_________________ BALDWIN ________________
HERALD
your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
and March 21, 2024
with a focus on:
and vision Vol. 31 heari No.ng13
Ariel swims into Baldwin
Diversity is celebrated
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MARCH 21 - 27, 2024
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Baldwin shines at Carnegie Hall in NYC By HERNESTo GAlDAMEZ hgaldamez@liherald.com
Courtesy Jake Steinfeld
Baldwin native Jake Steinfeld is coming back to his home state to give three schools an opportunity to win a Don’t Quit! Fitness Center.
Steinfeld wants to pump kids up
Baldwin High graduate urges students, ‘Don’t quit!’ By HERNESTo GAlDAMEZ hgaldamez@liherald.com
Growing up in Baldwin, Jake Steinfeld, a 1976 Baldwin High School graduate, considered himself overweight and struggled with a bad stutter. But his life took a major turn when he was 13, and his father bought him his first set of weights. Since 2012, Steinfeld, chairman of the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils, has been changing the lives of American schoolchildren with his Don’t Quit! fitness campaign, and has given selected elementary and middle schools across the country $100,000 Don’t Quit! Fitness Centers. This year he will do so for three schools in New York State.
Steinfeld, who gained recognition as the chairman and CEO of Body by Jake, has developed brands and businesses within and outside the fitness industry, and created two fitness channels, FitTV and ExerciseTV. He co-founded Major League Lacrosse, and has served as a personal trainer for the likes of Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg. Steinfeld served as chairman for then California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports during his tenure in 2006, continuing his role into then Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration until 2011. Steinfeld began contemplating building fitness centers in all 50 states. “I had this idea that I wanted to put fitness centers in elementary or middle schools ContinueD on page 10
Baldwin High School students Gabriela Lucas and Mikayla Rodriguez answered the age-old joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The duo recently performed at the world-famous venue in the treble choir through the Honors Performance Series. Established in 2010 to spotlight talented individual student performers on a global stage, the event is exclusive to top-rated performers, hosting more than 400 students from the U.S., Bermuda and provinces in Canada. Through a nomination and selection process, high school students gathered last month in New York City to form the honors choirs and honors instrumental ensembles. Kristine Costello, Baldwin High School choral director, nominated her two students for the distinction. “As a music educator, this is one of the highest compliments we can receive,” Costello wrote in an email. “Most of our students have not had the opportunity to be part of an audience at Carnegie, let alone perform on its stage!”
Nominated students were asked to submit a three to fiveminute audition recording, and those who were accepted received an invitation last December. The weeklong event took place from Feb. 7-10, concluding with the Baldwin duo’s performance, following days of rehearsing and bonding with their fellow musicians outside the high school concert choir. Rodriguez, a 16-year-old junior, has been an enthusiastic singer since childhood. She fondly remembers singing her “heart out” to songs on the radio. Her love for music then blossomed, beginning in elementary school and continuing through three years in the middle school choir. Joining the high school choir further fueled her passion for music and deepened her commitment to learning and artistic expression. “Academically, I’ve seen such growth from when I started out to where I am now,” Rodriguez said. “Being able to have these experiences shows the amount of dedication and effort that I myself have put in with the help of my lovely choir teachers.” For Lucas, an 18-year-old ContinueD on page 10