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Wild Wild West - Date Change 1/27

Dave & Buster

South East Consortium took a trip to Dave and Buster over the weekend. They enjoyed a delicious BBQ Chicken Buffet and play arcade games with their friends. Another successful South East outing!

Fall Activites

We have had so many fun events since the start of our Fall programs and here are a couple highlights.

On September 24th South East Consortium took a group to Lawrence Farm in Newburgh to go apple picking. At the farm they were able to pick their own pumpkin, feed the animals, pick grapes and more! It was a fun afternoon of fall activities!

On October 22nd we had our annual Halloween dance, this year we called it "Haunted Hollow". So much fun was had by everyone that attended! Party goers dressed up in their favorite Halloween costumes and danced the night away!

On October 23 we had two fun events! One group attended the Village of Mamaroneck "Spooktacular" festival where they were able to decorate windows on the avenue, and enjoy all the fun Halloween themed activities at Harbor Island Park. Another group went to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport CT. Both groups had a wonderful Sunday filled with fun and excitement! 

Always Patsy Cline

This past Sunday South East took a group to see Always Patsy Cline at the Westchester Broadway Theater in Elmsford. Everyone had a great time watching the performances and signing along to all the great music. One of our participants even had a chance to dance with one of the actresses during the show! 

Soap Making Workshop

On Saturday, January 30^th we held our first session of the Soap Makers Workshop.   Participants learned the craft of making soap from scratch using every day ingredients.  Soap making is a little science, a little math, a little cooking and a whole lot of fun.  All the participants took turns measuring and weighing out our oils, butter and additives we used in the recipe .   We then combined the ingredients  with a stick blend.

Christine McCarthy added the Sodium Hydroxide to the oils and stick blended until emulsified.   

Colleen & Michele continued to stick blended until we achieved light trace.

We divided into four separate pitchers and added color.

Then Jennifer Slack helped pour the soap into our loaf mold.   

We then placed the soap in a safe location and let it sit for 48 hours before unmolding. 

The group then proceeded to discuss our process over some pizza for lunch.  Everyone is excited an looking forward to another session in a few weeks!!!

Maritime Aquarium

 

On January 10th South East took a group to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. Everyone had such a great time looking at all the aquatic animals. Some even got to jiggle a jellyfish and touch a sting ray! Those who didn't want to touch the sea creatures enjoyed watching the seals, turtles, sharks and more!

South East Consortium at Radio City Rockette's Christmas Spectacular

This past Saturday, South East Consortium started the holiday season off with a trip to New York City to see the world famous Radio City Rockette’s Christmas Spectacular.  Seventeen SEC participants took the train to grand central station and walked through the city to Rockefeller Center to Radio City Music Hall for the 11AM show.  South East viewed the hour and half show from the beautiful grand mezzanine at Radio City taking in all the splendor and delight of the holiday season with dancing reindeer, whirling snowflakes and a visit from hundreds of dancing Santa’s. After the show we ate lunch at TGI Fridays.  Truly a wonderful way to start the holiday season!!!

Mummy Bash

This past Saturday, October 24th, South East held our Annual Halloween Dance, this year themed "Mummy Bash"! We saw all kinds of amazing costumes! All that attended enjoyed a great night of dancing, refreshments and hanging out with friends! 

Go Army!

Last Saturday October 17th South East took a group to Michie Stadium at West Point to watch the Army West Point Black Knights take on the Bucknell Bisons. The weather was absolutely perfect football weather and for lunch we got to enjoy football stadium staples, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken finger with fries and giant salted pretzels. Everyone had a great time and the Black Knights won 21-14! Go Army!

Junior Chef

These little chefs are doing big things in the kitchen this fall.

Students at Cottle Elementary School in Tuckahoe are taking part in an afterschool cooking program in the school teacher’s lounge every Tuesday afternoon.  Children ages 5-12 take part in all essential steps of meal preparation; cutting, scooping, mixing, spreading and pouring to create delicious and nutritious afterschool snacks.

The Junior Chefs instructor, Karen Ramlakhan, has had previous success at the Teen Chefs program up the road at the Tuckahoe Middle/ High School. The award winning Teen Chef’s program, now in its second year,  has teens cooking, frying and slicing to create slightly more sophisticated meals from their junior counterparts at the elementary school.

The Junior Chef’s program immediately follows the Cottle Crew afterschool sports club held in the Cottle Elementary School gymnasium. The Cotte Crew practice sport specific skills like baseball, volleyball, soccer, kickball and more. The Cottle Crew walks down the hall to Junior Chefs after working up quite an appetite! “It really is a great combination of programing. You have the exercise and movement component with a healthy snack right afterwards. The best part is the kids themselves make their snack making it even more meaningful.” said program supervisor Jack Reisman.

The little chefs have a big menu planned this fall. Already they have made ants on a log and peanut butter snails (celery, peanut butter and raisins) and yogurt parfaits (low-fat yogurt, frosted flakes and honey.) The yogurt parfaits were an immense hit with these inspiring culinary artists, So much so that several did not want to eat their final product because they were so proud of their work. “NO!” piped one student, as he delicately wrapped his parfait in tin foil eyeing all staff members who stood close by. “I can not eat this now. I need to show my dad first!”

Other menu items coming up this fall include personal pizzas, quesadillas and fruit salad.

The goal of the Junior Chefs program is to teach children how to independently make nutritious after-school snacks all the while boosting confidence in their abilities. This program would not be possible without the ongoing hospitality of the William E. Cottle Elementary School. 

Fall Festival

South East Consortium took a trip to Weeds Orchard in Marlboro, NY this past Sunday. The group that attended enjoyed many fall activities including apple picking and choosing a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and for lunch they enjoy delicious BBQ. Everyone really enjoyed their time at the Orchard!

SEC at SoWe Music Fest

Last Saturday September 19th South East took a group to the SoWe Music Festival down at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck. Everyone had a great time listening to a variety of music. We got to enjoy food truck cuisine as we hung out with friends on a perfect day!

SEC Family Luau!

Splish Splash Waterpark

On Saturday, July 18^th SEC took a special summer trip to Splish Splash Waterpark in Riverhead, NY.  The day started with rain, but after a quick stop for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts we will well on our way to for fun filled day of water adventure.  Thrill seekers enjoyed riding the Abyss, Lazy River, Hollywood Stunt rider, Mammoth River and spending some relaxing time in the wave pool.  After the park we had dinner at Applebee’s.

STEM FAIR

The teen adventurers had a small sojourn this past Saturday. Just a hop, skip and a jump away from the South East Consortium offices the Hommocks School was holding their 2nd annual STEM Alliance Fair. With a picnic lunch behind us and an adventure ahead  the teens piled into the SEC bus and headed over to the familiar stomping grounds.

STEM (Science. Technology. Environment. Math) is a grassroots organization working out of communities throughout the nation with the goal of inspiring young people to innovate, initiate and imagine through science and technology. One of the many programs the STEM Alliance offers are community fairs where demonstrations are held, students present science projects, classes are offered and fun is always had.

More than just your run of the mill “science fair” the STEM fair is more of a festival, a celebration of science and innovation for young people. Saturday’s event saw architecture, physics, fire trucks and operational hoses, a green house, robots, cannons, an a real life astronaut, hover boards and much much more! Best of all was this was all accessible and hands on for children and the kids in all of us.

Amare Stephens had a captivated crowd as he built an impressive tower of thin blocks over 8 feet high. Natalie, Ryan and Lukas took a spin on a hover craft while Alec inspected to the two fire engines parked outside. Liam and Rafael took turn on a fire hose blasting some water into the parking lot.

The fun and learning was not just contained to the first floor of the school. The group ventured upstairs to see what the library had to offer. There the teens found a hover craft building station where they were instructed to build a structure that would float in an air vent. Ryan was thrilled when his craft was successful.

Amare and Lukas hunkered down across the library and got hard at work on their robotics. Participants were instructed to build a miniature Ferris wheel via tablet consisting of gears and rods. No easy task! But our teen adventurers were successful and we had a working Ferris wheel for our Lego riders in no time.

It was a day of problem solving, learning and fun! Our teens are looking forward to their final adventure for the spring season next month!