Briefs: Waldorf School, IC commencement, more

Ithaca Waldorf School hires new director; honors outgoing director Emily Butler

Earlier this month, the Ithaca Waldorf School (IWS) announced that master educator Laura Hayes (left) will be joining the school as its new director, beginning July 1.

Hayes joins IWS with decades of experience leading and teaching within Waldorf schools in Germany and the United States, most recently as a class and German teacher at the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School in Newtown, Connecticut.

In addition to strong leadership skills, Hayes brings a keen interest in, and passion for, weaving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into school culture and curriculum. Her anti-racism studies led her to design an innovative curriculum around racism, disability and gender identity. Hayes has consistently worked to improve the community in which she lives and works, and school staff are enthusiastic to collaborate on forward-thinking approaches to inclusion.

As Hayes states, “The fact that IWS is committed to DEI work and seems eager to expand its reach and impact in the broader Ithaca community made my decision to say ‘Yes!’ even easier.”

As school director, Hayes will oversee the operational functions of the school, working closely with the administrative team and business manager. She will also be working in close collaboration with faculty, staff and the Board of Trustees in the ongoing development and implementation of IWS’ pedagogical and strategic objectives.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Brooks Family Foundation, Hayes will continue honing her administrative and leadership skills through ongoing mentoring, coaching and professional development.

Retiring School Director Emily Butler had this to say about Hayes: “The school is in exceptional shape to blossom into this next phase, which Laura’s energy and enthusiasm will most assuredly cultivate!”

Butler further reflected on her history at the school.

“I am deeply grateful to have served the Ithaca Waldorf School in its growth over the past 21 years,” she said. “Despite COVID challenges, the school has provided in-person education to each child, every day, all day for two full years. The expansive facilities, along with the surrounding farm, field and forest, provide a welcoming space to all. It has been an honor to work with amazing professionals in the faculty, administration and board as well as committed community members.”

In a press release, the Ithaca Waldorf School said it is deeply appreciative of, and grateful for, Butler’s years of dedicated service and is thrilled to have found a qualified and capable leader to walk in her stead. As Hayes steps into her new role, she is backed by the community’s whole-hearted support and confidence.

If you would like more information, please visit the IWS website atithacawaldorf.org or contact Danaka Olsen via phone at (607) 56-2020 or email at office@ithacawaldorf.org.

 

IC commencement speaker encourages students

Over 1,300 students gathered with proud families and friends May 22 to celebrate Ithaca College’s 127th commencement. Twin ceremonies were held — at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. — at Glazer Arena in the Athletics and Events Center on campus.

The importance of showing up for others as well as taking care of ourselves was a key message from Commencement speaker Sheila Katz (right), National Council of Jewish Women CEO and a 2005 IC graduate.

She encouraged students to be honest about how they feel, focus on valuing themselves rather than comparing themselves to others and push back against hard-to-meet expectations and pressures.

“Look in the mirror and accept all of what you see,” Katz said. “If I hadn’t let the impossible standards that are set on us rule my life at your age, I could’ve done so many more important things. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to spend all my emotional energy on pleasing others. So, here I am saying it to you: Please, please, don’t buy into the lies we have been taught. Unlearn that you are unworthy. Show up for yourself with kindness and compassion. Prioritize your well-being.”

Katz spoke of the importance of listening, supporting and allyship and called on the Class of 2022 to notice their power and privilege and show up for those in need.

“Every great change maker in history started by showing up just once,” she said. “We never know what the tipping point for change will be or who will set it in motion. But it starts with showing up and when enough of us do, one of us is bound to create the ripples that can change the course of history. It could be one of you.”

In her remarks, IC president La Jerne Terry Cornish shared Katz’ sentiment.

“As each of you begins your next chapter, it’s my sincere hope that you continue to think critically, creatively and analytically, that you practice compassion, that you let grace be your guide and that you remain optimistic about humanity’s potential for progress,” she said.

 

IAED welcomes Danielle Szabo as director of workforce innovation

Ithaca Area Economic Development (IAED) recently announced that it has hired Danielle Szabo (left) as director of workforce innovation. In her new role, Szabo will be responsible for addressing workforce needs of key sector businesses in Ithaca and Tompkins County by designing and implementing initiatives to improve career awareness and creating pathways and programs to support area employers.

IAED President Heather McDaniel shared, “Danielle will be a wonderful addition to IAED. Her experience, skillset and passion for workforce development will make her a great asset to the IAED team. I am confident she will do great things for Ithaca and Tompkins County employers.”

Szabo brings nearly 15 years of workforce development experience to her new role. Her previous experience focused on industry partnerships in manufacturing, health care and construction.

She also has a background in working with local employers in the central New York region to develop more efficient hiring and onboarding processes that resulted in higher retention rates and overall system changes.

Szabo formerly served as interim executive director and economic development specialist at Cayuga Economic Development Agency (CEDA) and the director of programming for the Work Train Initiative at Centerstate CEO.

Szabo began her education studying Global and International Development at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and completed her studies at the SUNY Oswego, earning a bachelor’s degree in global and international relations.

She holds several professional certificates from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and has served on a variety of boards such as the Cayuga County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA), the Auburn Industrial Development Authority (AIDA), Cayuga Cortland Workforce Development Board, Central New York International Business Alliance (CNYIBA) and Westminster Manor Senior Living Community.

Szabo resides in Marcellus with her husband and their two dogs. In her free time, she and her husband operate their farm-to-table catering company Scratch Farmhouse Catering.

IAED is a private non-profit economic development organization serving Ithaca and Tompkins County. It is New York State’s first and only Accredited Economic Development Organization, one of only 71 across North America. Since 1964, Ithaca Area Economic Development has worked to grow, retain and attract companies that provide high-quality employment opportunities and strives to create a supportive environment for businesses and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit IthacaAreaED.org.

 

PRI launches Earth@Home Road Trip across U.S.

The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) has announced the Earth@Home Science Road Trip, an Earth science-based virtual tour of the United States using resources from PRI’s Earth@Home free online resource.

The Science Road Trip will explore each region of the United States to create a geological road map. For the initiative, PRI has developed a mascot named “Professor Gilbert D. Snail,” a cartoon snail with a faux degree from Cornell University.

Gilbert will guide users state by state on the Science Road Trip using free resources available on the Earth@Home platform. Each week, Gilbert will share his discoveries in each state he travels to on social media, including must-see destinations for science road trippers, earth science trivia for each state and more!

PRI Integrated Marketing Manager Areya Muraca shared, “We are so excited to launch the Science Road Trip to bring greater awareness to the Earth@Home resource, which is accessible and free to all. Gilbert is such a fun way to get people interested in the Earth science of where they live, and we look forward to collaborating with other organizations to bring Gilbert to their audience. Stay tuned for his exciting travels around the nation!”

Users are encouraged to submit their photos of Gilbert’s destinations for a chance to be featured on Earth@Home. Submissions can be sent to gilbert.snail@priweb.org.

Earth@Home was launched in the summer of 2020 as an informational platform to help educators, students and the public learn about the Earth science of where they live. To learn more about the Earth@Home website, please visit earthathome.org.

PRI pursues and integrates education and research and interprets the history and systems of the Earth and its life, to increase knowledge, educate society and encourage wise stewardship of the Earth.

PRI and its two public venues for education, the Museum of the Earth and the Cayuga Nature Center, are separate from, but formally affiliated with Cornell University and interact closely with numerous University departments in research, teaching and public outreach. To learn more, visit priweb.org.

 

Kelles responds to campaign against cryptomining moratorium bill

POLITICO’s Marie French reported earlier this month that the conservative anti-tax organization Club for Growth has spent heavily in recent weeks on a campaign targeting Senate Democrats through mass texts and digital ads to try to stop legislation to place a two-year moratorium on crypto mining in power plants in New York state (S6486D) from passing through the Senate.

The legislation passed through the Assembly last month despite the cryptocurrency industry spending at least $1.5 million lobbying against the bill during the legislative session. The bill is expected to move through the Senate, where it passed last year.

In response to this latest campaign against the bill, Ithacan and State Assemblymember Anna Kelles (left) replied: “Don’t be fooled here. The opposition to any discussions of crypto regulations is coming from a Koch-backed group, the same group that propped up Ron DeSantis’s anti-LGBTQ policies. It is part of their overarching project to impose conservative values and gut regulations that could impact profits. They’re going after abortion rights, trans rights, racial equity and our right to clean air and clean water.”

Kelles has previously addressed false claims about the bill: “It is a complete lie to describe our bill as a job-killer. By contrast, the bill will protect our $3 billion [a] year, 60,000 job agritourism industry in New York state that’s actually under threat from cryptomining.”

Kelles continued.

“Here’s the fact: this is a two-year moratorium specifically on cryptocurrency mining operations that are housed at fossil fuel burning power plants. Period,” she said. “It would in no way prevent cryptomining in New York, particularly by small-scale or ‘boutique’ miners or by any large-scale operations directly tied to the grid or using renewable energy. If cryptominers are so dead set on convincing us that they are part of the climate solution, why are they lobbying for the right to refire fossil-fuel based power plants?”

Learn more about the legislation at nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A7389.

 

Conference Center to be first fossil fuel-free conference center in U.S.

The Ithaca Downtown Conference Center will be the first fossil fuel-free conference center in the United States.

Deepening the city of Ithaca’s commitment to decarbonization, the Downtown Ithaca Local Development Corporation (DILDC) recently decided to make the conference center’s commercial kitchen all electric, the first of its kind in the U.S.

Switching to cutting-edge electric technology from the initial plan to use natural gas for kitchen hot water and cooking equipment was made possible due to $2 million in federal funds announced in March by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

The conference center, which had always been planned to have electric heating and cooling, is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in early 2024.

“The fully electric kitchen would not be possible without the federal support that the project received, thanks to Sen. Schumer,” said Jennifer Tavares, president of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and Visit Ithaca and president of the Board of Directors for the DILDC, which will own the conference center.

By making the kitchen an all-electric operation, the entire conference center facility will be fossil fuel-free. That is in line with the city of Ithaca’s goals outlined in its Green New Deal adopted in 2019, which includes achieving carbon neutrality for all city buildings by 2030.

“I commend the LDC board in making this bold and forward-looking decision and thank Sen. Schumer for his support for this project,” said Ithaca Acting Mayor Laura Lewis. “The city of Ithaca has set aggressive decarbonization goals for our community, and proactive decisions like this not only support the city in meeting the objectives of the Ithaca Green New Deal but also set the project up for lasting success.”

The Ithaca Downtown Conference Center has been in planning stages since 2016 and is expected to draw 60,000 new visitors to the Finger Lakes region each year and generate millions of dollars in new annual visitor spending.

For more information, visit downtownithaca.com/conferencecenter.

 

Vanessa Fajans-Turner announces she will not continue congressional run

Earlier this month, Vanessa Fajans-Turner (pictured left at a rally held earlier this month), who had previously been running in New York’s 22nd Congressional District, announced that she will not continue her campaign for Congress.

“Now that New York’s redistricting process is complete and its new district lines are final, I have made the difficult decision not to continue my campaign for Congress,” said Fajans-Turner. “Tompkins County, and my hometown of Ithaca, have been drawn into New York’s 19th Congressional District, which spans 11 counties extending from Tompkins through the Catskills and east across the Hudson Valley to the Massachusetts border. This new district is very different from the one in which I have been campaigning and building voter trust since launching in February.”

Fajans-Turner remarked on the state of elections under the new maps.

“We will need every resource we have to ensure Democrats win in November to fight back against Republicans’ attacks on our democracy, our fundamental rights and our climate,” she said. “I will not act in any way that splits the Democratic field in this new swing district with an established and well-funded Republican in the running. This national moment is larger than any individual candidate, and it is incumbent on all of us to work for the greater, common cause as the stakes of this race continue to rise.”

Fajans-Turner said that while her campaign is ending, her “commitment to the communities across this region has not changed.”

“The imperative of acting on issues like climate change, reproductive freedom and voting rights transcends our district and state lines, and the window to act meaningfully is narrowing,” she said. “To say I’m grateful for everyone who believed in this campaign and its vision is the largest of understatements I can imagine. We campaigned to drive conversation and engagement around key issues in the community. While our time in this race has ended, our work most certainly has not.”

You can find Vanessa Fajans-Turner’s full statement at tinyurl.com/22y2n3cj.