5 emma everywhere
Newsmakers De Shan Lett has been named Director of Cognitive Skills, a new position at the school. Lett will monitor and assist students with learning differences and those in need of guidance in managing class assignments and study skills.
Photo: Times Union, used by permission
Sabra Sanwal was named the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Thomas Miller Instructor in Language. Prior to joining Emma in 1993, she taught at both Havergal College in Toronto and Skidmore College. Debra Spiro-Allen, director of vocal music and chair of the Arts Department, was named the Julia Howard Bush Instructor in the Arts. Prior to joining Emma in 2002, she taught at the Sayles School of Fine Arts in Schenectady. When senior Katherine Vail was 13 she fractured her vertebrae in a devastating skiing accident. Surgeons told the young horseback rider she would never ride again. Fast-forward to October 2012: Vail placed second in the nation and fifth in the world in her division in two events at the Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show. Her motto? “Never give up,” she said. “I have one of those injuries that never fully gets healed and I have fallen off since, but I keep getting back up.”
Katherine Vail ’13
Setting a Welcoming Table When Pascale Stain ’14 gave a kindergartener named Zabib a backpack filled with school supplies at the conclusion of a volunteer project with young immigrant children, the youngster seemed confused. “This is all for me?” Zabib asked Stain. “She looked truly shocked that someone would be giving her her very own backpack,” Stain said. “She looked so excited; she hugged me.” It is interactions like this that have kept Stain an active volunteer with the Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE) at Emmaus United Methodist Church in Albany since 8th grade. She was one of the first teenagers to become involved with the group. The mission of RISSE is to help refugees and recent immigrants build sustainable, independent lives by offering language and literacy instruction, support with life skills, and integration into the local community. Stain implemented a comprehensive gardening and cooking project for 12- and 13-year-old refugees. She designed raised garden beds, planted them with RISSE students, then she taught the kids how to cook healthy, nutritious meals with the fresh ingredients they harvested. Her goal was to expose children to the principles of healthy cooking; encourage them to eat a variety of fresh healthy foods; practice cooking “math”—measuring, fractions; and celebrate their diverse cultural heritage through food. But even beyond gardening and cooking, Stain wanted to impart a lasting message to the children. She wanted them to see they, too, can play a role in welcoming newcomers to the country.
Winter 2013