MILLERTON — Two local scholarship winners of the Irondale Schoolhouse Scholarships have simple but important advice for rising seniors who will soon be facing a year of college applications quickly followed by hefty tuition bills — the cost of pursuing their dreams.
Both winners said: Think scholarships.
Then apply early and apply often.
Webutuck graduates Daisy Matus and Liam Lynch were each able to garner at least seven scholarships to help ease the costs they will face as they continue their education at “The Next Level.”
Matus, Webutuck’s 2021 valedictorian and a self-described procrastinator, said she did work early in the year on scholarship applications but in the end put off writing her essay until shortly before applications were due, something she does not recommend.
“It does take lot of work — there’s no doubt in that,” she acknowledged. “However, most of the scholarships can be a bit repetitive, so you can reuse essays and other material. Getting started is really nice because it gets you motivated knowing that you could possibly earn some money.”
When submitting essays, however, it is important to remember that scholarships are often created by groups with special interests and to respond appropriately to that.
For example, Friends of the Irondale Schoolhouse Board Trustee John Brunese, who created the schoolhouse’s scholarship program, noted that while awards are based on academic achievement, community service and financial need, Irondale evaluators are also interested to know how applicants feel their “classwork can relate to early education in a one-room schoolhouse,” similar to the historic 1858 Irondale Schoolhouse that sits at the Main Street entrance to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail in Millerton.
As for students for whom graduation is someplace off in the distant future, it’s never too early to start building the sort of resume that will eventually impress those in charge of doling out the dollars.
Grades matter, but so does the way time is spent. Both winners of the Irondale Scholarship showed they were willing to help fund themselves by holding down part-time jobs.
Lynch, who will be attending the acclaimed Culinary Institute of America in nearby Hyde Park, has gained experience at the popular Harney’s Tea Café on Main Street in Millerton, work he plans to continue as he pursues a four-year program in Food Business Management.
Thinking “big,” he has plans to eventually open his own chain of restaurants after gaining more experience, possibly with a corporate food concern.
In addition to her job at Silamar Farm, also in Millerton, just south of the village on Route 22, Matus was class vice president, a member of student council, mock trials, honor society, yearbook and the music program.
With a slight laugh she noted that even though she doesn’t plan to continue the last focus in college, one of the scholarships she received was for music, proving everything students do matters.
Earning too many scholarship to list, including several from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology where she will study biomedical engineering, Matus was adamant that students should apply for as many awards as possible, especially local ones such as Irondale’s, because she believes the odds of getting those are better.
Lynch’s advice is more succinct but equally apt: “Just do it. Do it fast.”
Equally important advice: Do it through the school’s free guidance office rather than wasting money on fee-based online sources.
NORTH EAST — Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County will conduct a presentation on Thursday, May 9 on buying a three-bedroom affordable home to be built in the Town of North East.
The presentation will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex at 5:30 p.m.
Any first-time home buyer interested should attend the information session.
The application for this pilot program home-buying opportunity must be made between May 1 and June 10.Minimum household income for the pilot program is $55,000 while maximum income is determined by family size.
Applications are available at the North East Town Hall.Habitat for Humanity describes itself as a nonprofit with global reach, working across the United States and in approximately 70 countries.
‘Migration Collage' by ransome
If you claim a single sobriquet as your artistic moniker, you’re already in a club with some big names, from Zendaya to Beyoncé to the mysterious Banksy. At Geary, the contemporary art gallery in Millerton founded by New Yorkers Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary, a new installation and painting exhibition titled “The Bitter and the Sweet” showcases the work of the artist known only as ransome — all lowercase, like the nom de plume of the late Black American social critic bell hooks.
Currently based in Rhinebeck, N.Y., ransome’s work looks farther South and farther back — to The Great Migration, when Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the public violence of lynching paved the way for over six million Black Americans to seek haven in northern cities, particularly New York urban areas, like Brooklyn and Baltimore. The Great Migration took place from the turn of the 20th century up through the 1970s, and ransome’s own life is a reflection of the final wave — born in North Carolina, he found a new home in his youth in New Jersey.
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
Map fragments of North Carolina feature heavily in a large collection of eight-by-eight collage and acrylic paintings, sold individually but together mounted on Geary’s wall resembling the stitched patterns on quilts, like the quilts by the late Black American artist Arlonzia Pettway. Along with artists like Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph, Pettway was a renowned artist associated with the quilts of Gee’s Bend, generations of women in the town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama who preserved African American culture in beautiful and vibrant textile art with bold combinations of stripes, textures and colors. The influence is also wonderfully clear in ransome large-scale collages and acrylic paintings like “Square Quilt painting” on display at Geary. It’s a powerful symbol of Gee’s Bend’s legacy continuing on, even under a new artistic medium.
In the smaller works, called “Migration Collages,” painted portraits are combined with pieces of floral and pastel paper, evocative of the tradition of “Sunday Best” splendor worn in Black churches in the South. “The women elders at my Baptist church often greeted each other that way on Sunday mornings when one hat was more elaborate, colorful, or wider brimmed than another,” New York Times veteran Lena Williams wrote in her 1996 essay, “In Defense of the Church Hat.” “It was traditional to put on one’s newest finery for church, and in many historically black churches, the wearing of fancy hats by women carried both spiritual and cultural significance.”
“The Bitter and the Sweet” is on view at Geary through Sunday, June 2.
Hospitality, ease of living and just plain fun are rolled into one for those who are intrigued by the leisure-time Caravana experience at the family-owned Four Brothers Drive-in in Amenia. Tom Stefanopoulos, pictured above, highlights fun possibilities offered by Hotel Caravana.
The month-long process of unwrapping and preparing the various features at the Four Brothers Drive-In is nearing completion, and the imaginative recreational destination will be ready to open for the season on Friday, May 10.
The drive-in theater is already open, as is the Snack Shack, and the rest of the recreational features are activating one by one, soon to be offering maximum fun for the whole family.
Tom Stefanopoulos, the second generation helping to guide the Stefanopoulos family’s recreational complex, brings a deep understanding of hospitality and business sense in support of the multi-faceted enterprise, begun in the 1970s, that is now a mainstay of the town of Amenia, located on a corner in the heart of the commercial district. He paused for an interview on Friday, April 26.
Two luxury camping trailers, each with an attached wooden deck and fire pit, make up Hotel Caravana, and each offers a different fun vibe, Stefanopoulos explained. The larger of the two, offers a California lifestyle, retro to 1967, although its modern where it should be. It can sleep four.
The smaller Caravana sleeps two and offers a lifestyle of the future dating to about 2041. It’s a brand-new Airstream, Stefanopoulos noted. It also has an attached deck with firepit.
“We get a lot of New York City people,” Stefanopoulos said when asked what sorts of people are apt to be attracted to Hotel Caravana. “They want to experience the upstate life,” he added. The idea of sitting out on the deck while watching an actual drive-in movie appeals to them, as does room service offered by the restaurant.
The lobster rolls prepared by the Snack Shack, are served on brioche hot dog rolls, either Maine-style or Connecticut-style, and the lobster can be topped with caviar. Four Brothers version is praised by customers for the generous portion of lobster in each, and the price is competitive.
Caravana guests may book for a single night, or maybe two, or even longer, taking advantage of the bicycles to pedal along the nearby rail trail, a local amenity, Stefanopoulos noted.
“We make our guests feel like movie stars,” Stefanopoulos said of the hospitality. And, if they like miniature golf, it is just a few steps away from their Caravana deck.
Asked how and why the Caravana idea began, Stefanopoulos recalled that as the drive-in theater grew in popularity, people were traveling from greater distances away. The last film of the night might start at midnight, he said, so the idea grew that Four Brothers might be able to offer an accommodation to stay the night.
In addition to Caravana, Four Brothers offers an alternative of two or three tent camping sites.
Future plans may include a third Caravana, Stefanopoulos said. Also, there is a giant mastodon skeleton, presently in storage, that should be on display, he said.
“It’s pretty big,” Stefanopoulos added.
The playground might be enlarged in the coming seasons, and perhaps an old-fashioned arcade added for retro amusement.
The community that surrounds Four Brothers remains important to the Stefanopoulos family as they offer substantial summer employment opportunity. Stefanopoulos said that a goal is to contract locally for business needs, such as musical entertainment and advertising. The drive-in also schedules occasion fundraisers to benefit local organizations, including the Amenia Fire Company and area schools.
