Assemblymember Anna Kelles visits Groton

In the Sept. 29 edition of this column (tinyurl.com/yfk6blgp), readers learned about State Sen. Peter Oberacker’s visit to the Groton Central School’s (GCS) STEAM program Sept. 21.

On Oct. 6, GCS was equally privileged to welcome State Assemblyperson Anna Kelles for Assembly District 125 for a similar visit, as well as Jeffrey Matteson, superintendent of TST BOCES.

Like Oberacker, Kelles was elected in November 2020. She succeeded long-time Assemblymember Barbara Lifton. Before becoming a state Assemblyperson, Kelles served in the Tompkins County Legislature from 2015 to 2020.

Kelles was born and raised in Tompkins County, and even after traveling the world, she felt called back to the beautiful lakes, waterfalls and trails and their peerless natural beauty that served as her sanctuary in her youth.

Kelles earned a dual bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental studies at Binghamton University in 1997 and subsequently spent four years in Ecuador working with marginalized populations to promote sound nutritional and environmental practices. In Ecuador, she worked as a high school biology teacher and as an ecological guide in the Amazon basin.

In 2008, Kelles earned a Ph.D. in nutritional epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, exploring the relationship between urbanization and multigenerational health-related behavior patterns in Cebu, Philippines. 

GCS Superintendent Margo Martin gave Kelles a detailed description of the district’s short- and long-term plans for creating career pathways in STEAM for school-age students and adults. 

She discussed the history of the development of Groton’s STEAM center, its partnership with TST BOCES and the future direction of the effort to include adults, which will include partnerships with higher education institutions including Tompkins Cortland Community College, SUNY Morrisville and Ithaca College.

Questions from Kelles focused on the roadblocks students and community members face, including transportation, housing, trauma-based education support systems and nutrition. 

A particular focus of the discussion was the health career opportunities and partnerships with Guthrie Clinic and the Cortland Chamber of Commerce. Future opportunities include expanding connections with other health care institutions and business-related organizations.

“Assemblymember Kelles’ background in nutrition was very clear and that she sees the value in students having [the] opportunity to pursue careers in health sciences,” Martin said. “She sees healthy eating as a means to improve student social-emotional learning and she showed an avid interest in our community’s Groton HARVEST initiative.”

After the presentation and detailed discussions, Martin took Kelles and her staff on a tour of the STEAM Center, where she was able to meet its coordinator, Mick LeVick, and have an opportunity to see most of what is currently happening there.

“My impressions are that Assemblymember Kelles is very willing to learn about life in a rural community and some of the challenges we face in more rural districts,” Martin said. ”Her history as an activist was evident as she shared [a] passion for having rural schools be a community center that can be used for both students and families. She seems very supportive of a plan for revitalizing Groton through adult education opportunities and supportive of the concept of job training for careers in agriculture, tech and health sciences that would provide a living wage for people.” 

Martin said that Kelles is willing to “write a letter of support for alternative funding sources the district is pursuing as it works to build its health sciences program and expand its STEAM offerings, for which we are very grateful.”

“Groton Central School appreciated the amount of time Assemblymember Kelles spent in the district and looks forward to her partnership in seeing the career pathway vision fulfilled,” Martin said. “This visit was an excellent opportunity for Groton to show the ways we are trying to work in regional partnership with TST-BOCES so that all of the students and families in our region have access to more educational opportunities. Assemblymember Kelles asked about challenges we were facing and showed a genuine willingness to take those challenges back to Albany.”

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or (607) 227-4922. 

In brief: 

Groton Story Walk

The Groton Story Walk has been updated for fall. “Fletcher and the Falling Leaves” by Julia Rawlinson is a beautifully written and illustrated picture book about the sweet and charming Fletcher the fox. 

As the leaves start to fall from his favorite tree, Fletcher worries that something is terribly wrong. Celebrate fall by checking out this Story Walk with the whole family on the trail behind the Groton Memorial Park on Sykes Street!

Trunk or Treat

Groton Youth Services is proud to be collaborating with the village of Groton this year for the return of Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Village of Groton Municipal Lot, 143 E. Cortland St., Groton. Please email Nick at nw346@cornell.edu with any questions.

Register to participate here: https://bit.ly/TrunkorTreatsignup.

GPL Book Club

The Groton Public Library Book Club will meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 21. The meeting will be held in GPL’s Great Room. This month’s book is “Firefly Lane” by Kristen Hannah. Contact director@grotonpubliclibrary.org to get your copy.