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WISE 30 Years Celebration
by Linda Greene

View Photos from the event

On January 10, 2004, WISE Services sponsored a celebration of Westchester's pioneers in experiential learning programs for high school seniors from four high schools - Woodlands, Scarsdale, Croton-Harmon and New Rochelle. At a gala dinner at the Westchester Marriott, graduates, their parents, mentors, and local business sponsors, joined together in an anniversary celebration. Howard Rodstein, of the Scarsdale Alternative School, who helped found Senior Options at Scarsdale High School, Toni Abramson Matthews, Andrew Courtney, Bruce Bozeman, and the Brown family - Phyllis, Bill, Steven, David, Richard, and Gary, all of whom have been instrumental in the success of WISE at Woodlands, and of WISE Services were honored.

Almost 300 people braved the cold to attend this event. They dined on a delicious buffet dinner, listened to beautiful music performed by WISE graduates, viewed a new and wonderful WISE video, heard former WISE students describe the impact their projects have had on their lives, and celebrated the achievements of the honorees. An event journal included some 60 reflections of graduates from Woodlands, New Rochelle, Croton Harmon and Scarsdale about their senior projects. (Graduates, we are still collecting reflections if you missed the journal deadline. We'd love to hear from you about your project, what you learned, and your thoughts about what you did from today's prospective!) We are proud of our program and delighted that we were able to celebrate with so many individuals.

For more information about the event or how you can contribute to WISE, please contact Linda Greene at wiselindag@optonlinenet. If you prefer, my address is 348 North Midland Avenue, Upper Nyack, New York 10960 and you can reach me at (845) 353-2854.