. 26.  Father Carsten, the Ithaca College Catholic Chaplain, is giving his homily, in which he mentions making smart and conscious decisions on Election Day.

First Official Halloween Event!

- Michelle Skowronek

Tonight, downtown in the Commons, Micawber's Pub is having a pre Halloween party!

The event especially caters to Ithaca College seniors, but it is open to all those over 21. There will be a costume contest with a $100 bar tab prize for the most creative and hilarious costume. Come in a large group or strut your stuff solo. The party begins at 9 p.m. and goes to 1 a.m.

This Halloween Bash costs $4 to enter and only $2 with a Senior Card. Also, to keep in theme with Halloween there are a number of drink specials:

THE IC DREAM includes pineapple juice for a tropical flavor, orange juice to celebrate Halloween, coconut rum, Grenadine, and a splash of cream --- only for $3.50

Orange Beer --- $2.50 special
Orange Shots --- $2.50 special
Orange Shoote*--- $2.50 special

*A shoote is a mixed drink typically served in a test tube and taken as a shot.

The Pub is expecting over 200 people to show, so this is one event you do not want to miss out on!

For more information check out the Senior Homepage.

(picture courtesy of FrugalLawStudent.com)

Ithaca Students Provide Specialized Care at Free Clinic

Ithaca College students are pairing up with the Ithaca Free Clinic right here in Tompkins County. Beginning this fall Occupational Therapy students volunteer at the clinic on a weekly basis. The students provide OT care for uninsured residents of Tompkins County and specifically the Ithaca Community. Associate Professor at Ithaca College, Julie Dorsey, is the faculty adviser of the program and says she was approached after the Ithaca Free Clinic expressed a need for rehabilitative services to the College.

“I became the point-person for the OT department to run the needs assessment,” Dorsey says. “I ran it as a class [last] Spring… to figure out what the actual need was in Tompkins County”.

Dorsey says that the need was found to be significant. In the video below, Graduate student Taryn Michelitch describes the process that the research class used to find out how badly Tompkins County needed OT services. Michelitch has been involved in the program since students first began research with Dorsey last Spring.



“We offer services that involve physical care, emotional, cognitive… OT is really a broad field,” says Anna Yahner. Yahner is a graduate student who joined the small group of students directed by Dorsey earlier this fall. “If someone comes in with a problem that limits their shoulder range of motion and that limits how much they can do in their daily life, we’ll work with them on their shoulder.”

Yahner says that although the Free Clinic does not currently have the resources to provide community integration services, they are aware of those services through other organizations. She adds that this is done on a case-by-case basis.

“Generally OT’s do community integration types of things,” she says. “We are pretty aware of what’s out there [in the community] so we can refer people according to their specific needs if they do need services beyond the Clinic.”

Those in the county who are in need of occupational services often need the care that IC students now provide. Dorsey talks about the vicious circle that community members can get dragged into without proper therapy in the video below.




The Ithaca Free Clinic is located at 225 S. Fulton St in Ithaca New York. Occupational Therapy services are now offered from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesdays by appointment. The number to reach them at is: (607) 330-1254
-- Written by Joy Kucinkas

ESL Students Expose Student Teacher to Diverse Classroom

- Michelle Skowronek
In-Depth Education Story


The sounds of sneakers squeak down the hallway as 24 fourth graders line up to enter the Northeast Elementary School gymnasium. They file into the room and take a seat on the floor framing the circumference of the child-friendly emblems painted on the floor. Boys and girls of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities plop down on red circles, green squares, blue triangles and yellow rectangles while “Mr. H” lines up rows of volleyballs.

Brian Horner is an Ithaca College undergraduate student teacher. As he finishes up his last semester at IC, Horner teaches physical education at two different public school locations. His first placement is at Northeast Elementary, and his second will be at Charlotte High School in Rochester, NY.

On top of learning basic teaching skills, Horner gets hands on experience working with English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Northeast Elementary alone enrolls students from over 23 different countries. Cornell University plays a large role in the diversity at Northeast due to its assorted population of graduate students and professors. Mr. H has a handful of ESL students in his P.E. classes, most are Asian.

“When most people think of ESL students, they think of Hispanics, but most of my classes are made up of Asian ESL students,” he said. “Majority of the Asian students have parents working or studying at Cornell. Some of them understand English, others do not at all.”

Ithaca College professor of Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, Roberta Wallitt, trains student teachers to be culturally competent with an understanding of the needs of English language learners. Wallitt says classroom teachers often lack this training.

“They may not present in ways that are accessible to ESL students: demonstrating instead of just talking; using pictures; having hands-on activities,” she said. “They may also not know how to connect lessons to the students' experiences and cultures to help them understand.”

Mr. H has experienced the need to make phys ed class even more hands on when working with ESL students. Sometimes he needs to act out an activity with another student while explaining the directives.

“The other day I had to explain the next activity with more than just words,” Horner said. “I had another English speaking student demonstrate with me what the rest of the class would be doing. Then I slowed down and simplified my language until the ESL student seemed to understand.”

Here is a video of Mr. H teaching students how to rotate positions in volleyball.



Wallitt suggests jumping into a foreign student’s culture to better understand the student.

“Attending community events is another learning experience,” she said. “When they [teachers] only view students’ behaviors through an ‘American’ lens, they are likely to misinterpret and not be successful teachers.”

Horner says his experience at Northeast Elementary has greatly prepared him for teaching in multi-cultural settings, but most importantly, it has been an enjoyable experience.

“I love working with younger kids,” he said, “because that’s when P.E. is still fun. Effectively communicating with all the students, foreign or not, is an extra added bonus.”





A student lays exhausted after Mr. H says "freeze", ending that day's activities.

Experiencing Barriers

Feature Education Story.

The “Understanding Disability” students at Ithaca College used two innovative techniques to do what the course title implies. Professor Judy Kennison assigned her class an hour in a wheelchair as well as a day in earplugs. The college announced the assignment in a September news release.

“Barrier Experiences” is the name of the project. Kennison says the assignment’s purpose is to foster an “awareness of the challenges posed by physical and social disabilities.”

There are 41 students in the course. The students break up into pairs and each take a turn navigating a predetermined route around the campus in a wheel chair. Each student also spends a day wearing industrial earplugs to simulate hearing impairment. The students write a paper about their experiences.

Kennison said the wheelchair assignment predates her tenure at the school. She added the earplug portion as a means of expanding the students’ experiences. Several students find the social ramifications of the hearing impairment equally difficult, if not more difficult than using the wheelchair. Check out these statistics on the prevalence of hearing impairment.

Kennison called the chairs “institutional,” saying they are typical of what someone with limited economic resources would probably use. The Ithaca College campus poses a particularly tough challenge for the wheelchair users. Its many slopes are a struggle to navigate.

“I knew the campus was not good for wheelchairs,” sophomore physical therapy major Lisa Russell said. The assignment confirmed her suspicions.

Kennison said that while she doesn’t believe the project can truly simulate the actual feeling of having a disability, she hopes it makes her students think about the everyday issues a disability imposes. Something as simple as a trip to the dining hall can become a challenging ordeal.

Senior Annette Dudarewicz and junior Katherine Wilson demonstrated using the wheelchair in the video below.



Here is another story on the “Barrier Experiences” project.

--Nate March

Bill Nye The Science Guy in Ithaca

Bill Nye the Science Guy made a special appearance on the Ithaca Commons this afternoon. Nye, a Cornell graduate, was in town for the 40th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences which started on Thursday and will continue until Wednesday, the 15th. Nye led a huge crowd on the Carl Sagan Planet Walk, a 1 to 5 billion scale model of the solar system, which starts on the Commons and ends at the Sciencenter. Pictured above are Nye and Kevin McGouldrick of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, standing at the planet Venus.

--Maura Gladys

SIFE Giving Back, Giving Gift Baskets

As a Parkie, I spend most of my days down in the Park school whether it be in the classroom, the photo lab, or the studios. But I will now be spending some time in the other Park school- the Dorothy D. and Roy H. Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise or to use layman’s terms, the Business School.

I decided to join one of the most popular clubs within the Business School, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), an international organization at universities and colleges whose goal is “to expand economic growth and opportunity within local communities through activities that emphasize entrepreneurship.” In another words, the club focuses on creating volunteer projects that will help prosper economic activity within the community.

As a Journalism student, I have had little business experience and think it is important to have a basic grasp on the business field. I decided to join SIFE because I want to develop my entrepreneurial skills, an important factor when looking at the field of journalism as a business.

The need for these skills, along with the fact that my good friend, Jordan Berry, is the vice-president of communication and recruitment in SIFE, convinced me to venture into the other Park School.

SIFE’s latest project will appeal to both IC students as well as their families. “The entrepreneurial project we have going on now is a business that we’re starting on campus in which we sell gift baskets,” Berry said. The baskets come in a variety of themes including “College Survival Kit”, “Miss You” and “Candy Baskets.” Students can send the baskets to friends on campus and families can arrange for them to be sent to their children.

Keep an eye out for SIFE’s gift baskets, which are set to be up and running by Parents’ Weekend. Giving back has never been so easy or tasted this good! Mmm… “Candy Basket.”

-Ursula Fox-Koor

"The Exonerated" Premieres Tonight

- Maura Gladys

The Ithaca College Theatre Department will present its first show of the season, “The Exonerated”, which premieres tonight. Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, “The Exonerated” profiles six individuals that were on death row but later exonerated. Basically, the play is the theater equivalent of a docudrama. Jensen and Blank traveled around the country and interviewed people about their experiences on death row, so all of the stories are real, and a lot of the dialogue from the interviews made it into the play.
The show premieres tonight at 8 p.m. in the Clark Theatre at Dilingham Center and will run until Sunday afternoon. Ticket prices range from $4.50 to $10 and can be purchased from the Ithaca College Theatre Ticket Office in Dillingham Center or by calling 607-274-3224.
Ithaca College will also welcome one of the original “Exonerated” to campus on Friday, October 10th. Kerry Max Cook, whose death row ordeal is documented in “The Exonerated” will hold a free public talk at 3:30 in Textor 102.
This is a great way to not only support the Ithaca College Theatre Department, but to gain some awareness regarding the social injustices in the United States.

IC Senior Night Happy Hour!!!

- Michelle Skowronek

Watch out Ithaca Commons, IC seniors will be rushing downtown tonight for drinks, bonding, and a top notch party at 2nd Floor Bar.

The Ithaca College Senior Night Happy Hour is a tradition at IC where the Student Government Association (SGA) announces the two top class drinks.  Every year at IC the seniors send in drink names and recipes to call their own.  SGA then uses a system that judges the drinks on popularity and creativity to determine which two drinks will be named the class cocktails.  Senior Night Happy Hour marks the first time the senior drink appears in bars around campus.

Along with this tradition, seniors will receive extraordinary discounts on the Senior Class drink, other drinks and admission.  Pizza will be served all night, and Ithaca College's very own senior DJ, DJ Emerson, will be blasting the tunes.

The event is open to all those who are over 21, but there is a $4 admission fee for those who do not have an Ithaca College Senior Card.  Seniors with the card can get in for only $2.  Doors open at 9PM and close at 1AM.

Tonight marks one of the many Senior Night events planned for the class of 2009.  Whether you are a senior at IC or just a friend of a friend, come celebrate Ithaca tradition down in the Commons!

Taxi:  Green Hornet 607-280-3779

Please drink responsibly.  

Latin Culture Taking Over Taste Buds

- Michelle Skowronek

Ithaca College observes Latin Heritage Month every year between September 15 and October 15. With the end of this year's celebration approaching, there are a few final events to watch out for. 

Ithaca College's African-Latino Society (ALS) is hosting their final event this Sunday, October 12, in IC Square.  ALS and the H.O.M.E. and Vecinos community will be hosting Noche del Sabor, or Night of Flavor, in hopes of expressing the hispanic influence on American food.

Also this month, Eliana Parro, a co-owner and chef at Moosewood Restaurant, is being recognized for her amazing Chilean contributions to the famous eatery in the Ithaca Commons by Chef's Night Off. 

Chef's Night Off is a social group that selects chefs from the Bin

ghamton area and highlights their signature recipes for the month.  This is the first time the group has opened up the panel to Ithaca and Elmira chefs since the its forming in 2005.

Parro is noted for her outstanding Chunky Guacamole recipe. 

There are plenty of cultures to experience here in Ithaca.  This week go out and get a hispanic taste either at Moosewood Restaurant or IC Square.

Public Safety Stop Sign Patrol

- Michelle Skowronek

Within the past few weeks, Ithaca College Campus Safety Patrol has gotten stricter on driving laws.  I've noticed that Campus Safety is really cracking down on drivers and their tendency to "roll through" stop signs.

Usually talk of the town says around the end of the month police officers become stricter so that they can fill quota.  Then why are they hanging around campus in the beginning of the month?

Two weeks ago, I had been pulled over for "rolling through" a stop sign on the upper end of campus by the football fields.  Mind you it was 1:45 in the morning on a Monday.  The officer let me go with just a warning, but he reminded me that many pedestrians cross there often and we don't want anyone to get hurt.

Since then, I have witnessed three people get pulled over for the same offense.  A friend of mine had supposedly ran a stop sign between the Park School of Communications and Emerson Hall last Friday. I was in the car at the time and began to think I was bad luck; however, my friend received the same warning I had days prior.

Yesterday afternoon, a Campus Safety Patrol SUV cut me off to pull over the car in front of me. I was in the middle of the roundabout at the main entrance to campus when the officer, coming from the opposite direction, turned on his flashers and hit a hard U turn into a visitor's parking lot.  I quickly put together that the girls in the red car in front of me rolled through the stop sign without even seeing the oncoming police officer.

In essence, slow down, come to a complete stop, and be aware that Campus Safety is patrolling even at 2 AM on a Monday in the beginning of October.

Joy's Introduction

Hey Tompkins County!

Tracey's Introduction

Caitlin Noerenberg's Introduction

Unfortunately I had some issues uploading this, which is why I'm still doing it at 1:15am haha

Michael Polak's Introduction!

Habi-dash!

On Sunday afternoon the Ithaca College chapter of Habitat for Humanity hosted the fifth annual Habi-dash. The Habi-dash is a five kilometer race to raise money for Habitat.

Approximately 30 Ithaca College students came out to walk or run the course. The course itself was a winding trip around the edge of the campus beginning and ending on the track at Butterfield Stadium.

Against my better judgement, I decided to take part in the race this year at the last moment, leaving very little time to train. Fortunately, I not only survived the run, but finished thirteenth, completing the course in a little more than 26 minutes.

For more information about Ithaca College's chapter of Habitat, check them out here.


--Nate March

-Maura Gladys

--Maura Gladys

--Nate March