The church chooses theme each year for VBS, and this year’s is “SeaQuest: Diving for God’s treasures.” Daily themes will be:

• Hidden treasure: Buried treasure and a priceless pearl
• Lost treasure: A sheep and a coin
• Real treasure: 2 sons and a father’s love
• Wise treasure: A life built on the rock
• Eternal treasure: A life that puts God first

“There’s lots of singing, games, crafts and snacks,” said Northway Bible’s vacation bible school administrator, Madeline Lacasse. The church expects 75-100 children to attend the school, which runs July 12-16. The half-day sessions last from 8:50 a.m. to noon. “This year we’re going to again have rock climbing.”

Meanwhile, Prince of Peace Lutheran and St. George’s Episcopal churches invite children to come to SonQuest Rainforest. The daily themes are: Get it!, Get Found!, Get God’s Love!, Get Praying! and Get Going!, and each is paired with a rainforest animal. Like SeaQuest, SonQuest offers singing, games, crafts and snacks. It runs 9 a.m. to noon June 28-July 2.

SonQuest costs $20 a child to cover the cost of supplies. But if a family’s financial hardships could prevent its children from attending, parents are urged to contact one of the churches.

Northway Bible’s Lacasse said the themes make bible school fun for children.

“The kids love it,” she said. “A lot of the kids tell their friends.”

For more information:

• Northway Bible Chapel, Moe Road, Clifton Park, 371.7556
• Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 4 Northcrest Drive, Clifton Park, 371.2226
• St. George’s Episcopal Church, 912 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371.6351
• SeaQuest: Diving for God’s treasure
• SonQuest Rainforest

In fact, Wednesday they were given a choice of what to do during free time. They opted to read.

“When I was in kindergarten I was all about the toys,” said Tara Durning, one of the school’s kindergarten teachers. “These kids love to read.”

So when they realized they could raise money to help people just by reading, they were highly motivated. So motivated that earned $578.60 for Heifer International’s Read to Feed program as their monthly service project. The students voted to use the money to buy a cow, some rabbits and some chicks for a village in Africa.

The kindergarten classes of Mother Teresa Academy teachers Tara Durning (left) and Sara Duffany raised nearly $580 for Heifer International's Read for Feed program.

As for the rabbits, “they’re going to give them a haircut and make some clothes out of that,” Carter said. Another student added that bunny poop could be used for “fertilizer to grow plants.”

Each student was given a goal of 28 books to read as part of the fundraising drive and asked to read at least 20 minutes a night. Some read more; one student even read 57 books.

Less you think the kids were padding their numbers with pictures books, 21 of the 28 students were reading chapter books such as the Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones series of books. And they were doing the reading, not being read to.

“It wasn’t that the parents were reading,” said Sara Duffany, the school’s other kindergarten teacher. “To count, they had to read the books themselves. Of course, they could read it to their parents.”

In class, they read “Beatrice’s Goat,” based on the true story of Ugandan child Beatrice Biira.

“The goat gave her milk, and she sold the milk, and it gave her enough money to go to school,” Abby said.

From there, Biira was able to win a scholarship to a New England prep school and finally to Connecticut College. Since then, the descendants of original goats Heifer International sent to her village have been given to others in the community.

So “if someone is doing Read to Feed,” Ashley said, “you could buy a cow and help someone.”

For more information:

• Mother Teresa Academy, 511 Moe Road, Clifton Park, 857.2288
• Heifer International’s Read to Feed program
• Heifer International
• 60 Minutes on Beatrice’s Goat

When the bike riders of the Brain² Project rolled into the school’s parking lot, the students were given bike helmets courtesy of Martin, Harding & Mazzotti. Brain Squared — Bike Riders Avoiding Injuries 2 Noggins — was formed to teach children the importance of wearing helmets while bicycling.

Okte was 1 of 4 elementary schools on the 14 riders’ 63-mile route. The bicyclists also stopped at Altamont Elementary, Pashley Elementary in Glenville and Jefferson Elementary in Rotterdam, distributing helmets and bike safety information at each stop.

An Okte second-grader gets her new bike helmet adjusted by one of the Brain² Project's 14 bicyclists.

The organization wanted the students and their parents to know that every year 400,000 children under 15 are treated in emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries and 300 of them die. While helmets can reduce the risk of brain injuries or death by 85%, only 15% of children wear a helmet while biking.

“I have been involved in enough crashes throughout the course of my cycling career to know and appreciate the value of wearing a helmet,” said Scott Neff, the event’s other co-coordinator.

Neff even recruited coworker Todd Murray to join the group making the ride. The 2 of them recently completed the Ride for Missing Children in Utica.

“Doing the various charity rides is probably the easiest way to keep training because you always have an event coming in a few weeks,” said Murray, who normally rides 50-70 miles a week depending on the weather.

Murray said he is about to begin training for September’s 100-mile Capital District Ride for Missing Children. By doing the rides, he has come to know a lot of the other riders.

“Half the people here I know from other rides,” he said, “even the volunteers.”

One person he didn’t know was Jennifer Ceponis, a transportation planner with the Capital District Transportation Committee. It was the first time she had done a ride like this.

“We have a bike safety campaign called Capital Coexist,” she said, “so it seems like a really good way for us to get involved.”

While Ceponis said she is more of a recreational and commuting bicyclist, she was enjoying the ride.

“It’s a little faster than I’m used to,” she said, “but it’s a good time.”

For more information:

• Brain² Project
• Capital Coexist
• Martin, Harding & Mazzotti, 1222 Troy-Schenectady Road, Niskayuna, 862.1200
• Okte Elementary School, 1581 Crescent Road, Clifton Park, 881.0540

Yeah, right … believe it when we see it.

On Tuesday, Operation Respect founder and folk-music legend Peter Yarrow was singing for students at a school assembly. Turns out Kniss’ father-in-law, Dick Kniss, was the bass player for Yarrow’s band, “Peter, Paul & Mary.”

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary hugs Karigon first-grade teacher Kelli Kniss during a performance at the school. Kniss' father-in-law has been the band's bass player for over 40 years.

It wasn’t the first time Kniss received a special concert from Yarrow. Peter, Paul & Mary performed at her wedding.

“They have a great school here,” Yarrow said after Wednesday’s concert.

Yarrow founded Operation Respect to help schools become places free of bullying, ridicule and violence. He sees it as a continuation of movements he has been a part of during his life. The group developed “Don’t Laugh at Me” programs — one for elementary schools and another for middle schools — that use music and video to teach children how to resolve conflicts and appreciate differences. It offers free educational materials to schools that want to participate in the program.

“It’s like the movements I was involved with — the civil rights movement, the women’s movement,” Yarrow said. “All of them were about respect or its absence.”

This movement has Yarrow traveling the world singing to kids about respect. He just returned from Korea, which is starting an Operation Respect group. He has performed on the West Bank with songs translated into Hebrew and Arabic. In total, he has appeared before more than a half-million people on behalf of the group — all in an effort to steer kids away from bullying and violence.

“If we approach that early enough, they won’t repeat that cycle,” Yarrow said.

At Karigon, Yarrow held a singalong. He and the students sang “Don’t Laugh at Me” in addition to Peter, Paul & Mary favorites such as “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Going to the Zoo.”

“When we first started playing the music (into the weeks leading up to Yarrow’s visit), they just weren’t aware of it,” Kniss said. “It’s such a generation gap. So many of our teachers grew up with these songs.”

Despite the gap, the students had a blast.

“He’s a pretty amazing guy,” Kniss said about Yarrow. “I think of him so much as a friend that I forget all he has done.”

For more information:

• Operation Respect, 2 Penn Plaza, 5th Floor, New York NY 10121, 212.904.5243
• Karigon Elementary School, 970 Route 146, Clifton Park, 881.0530
• Peter, Paul & Mary

Voters also approved all of the propositions on the school district’s ballots — whether it was for buses, establishing capital-reserve funds or renovating science labs.

But school-board incumbents didn’t necessarily fare as well — including Robert Speck, a 36-year veteran of the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake board. He lost to newcomers William Farmer and Lee-Ann Mertzlufft in battle for 2 openings on the board, and just 20 votes separated 1st from 3rd in the balloting.

© Ebrahim Rismani | Dreamstime.com

Shenendehowa

The district’s $147.8 million budget passed 3,683-2,182, and a proposition to spend $1.1 million to replaced aging buses passed 3,394-2,115. The budget calls for an increase in spending of $323,732 — 0.2%.

Newcomer Andrew McCarty was the leading vote-getter in the school board race, earning 3,881 votes in the contest for 3 spots on the board. Incumbents Gary DiLallo (3,557 votes), the board senior member, and Rick Mincher (3,550) were re-elected. Rebecca Telesh received 2,940 votes.

Ballston Spa

The district’s $72.4 million budget, calling for a 1.9% tax-levy increase and 2.7% percent increase from this year’s budget, passed 1,571-1,066.

Incumbents Daniel Cramer (1,381 votes) and Kathleen Jarvis (1,213) were re-elected to the school board, outpolling Karen Parlapiano (1,191).

The district also had 4 other propositions on the ballot, and all passed: purchasing new school buses (1,434-1,182), establishing a capital-reserve fund (1,440-1,142), contributing $47,000 to Ballston Spa Public Library (1,753-860) and contributing $28,000 to the Ballston Area Recreation Commission (1,755-854).

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake

The district had the night’s only tight race, and what a tight race it was. Only 20 votes separated the 3 candidates vying for 2 spots on the school board. Newcomers William Farmer (1,773 votes) and Lee-Ann Mertzlufft (1,768) gained those spots, ending a 36-year run on the board for Robert Speck (1,753).

Voters passed the district’s $53.4 million budget 1,904-1,141 and agreed by 1,806-1,197 count to borrow up to $350,000 to replace 7 school buses.

The turnout of 3,045 voters came close to the record 3,131 people who participated in the 2003 election.

Galway

The proposed $17,705,838 budget passed 556-369. Also approved — by a 511-362 vote — was a 5-year lease of 2 72-passenger school buses.

Incumbent Bradley Rooke was the only school board candidate, and he received 654 votes.

Mechanicville

The $21,052,235 budget passed 704-256. John Bove (605 votes), Kimberly Dunn (548) and John Zacher (529) won spots on the board of education. Other candidates were: Audrey Almela (508) and Michelle Guido (464).

Stillwater

Voters passed the $20,653,631 budget 477-307, established a capital reserve fund 436-317 and approved up to $100,000 to renovate the high school science labs 417-306.

School board president Timothy Ryan (538 votes) was re-elected. Pamela Bisaillon (473) and incumbent Valerie Masterson (393) were also elected to the board, but incumbent Timothy Scrom (336) was voted out of office.

Waterford-Halfmoon

The budget passed 247-84, and the bus proposition was approved 211-86. Denise Keyoskey (257 votes) and Sandy Clow (260) were both re-elected to the school board.

For more information:

• Shenendehowa Central School District, 5 Chelsea Place, Clifton Park, 881.0600
• Ballston Spa Central School District, 70 Malta Avenue, Ballston Spa, 884.7195
• Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central Schools, 50 Cypress Drive, Glenville, 399.9141
• Galway Central Schools, 5317 Sacandaga Road, Galway, 882.1033
• Mechanicville City School District, 25 Kniskern Avenue, Mechanicville, 664.5727
• Stillwater School District, 334 North Hudson Avenue, Stillwater, 373.6100
• Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District, 125 Middletown Road, Waterford, 237.0800

Incumbents Gary DiLallo and Rick Mincher along with Rebecca Telesh and Andrew McCarty — all vying for 3 openings on the board — talked budget, budget, budget during a “meet the candidates” forum on the eve of the school district’s election and budget vote, one of several to be held throughout Southern Saratoga today.

“The issue is the state of New York has given us less and less money each year,” said DiLallo, the board senior member. “We have to maintain those characteristics and qualities that have been part of the Shenendehowa tradition of good education for our students.”

Shenendehowa school board candidates (from left) Rebecca Telesh, Andrew McCarty, Gary DiLallo and Rick Mincher are vying for 3 openings in today's election.

Still, parent Tope Akinyemi wanted to hear more than just “budget, budget, budget.” She question if the board candidates were too concerned about budget as opposed to quality of education.

“I hope that we do not lose the main focus of education when we talk about the budget and how to balance that,” said Akinyemi, who has 4 children attending Shen schools.

Mincher said that when he is out in public, no one questions him about the budget or taxes. Instead parents want to talk about class size or are certain classes going to be cut.

“They have an expectation that (the budget) is not going to be skyrocketing,” he said. Instead parents say things like “‘It’s my child, and I have an expectation of you at the school that they’re going to be able to … have the programs they need to have a successful life and make that happen.’”

As for the budget, Mincher said, the feedback is “please be careful with it” but it’s not the top priority for parents.

“We have a good education and great teachers,” Telesh said. We need “to maintain that and stay within a reasonable budget.”

For more information:

• Shenendehowa Central School District, 5 Chelsea Place, Clifton Park, 881.0600
• Ballston Spa Central School District, 70 Malta Avenue, Ballston Spa, 884.7195
• Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central Schools, 50 Cypress Drive, Glenville, 399.9141
• Galway Central Schools, 5317 Sacandaga Road, Galway, 882.1033
• Mechanicville City School District, 25 Kniskern Avenue, Mechanicville, 664.5727
• Stillwater School District, 334 North Hudson Avenue, Stillwater, 373.6100
• Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District, 125 Middletown Road, Waterford, 237.0800

But Telesh worries about how much longer that will be. The mother of 3 says that if the Shenendehowa continues to cut teachers — 26.5 full-time equivalency teaching positions are scheduled to be eliminated in the district’s proposed budget — the students will suffer.

Rebecca Telesh (center) is 1 of 4 candidates running for 3 openings on the Shenendehowa Board of Election. The election -- along with a vote of the school district's proposed budget -- will be Tuesday.

The election is Tuesday at Gowana Middle School. The other board candidates are incumbents Gary DiLallo and Rick Mincher along with Andrew McCarty. There will also be a vote on the district’s proposed $147.8 million budget and a $1.1 million proposition to replace aging buses.

Telesh stresses the need for fiscal responsibility and criticizes the district for what she said is a lot of transparency. And she said the district is too quick to cut teachers instead of looking for other ways to reduce spending.

“I love the teachers. They’re being asked to do so much more with so little,” she said. “There’s got to be another area to look at.”

Telesh said the coming GlobalFoundries plant is another reason Shen has to maintain its high academic standards. In addition to the high-tech skills the facility is going to require, there will be an influx of families —including school-age children — from around the world.

“The education they got there (in their homelands) are they going to get it here?” Telesh said about the GlobalFoundaries families moving to the district from abroad.

What are her goals if elected?

“The parents need a voice on the school board,” she said. “And we need to give students the supplies that they need and give teachers the help that they need.”

For more information:

• Rebecca Telesh for School Board
• Shenendehowa Central Schools

What I have learned from my experience in research and evaluating hundreds of children over the past 6 years is that movement forms the neurological pathways in the child that are later used for reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, focusing of attention, creative thinking and normal healthy development.

Susan Johnson M.D., a behavioral and developmental pediatrician with training in sensory-motor integration, states that “the truth is that children should be taught to read, write and spell only when their neurological pathways for doing so have fully formed.”

Many neuropsychologists, developmental and occupational therapists, teachers and I are concerned that the current trend of pushing academics in preschool and kindergarten will result in an even greater increase in the number of children diagnosed with attentional problems and visual-processing types of learning disabilities. I’ll even go a step further to say that these and all children need to develop with a nerve system free of interference, to have it stimulated in a positive way and be evaluated by me in my office.

In order for children to be able to sit still, pay attention and remember abstract shapes like letters and numbers, they first need to have developed their proprioceptive system, a part of their nervous system that enables them to sense their own body’s position.

The proprioceptive system is strengthened by physical movement, such as sweeping with a broom, pushing a wheelbarrow, carrying groceries, emptying the trash, pulling weeds, hanging from monkey bars and having a spine adjusted by a pediatric chiropractor such as myself. These activities stimulate pressure receptors within the muscles, tendons and joints, allowing the mind to map the location of these various pressure receptors.

In this way, a child develops a sense of where her body is in space, and even if her eyes are closed, she will be able to sense the location of muscles, joints and tendons within her trunk, arms, legs, fingers and toes. When she looks at the shapes of letters and numbers, her eyes will be able to follow and track the lines and curves. The memory of these movements will then imprint upon her mind, providing them with the capacity to make mental pictures or images of those numbers or letters. She will see the correct orientation of the letter or number in her mind before she writes it.

This is amazingly cool stuff!

Our current educational system is teaching children to read in a way that doesn’t make sense developmentally. Children in preschool and kindergarten are expected to memorize letters and words before their minds have developed the necessary pathways to identify letters, easily read words and comprehend what they are reading. We are asking these young children to read when the only part of their brains that is developed and available for reading is the right hemisphere, which is not enough.

Reading should be taught in school only after children have developed both their right brain and left brain reading centers — including the corpus callosum, which connects the two halves of the brain around 4-7 and 7-9 years old, respectively. Only when children have developed this “bridge” (called bilateral integration) are they capable of simultaneously creating pictures and images using the right brain while the left brain phonetically figures out each word.

Here’s an example. Take little Timmy who is asked to sit still at a desk. His brain can’t “feel” where he is in space. He has to keep moving his muscles and body all the time or sit with his feet anchored underneath him or around the legs of the chair in order for his mind to sense his position. I have found that this child will also have difficulty balancing on one foot with eyes closed — a simple task to demonstrate proper proprioception and nerve function.

These children like Timmy are often suspected of having attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder because they appear fidgety in their movements, have difficulty paying attention and have poorly developed fine motor skills. They are often labeled as having learning disabilities in visual processing (for example, dyslexia). They have difficulty recalling letters, numbers and shapes that are shown to them. They may also have difficulty remembering the orientation and direction of letters and numbers — such as confusing b with d or writing 2s or 3s backward without noticing.

Why is a chiropractor educating about this topic you ask? I’ll let you in on a few well-known secrets … ones that most medical doctors would not want you to know about.

Your child’s spine is her/his lifeline. Running through it is the spinal cord containing billions of nerves that send vital messages and information from the brain to every part of the body and back again. As long as none of these messages are interrupted or interfered with, your child should have optimal function and the best of health. That is normal. In fact, proprioceptive input, as mentioned above, is so vital to your body that over half of your entire spinal cord is comprised of nerves to deliver it to the brain.

The best way to deliver proprioceptive input to your child’s brain is through movement through proper spinal motion and alignment. If, however, there is abnormal positioning or movement of the spine (termed “vertebral subluxation”), interference with this “information highway” will result, and the messages sent by the brain will not reach the part of the body they are intended to reach.

As a result, the body begins to work improperly. This results in “malfunction.” It can be a serious threat to health and comes in many forms. Let’s see … poor concentration, hyperactivity, feeling exhausted without doing much, trouble falling asleep or waking up a lot throughout the night, stiffness of movement (especially in the morning), numbness and tingling in the hands or feet, chronic cough, diarrhea, constipation, wheezing, dribbling in your underwear when you cough or sneeze, ear infections, allergies, asthma etc.

If that malfunction is allowed to remain, your body will undergo a disease process — it will start to get sick and develop some sort of pathology — not a good thing.

I also wanted to make you aware that the vast majority of vertebral subluxations take place in childhood — most even during the process of birth. They can persist for a lifetime, slowly affecting the health and vitality of your children — their bodies are not functioning as they should.

In my office, many birth-traumatized children need specific chiropractic adjustments to the neck or skull bones, including cranial therapy. Many times this is because of a “routine” delivery because there is tremendous stress placed on the head and neck of the baby, a C-section birth, prolonged labor, induced labor or use of vacuum extraction or forceps at delivery. These children often need a lot of specific movement exercises to strengthen bilateral integration.

Additional sources of spinal damage arise from multiple falls as a child — from a crib, tree or someone’s arms, when learning to crawl or walk, horsing around with big brother, sports injuries, auto accidents or sitting/sleeping/standing/using electronics with poor posture.

I have made it my mission to help as many people as I can in my lifetime — especially children. It takes a well-trained, knowledgeable and very skilled doctor to evaluate for such trauma and its effects at an early age. I am able to decipher the manifestation of reduced proprioception by analyzing newborns, infants and children.

In addition, I have invested in cutting-edge technology to further evaluate the function of the nerve system and muscle tone/integrity, so as to objectively demonstrate the need for chiropractic care, provide for the most specific recommendations and closely monitor changes and improvements in body function over time.

You and your child should have your central nerve system checked now. It’s a smart thing to do even if you are not symptomatic because you need proprioception to keep your brain and body working correctly.

Nothing less than the best is good enough for your health. Call me today to have an evaluation to find out how specific chiropractic care at our office can help you and your family.

John Ferguson D.C. is a wellness chiropractor in Clifton Park and a member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association.

For more information:

• Ferguson Family Chiropractic, 54 Crossing Blvd. Suite H (behind the clock tower), Clifton Park, 383.5595
• Ferguson Family Chiropractic Facebook page
• International Chiropractic Pediatric Association
• Susan Johnson M.D., 54 West Grass Valley Street, Colfax, Calif., 916.638.8758

St. George’s will start offering classes for kindergarten and first grade in the fall. It joins Mother Teresa Academy and the Saratoga Academy of the Arts and Sciences as private schools in Clifton Park.

“We’re going to be old-fashioned and new-fashioned together,” said Phyllis Aldrich, a parishioner who is helping St. George’s start its school. Aldrich, who recently retired as BOCES coordinator of gifted education, now works as an occasional consultant on international schools for the State Department.

Phyllis Aldrich, a retired BOCES official, plays with Kassie Morris and Matt Rock at a St. George's School open house. The school will open in the fall with kindergarten and 1st-grade classes.

“We’ve got to be citizens of the world,” said Aldrich, citing the federal government’s promotion of “critical foreign languages,” including Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

St. George’s plans no more than 2 classes per grade with each class having a maximum of 13-14 students. Based on parents’ responses, the school will consider expanding up to fifth grade.

“We’re going to go slowly because we want to do it well,” Aldrich said. “Everything we have here will be the best that we can have it.”

That includes starting the students with technology right away. The school will provide each student with an iPad.

“The future is digital,” Aldrich said. “We’re headed to the future … prayerfully.”

The school will also have daily chapel and grace before lunch. But that doesn’t mean it is limited to Episcopalians. Aldrich stressed that children of all beliefs — including nonbelievers — are welcome.

St. George’s school day will be the same as a normal Shenendehowa elementary school day — 8:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. St. George’s will offer enrichment programs before school starting at 7 and after school until 6. If there is room, the enrichment classes — teaching things such as drama, foreign languages and the chemistry of cooking — will be open to children who aren’t St. George’s students.

“It won’t be babysitting,” Aldrich said. “It will be learning.”

Saratoga Academy of the Arts and Sciences

Saratoga Academy is in its 2nd year, offers 2 preschool classes, 2 kindergarten classes, a 1st-grade class and a combined 2nd-5th-grade class. It has already grown from 37 students to 120.

“We created the kind of school we wanted for our own children,” said Michael Christensen, who is the school’s president and headmaster. “Our 1st-graders are doing 3rd-grade work.”

Christensen said combining 2nd through 5th grades allows the school to meet the needs of the students on an individual basis.

“We train our students to be creative, competent problem-solvers who think outside of the box,” said Christensen, a former high-school principal who is finishing his Ph.D. in educational administration at the University at Albany. He said the academy was founded to offer parents in the area a choice in schools.

“There weren’t many options in this area,” he said. “The other private schools were either too far away, religious based or too expensive.”

Mother Teresa Academy

Mother Teresa Academy was the school that started the trend. It’s in its 5th year as an independent Catholic school.

“A lot of the Catholic schools in the city were being closed, but they (diocese officials) weren’t opening schools in the suburbs,” Mother Teresa director Joyce Maddalone said. “We just really needed one in the Clifton Park area.”

Every day the students have chapel and a Bible lesson. All of the school’s teachers have master’s degrees. The school — which currently goes up to 2nd grade — will eventually offer classes up to 5th grade. But that will require some expansion — despite the school have just moved into a brand-new building.

“We’ve maxed out the space in our new building,” Maddalone said.

For more information:

• St. George’s Elementary School, 912 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371.6351
• Saratoga Academy of the Arts and Sciences, 1524 Route 9, Clifton Park, 598.3364
• Mother Teresa Academy, 511 Moe Road, Clifton Park, 857.2288

“If you look at it statistically, it wouldn’t be that much — only 6-8% from nonwhite backgrounds,” district superintendent Dr. L. Oliver Robinson said. “But as a school system, we offer a wide variety of cultural experiences.”

One of those experiences was Saturday’s Shensational Global Expo 2010, a daylong event “celebrating the array of backgrounds, cultures, and viewpoints reflected in our community.” The expo included cultural performances, public forums, videos and exhibitors showcasing world cultures and other types of diversity.

The featured speakers were John Robinson, a congenital amputee who is the director of corporate support for WMHT TV and was the subject of the PBS documentary “Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story,” and Da Chen, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir “Colors of the Mountain.”

Teachers Maryann Lazurus and Purti Patel and their children participated in Shensational Global Expo 2010 to educate the Shenendehowa community about India and its culture.

“A lot of people think India is just cheap labor and curry, but it’s so much more than that,” Lazurus said. “It’s doctors and engineers. Even my own kids need to know more about India.”

Patel said Shen students need to realize the world and the future are becoming more international, and they need to prepare for it.

“It’s important to experience the different languages and the different cultures,” she said. “We have to prepare students to go into different worlds.”

Robinson said technology is making easier to allow students to interact with children around the world. He cited elementary school students having internet “penpals” in different countries and older students using Skype to converse with children in other nations.

Still, the superintendent said, if he had a blank check to prepare students for globalism, he would start by exposing them to different languages and cultures as soon as possible, including the elementary school years.

“We need to first foster that type of cultural appreciation,” he said. “And kids in so many other countries learn 3, 4, 5 different languages. It gives them that confidence that they can compete with anyone anywhere.”

Some of the students taking part in that shrinking world were a group of Girl Scouts from Shatekon Elementary. Hayleigh Thornton, Sarah Jacob, Allison Jerome, Paige Martin, Jessica Sokol, Sydney Manning, Jessica Smith, Tabitha DeCicco and Sydney Robinson were at the expo to collect Pennies for Peace. The project to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan grew out of Greg Mortenson’s work in the area and his book “Three Cups of Tea.”

“Every penny donated buys a pencil,” Thorton said. “And 2 pennies buy an eraser.”

“We’re trying to get 5 million pennies because that will build a school,” Martin said.

Exhibitor Fred Torres of Torres Tae Kwon Do, who was invited to give a demonstration on the Korean martial art, said he was surprised how many displays and exhibits there were considering it was the event’s first year.

“I found it very educational,” he said. “I loved how interactive it was. You could get into it. It’s not like a museum.”

For more infomation:

• Shenendehowa Central Schools, 5 Chelsea Place, Clifton Park, 881.0600
• Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story
• Da Chen
• Pennies for Peace
• Torres Tae Kwon Do, 1758 Route 9, Clifton Park, 371.8780
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