16 SCOTIA GLENVILLE 08.pdf - Pirate CNY
16 SCOTIA GLENVILLE 08.pdf - Pirate CNY
16 SCOTIA GLENVILLE 08.pdf - Pirate CNY
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Page <strong>16</strong> April 17, 2008 Spotlight<br />
New science lab fetches fun for families<br />
Schenectady residents Jordan Baroni, 10, left, Nicholas Dockins, 6,<br />
and Maxwell Baroni pose with “Fetch!” host Ruff Ruffman at the grand<br />
opening of the Schenectady Museum’s new “Fetch!” science lab for kids<br />
on Sunday, April 13.<br />
Ross Marvin/Spotlight<br />
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK<br />
5<br />
Museum and Planetarium<br />
exhibit provides hands-on<br />
activities for kids<br />
By ROSS MARVIN<br />
Spotlight Newspapers<br />
marvinr@spotlightnews.com<br />
Sometimes an animated dog is<br />
all it takes to get kids interested<br />
in science.<br />
On Saturday and Sunday,<br />
April 12 and 13, more than 1,000<br />
children and their parents visited<br />
the Schenectady Museum &<br />
Suits-Bueche Planetarium to<br />
witness the grand opening of<br />
the museum’s new “Fetch! Lab,”<br />
a science-themed exhibit based<br />
on the popular PBS television<br />
show.<br />
The new lab, funded by the<br />
National Science Foundation,<br />
Arby’s and Greendog, will be<br />
hosted at the museum for at<br />
least a year, said Ilene Frank,<br />
the museum’s director of public<br />
programs and education.<br />
Hosted by a humorous<br />
animated dog named Ruff<br />
Ruffman, PBS’s “Fetch!” is part<br />
game show, part reality TV and<br />
part spoof aimed at children ages<br />
6 to 10. The show originated on<br />
PBS affi liate WGBH in Boston<br />
695<br />
295<br />
FAIRMOUNT<br />
Onondaga Lake<br />
690<br />
90<br />
STATE<br />
FAIR GROUNDS<br />
81<br />
SYRACUSE<br />
and can be seen in the Capital<br />
District on WMHT. “Fetch!’<br />
mixes live action with animation<br />
and also features real kids, real<br />
challenges and real science.<br />
While many of the kids on<br />
hand in Schenectady came out<br />
to get their picture taken with<br />
Ruff Ruffman, or to give the<br />
show’s mascot a hug, many<br />
others came to participate in the<br />
same lab activities featured on<br />
the television program.<br />
Carol Tamas came all the<br />
way from Wappingers Falls,<br />
Dutchess County, to bring her<br />
three children to the grand<br />
opening.<br />
“We’ve done every event,<br />
and my two oldest children<br />
are in the planetarium now,”<br />
said Tamas as she watched her<br />
youngest child Erin, 3, play in<br />
the lab’s shadow-making area.<br />
“She really loves Ruff. She saw<br />
a commercial about the grand<br />
opening on television and she<br />
wanted to come. It’s our fi rst<br />
trip to Schenectady.”<br />
Frank said she hopes the<br />
new exhibit will attract people<br />
like Tamas who live outside the<br />
museum’s general demographic<br />
area.<br />
“We have the only ‘Fetch! Lab’<br />
in this area,” said Frank. “There’s<br />
one in the Boston area and on<br />
Long Island, but we’re the only<br />
lab in between.”<br />
Many local residents and<br />
regular museum attendees were<br />
on hand to take part in the lab<br />
activities and to view the new<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
Library friends to<br />
present poetry gala<br />
The Schenectady County<br />
Public Library will hold its<br />
annual poetry gala on Sunday,<br />
April 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the<br />
McChesney Room of the main<br />
branch of the library, corner of<br />
Clinton and Liberty streets, with<br />
arrangements made by Linda<br />
Witkowski.<br />
Everyone is invited.<br />
Victorian tea with<br />
Sue McLane<br />
The Schenectady County<br />
Historical Society and Sue<br />
McLane will demonstrate<br />
how to host a Victorian tea on<br />
Wednesday, April 23, from 6:15 to<br />
9:15 p.m. at 32 Washington Ave.,<br />
Schenectady.<br />
Learn the history of tea<br />
drinking and participate in an<br />
interactive hands-on lesson<br />
with McLane, “The Victorian<br />
Lady.” Learn how to give a tea<br />
party, including how to make<br />
the invitations, create the menus,<br />
how to make authentic tea foods<br />
and the proper way to brew<br />
tea. After the tutorial, enjoy an<br />
authentically prepared and detailoriented<br />
Victorian tea.<br />
Reservations are required.<br />
Cost is $41 per person. Call<br />
Kathryn Weller at 374-0263 for<br />
reservations.<br />
Rotterdam library<br />
changes times<br />
Program times for a four-part<br />
series on wellness presented at the<br />
Rotterdam Branch Library, 1100<br />
North Westcott Road, on Mondays,<br />
exhibit.<br />
Jamie Baroni, of Schenectady,<br />
brought her children, Jordan, 10,<br />
Maxwell, 8, and family friend,<br />
Nicholas Dockins, 6, to the<br />
museum on Sunday.<br />
“It’s cool because kids get<br />
to do stuff,” said Maxwell. “We<br />
learned how a bird uses its<br />
beak by picking up things with<br />
tweezers.”<br />
At the bird activity station,<br />
kids huddled around dishes<br />
full of worms and seeds and<br />
used chopsticks and tweezers<br />
to simulate the action of a bird<br />
eating.<br />
At another station, Union<br />
College senior Jude Mason,<br />
taught children about nanometers<br />
and measurement. He gave the<br />
participants pieces of paper and<br />
asked them to cut the paper as<br />
thinly as possible.<br />
Mason held up the thinnest<br />
piece of paper he could fi nd.<br />
“Is that a nanometer?”<br />
asked Kylie Kerr, 8, of East<br />
Greenbush.<br />
“It’s about as close as you can<br />
get with scissors, said Mason, but<br />
it’s still 100 to 200 nanometers.”<br />
“Wow,” said Kerr in unison<br />
with the other participants.<br />
Spring school break activities<br />
continue at the Schenectady<br />
Museum’s “Fetch! Lab” this<br />
week. Special activities will be<br />
held through Friday, April 18,<br />
from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.<br />
For information, call 382-<br />
7890.<br />
April 21 and 28 and May 5 and 12,<br />
have changed from 10:30 to 11:30<br />
a.m. to 11 a.m. to noon.<br />
Tamara Flanders, holistic<br />
health counselor, will present<br />
the series. Natural Wellness from<br />
Within will be presented April 21;<br />
The Sugar Blues, April 28; Whole<br />
Foods 101 - Foods without Labels,<br />
May 5; and Healthy Meals and<br />
Meal Planning, May 12.<br />
The programs are supported<br />
by Coordinated Outreach<br />
Services of the Mohawk Valley<br />
Library System.<br />
For information, call 356-<br />
3440.<br />
SCORE to host<br />
business seminar<br />
The SCORE-Albany Small<br />
Business Counselors will<br />
present a seminar titled “Tools<br />
and Techniques for Business<br />
Leaders to Motivate, Train,<br />
and Retain Employees,” on<br />
Wednesday, April 23 and 30,<br />
from 8:30 to11 a.m. at the Albany-<br />
Colonie Chamber of Commerce<br />
Conference Room, 1 Computer<br />
Drive South, Albany.<br />
The two-session program is<br />
designed for big, small, startup<br />
and established business<br />
managers that want to learn to<br />
effectively communicate, coach,<br />
motivate and give constructive<br />
feedback to employees.<br />
The seminar is presented by<br />
Bob Furlong of Sage Leadership<br />
Consulting and I. David Caird of<br />
IDCaird Consulting.<br />
Admission is $25 for both<br />
sessions and reservations can<br />
be made by contacting SCORE-<br />
Albany at 446-1118, ext 233, or<br />
www.scorealbany.org.