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University College student Monica Antone-Watson was one of eight students selected to receive the Dr. Sherman V. N. Kent Scholarship from the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society for the 2011-12 academic year. Antone-Watson was selected from an outstanding group of candidates nationwide for her academic achievement, scholarship, leadership and need. Alpha Sigma Lambda is the National Honor Society for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. Its aim is to recognize the special achievements of adults who accomplish academic excellence, while facing competing interests of home and work.

Antone-Watson is a senior majoring in fiber arts and material studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, with a minor in Native American studies. She is earning her degree part time through University College. “I feel honored to be chosen,” says Antone-Watson. “I am grateful that my hard work and determination are being recognized by receiving the award.”

Antone-Watson is a member of the Native American Indian Education Association of New York, and won the Joan Rusitzky Award for Excellence in Knit Design from Syracuse University in 2010. She has won numerous scholarships and awards at Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC), including the MVCC Presidents List in 1996 and 1999, and the MVCC Vice Presidents List in 1994 and 2000. An active member of the Oneida Indian community, Antone-Watson teaches traditional Native American dance, basket-making, knitting, crocheting, quilting, Iroquois pottery, fabric doll making and cornhusk doll making.

When Nadia Essi was selected as the only eighth-grade student from Levy Middle School to attend a science camp at Syracuse University, she was excited to learn more about a subject she had come to love. “My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Berman, had a strong influence on me,” says Essi. “She had a life-size skeleton in the classroom and had so much enthusiasm and excitement for teaching, especially science.”

This year, Essi, now a graduate student at SU working on a master of science degree in biology education, will share her love of science with a new group of middle school students at the 19th annual Science Horizons program. The program, fully funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb and administered by University College of Syracuse University, accepts 40 seventh- and eighth-grade students selected by middle schools throughout Onondaga County to participate in field trips, lectures and hands-on learning during the weeklong science adventure.

Essi is excited to be a part of the instructional team for Science Horizons. “I love that I’ll be able to give the students a chance to see how much fun science really is,” she says. “They are able to explore different types of science and learn more about things that interest them. Science Horizons is the way science should be taught in the schools!”

After graduating from Nottingham High School, Essi attended the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) and earned a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology. “Nadia is a truly gifted student who has demonstrated a sincere passion for teaching science,” says John Tillotson, one of her professors. “She was selected to receive the highly prestigious Robert Noyce Scholar Scholarship through a grant project funded by the National Science Foundation in direct response to President Obama’s national STEM initiative that supports our nation’s most promising collegiate science and mathematics majors in their efforts to become highly qualified teachers in high-needs schools throughout the United States.” During her tenure at SUNY-ESF, Essi spent a semester studying at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. She also worked a summer at SeaWorld Science Education Camp in Orlando, Fla. educating kids about the animals in the park, their habitats and the environment.

“I want students to understand that science is all around us,” says Essi. “We experience scientific things every single day without really realizing it.” Essi believes that if we want to make the world a better place, want to know about the things that we put in our bodies and learn how the world works, it’s important to know about science.

“I feel it’s so important for students to know that science is creative and fun. It’s not always about being in a lab and mixing chemicals. There are so many different kinds of science that students can study and so many different things to do in the world of science,” she says.

Essi is getting her message across loud and clear. Her most rewarding moment as a teacher came when she did her student teaching at West Genesee High School in May. “I was teaching a 10th grade Living Environment class. After teaching a unit on digestion and nutrition, one of the students came up and told me he learned so much and that he loved the way I taught. Just hearing that made me feel so good, knowing that I made at least one student’s experience in the science classroom a little better.”

In addition to what the students will experience in June, what other lessons would she like her students to learn? “I want them to know that science is for everyone and that if you have a passion for something, you should go for it,” she says.

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Science Horizons Program at SU runs from June 27-July 1. The program is designed to encourage students’ interest in science and technology and to foster interest in science-related careers. Students are given the opportunity to explore technology, chemistry, geology, physics, anatomy and ecology. They visit sites around the SU campus and the community, including Bristol-Myers Squibb.

For more information, contact University College at 315-443-4846 or cps@uc.syr.edu, or visit http://www.uc.syr.edu/community/bristol/index.html.

Forty middle school students from throughout Onondaga County were selected to take part in the 19th annual Bristol-Myers Squibb Science Horizons program at Syracuse University. The program, which includes field trips, lectures and hands-on learning opportunities, will kick off on Monday, June 27.

Fully funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and hosted by University College, Science Horizons gives local seventh- and eighth-grade students an opportunity to learn from highly innovative scientists, experienced teachers and SU students and faculty.

Four veteran middle school and high school teachers will return to provide instruction to the students in the areas of technology, chemistry, geology, physics, anatomy and ecology. Kim Buchanan from Fabius-Pompey Middle School-High School; Theresa Hunter and Kathleen Kolb from Pine Grove Middle School, and Ben Gnacik from Fayetteville-Manlius High School will lead the instruction. They will be assisted by SU graduate students Nadia Essi and Matthew Brincka. Essi is also a former Science Horizons participant. High school students and former participants Phebe Alley from Jordan Elbridge High School and Nathan James from C.W. Baker High School will act as mentors.

The program is designed to encourage students’ interest in science and technology and to foster interest in science-related careers.

The students will visit sites around the SU campus and the community, including Bristol-Myers Squibb. For more information, contact Sandra Barrett at 315-289-7217 or ssbarret@uc.syr.edu, or visit http://www.uc.syr.edu/community/bristol/index.html.

Margaret Moreno, a senior at Corcoran High School, has attended SU’s Summer Dance Intensive Program for three years. She is so dedicated to her art that at age 15, she cashed in her $1,000 life savings to pay the tuition to attend the program.

This year Moreno, who has been accepted at SUNY Brockport in the fall as a dance major, received a full scholarship from a newly created Jenni-Lyn Watson Memorial Fund established at the Central New York Community Foundation (CNYCF). Jenni-Lyn Watson’s life was tragically cut short last November when she returned home to Clay from college for the Thanksgiving holiday. Watson was a dance major at Mercyhurst College, and a company member of SoMar Dance Works.

The Watson family established the fund to create opportunities for local dance students who have a passion for dance but cannot afford specialized training. “We should all be so lucky to find half the passion for something in our lives like Jenni-Lyn had for dance,” Jenni-Lyn’s mother, Jackie Watson, told the Community Foundation. “We will use this fund to ensure that financial barriers don’t stop other dancers from achieving their dreams.”

“This is my fourth year attending the SU Summer Dance Intensive Program, and I’ve always had to scrounge for money,” says Moreno. “Now more than ever it was crucial that I find the financial support to attend the program in order to prepare for college.”

Moreno has been dancing since she was 11 years old. She says that compared to other dance programs, she has learned and grown the most by far at SU’s. “I feel each year I leave the program with a stronger technique and sense of where I stand as a dancer compared to other dancers around the country, and in some instances, around the world,” says Moreno.

Moreno says that although her initial payment of $1,000 was one of the greatest investments she ever made, she hasn’t been able to recover the money in order to finance this year’s program. “It’s an amazing thing that the Watsons are doing for other young dancers,” she says.

“This is how Jenni-Lyn would have wanted to be remembered—by helping those in our region who have a love for dance, but don’t have the same opportunities she did to attend formal arts schooling,” Jackie Watson says. “This fund will help us carry on her love for people, dance and life.”

Syracuse University’s Dance Intensive Program, administered through University College, prepares aspiring dancers to meet the challenges of today’s dance world. Students take daily technique classes in ballet, modern and jazz in an intense conservatory environment. With its emphasis on technical growth and artistic performance, the training these students receive develops and refines their technique and broadens their understanding of what it means to be a dancer. The program culminates with a free, public performance on Saturday, July 30, at 1 p.m. at Syracuse Stage.

For more information, visit the Summer Dance Intensive web site at http://www.yesu.syr.edu/students/current/courses/ballet/index.htm.

Two dancers from Bulgaria will arrive at Syracuse University in July to study with world-renowned faculty during the three-week Summer Dance Intensive Program, which is administered by University College. 

Greta Georgieva, a 19-year-old classical ballet student, has been studying since she was 11 years old. Georgieva is a graduate of the State Dance Art School in Ruse, Bulgaria, and now works with the State Opera of Ruse. She has participated in performances of “Swan Lake,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Giselle” and “The Nutcracker,” while touring with the Ruse Opera in Spain and Italy. 

Kiril Filipov, also 19, is a native of Sofia, Bulgaria. He recently graduated from the National School of Dance Art, specializing in classical ballet, and took part in national and international ballet competitions in Bulgaria. He has participated in the summer course at Ballet Chicago, along with 14 other students from the Bulgarian National School of Dance. 

Danita Emma, the artistic director of Syracuse University’s Dance Intensive program, was invited to teach last fall at the National Ballet of Bulgaria in Sofia through a recommendation made by her assistant director, Bulgarian native Momchil Mladenov.

Mladenov, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet, is now a principal with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and is part of the faculty for SU’s dance program. 

During her time in Sofia, Emma established a relationship with the Iliev Foundation, an internationally focused organization dedicated to providing young dancers with special opportunities to train with established professionals in an intense and stimulating environment. Emma has been invited to return to Bulgaria this month to teach company classes for the Cultural Bridges Festival, a collaboration between the National Ballet of Bulgaria and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. 

“The foundation was impressed with the summer dance program at Syracuse University and my teaching, and offered scholarships to two students to attend. Through their generous sponsorship, these two students will be enriched through a cultural and artistic exchange,” says Emma.  

“I want to continue ballet dancing, to practice and improve my skills,” says Georgieva. “I hope that opportunities will open up to dance on international stages and I get to know other ballet schools.” 

Filipov’s ambitions after graduation are to continue his dance training at established dance institutions and to enroll in college to study dance. 

Syracuse University’s Dance Intensive Program prepares aspiring dancers to meet the challenges of today’s dance world.  Students take daily technique classes in ballet, modern and jazz in an intense conservatory environment. With its emphasis on technical growth and artistic performance, the training these students receive develops and refines their technique and broadens their understanding of what it means to be a dancer. The program culminates with a free, public performance on Saturday, July 30, at 1 p.m. at Syracuse Stage. 

For more information, visit the Summer Dance Intensive web site at http://www.yesu.syr.edu/students/current/courses/ballet/index.htm.