News

Summer will be celebrated, rain or shine, at the annual Strawberry Festival on the Quad hosted by University College, the Department of Recreation Services and the Department of Athletics. The festival will be held on Friday, June 13, from 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. The Farmers’ Market will also be on the Quad from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and feature fresh vegetables, plants and craft items.

Students, faculty and staff are invited for strawberry shortcake and sundaes, music, games and raffles. Pre-register for a free two-mile Strawberry Fun Run and Walk that will begin at noon or register at 11:30 a.m. on the Quad. There will be prizes and giveaways galore.

A campus “trade show” will feature information tables staffed by University departments. The Public Safety Department will sponsor a bike rodeo. Attendees will have the opportunity to register their bikes, discuss bike/traffic safety and have minor adjustments made to their bikes. The first 10 people to register will receive a free U-bolt bike lock.

Grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers and more will be available to purchase. Strawberry shortcake/sundae tickets are $4.75 each. Pre-event tickets for shortcake/sundaes are on sale now at the Carrier Dome Concessions office. To purchase tickets in advance, send an I.D. with ticket delivery instructions, including room number, to Vera Gibbs (443-4029) at the Carrier Dome. Tickets will be delivered the week of June 10 or available on the Quad on June 13.

In the event of rain, the “trade show” will be held under the tent on the Quad and desserts only will be served on the Quad. No grilled items or games will be available. The Fun Run will only be held if weather is not severe.

For more information, contact Carrie McDonald at camcdo01@uc.syr.edu or 443-3292 or Tim Eddy at 443-1810 or tdeddy@syr.edu.

Thursday Morning Roundtable (TMR) presented its Meritorious Community Service Award to Margaret Charters at its April 17 meeting. In 1972, TMR established the annual award to present to individuals who make valuable contributions to the community without widespread recognition.

Charters, a longtime TMR member, has served on many boards and committees, including the Cooperative Extension, United Way and the New York State 4-H Foundation.

After her retirement from Syracuse University 18 years ago, Charters began helping the children at Dr. King School boost their reading skills and their love of books. She recruited about 35 adult volunteers who work with a total of 60 students twice a week to help them with reading, including sight word recognition and sounding out words.  The reading program she initiated at Dr. King has inspired two other city schools to establish similar reading programs.

Charters has a doctorate in higher education, but went back to school and earned a master’s degree in literacy education to provide the best possible instruction to the children.

TMR is a weekly civic forum bringing together a mix of community leaders and experts from a variety of fields to learn about public issues and problems. For more information, contact Sandra Barrett, director of Community Programs at University College, at 315-443-4846 or cps@syr.edu.

The May 1 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) will feature Casey Crabill, president of Onondaga Community College. Crabill will talk about his first year as president of the college and how OCC will continue to reach out to its students and community.

IRP meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville.  The meeting is open to anyone in the community who is retired or semi-retired.

For more information, visit http://uc.syr.edu/irp, call Colleen at 315-443-4846, or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

IRP is a community program of University College of Syracuse University, dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning.

The Onondaga Citizens League (OCL) released its new study report, “Early Childhood and School Readiness: Creating a Community Where All Children Thrive by Five” at a conference on April 14 at WCNY.

The report, co-chaired by OCL board members Laurie Black of Syracuse 20/20 and Paul Predmore of the Bousquet Holstein law firm, focuses on the importance of early childhood experiences to kindergarten readiness and calls for a community-wide coalition made up of key stakeholders to address early childhood issues from birth to age five in a more strategic, data-driven fashion.

“Our community is already well-equipped and committed to addressing early childhood issues, and as a result of this study process, real progress is already being made in establishing a community coalition that we hope will ensure better coordination and better outcomes for all of our children,” says Predmore.

Over the past year, the study committee convened study sessions with OCL members, representatives of local organizations with an interest in early childhood issues and experts in childhood development and early learning. Study committee members reviewed numerous reports, studies and articles and conducted interviews with other stakeholders and parents involved in local social service and educational programs.

In the final report, they reviewed the early childhood programs and initiatives in Onondaga County and best practices from other communities, in order to make recommendations that will aid in achieving the goal of having all children entering school kindergarten ready. 

The Onondaga Citizens League fosters informed public discourse by identifying and studying critical community issues affecting Central New York, developing recommendations for action, and communicating study findings to interested and affected groups. For more information, or to view the full study, visit http://onondagacitizensleague.org.