Van Cortlandt Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, July 11, 2001

ROOKIE PARKIES PLEDGE TO “DEFEND FROM WASTE OUR NATURAL RESOURCES”

Now for the first time, the Urban Park Rangers offer high school students internships year round. The Parks Conservation Corps is a natural extension of the Ranger Conservation Corps, which involves students in park restoration projects. On Monday, July 9, 2001 eighty-three corps members were sworn in at the Great Hill. They committed to a summer of science education and hands on environmental service in the Forever Wild preserves. Some will monitor turtles in Blue Heron Park, others will restore trails in Forest Park, salt marshes in Marine Park, and forests in Inwood Hill and Van Cortlandt Park.

This summer's corps members were selected from a pool of 580 applicants. 25% of them have worked with Ranger Conservation Corps and proven their work ethic and their knack for science. They will be supervised by 13 team leaders.

Present at the induction ceremony were Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern; Claire (Dreamer) Cloud, City Parks Foundation Trustee; Therese (Ranger) Braddick, Deputy Director of the City Parks Foundation; Alex (Oiseau) Brash, Chief of the Urban Park Service; Sara (Whisperer) Hobel, Director of the Urban Park Rangers; Bruce (Skate) Doniger, Chief Executive Officer of the J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation; Sarah (Manx) Aucoin, Deputy Director of the Urban Park Rangers; Adena (Tsunami) Schwartz, Deputy Director of the Urban Park Rangers, and the leaders of the program Ezra Ruben and Gary Rozman. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Commissioner Stern led corps members in a conservation pledge, and planted a 6-foot Sugar maple on the hill.

THE 7TH SWIM: 7/9 AT 7:09

69 swimmers led off a season of Early Bird swim with a fast crawl on Monday, July 7, 2001. 33 Parkies and 36 members of the public dove into John Jay Pool and raced from end to end. Congratulations to first place winners Colleen (Finback) Anderson and Lauren (Easterly) Brignone, who each completed 40 lengths in 30 minutes. And now, in the number crunching spirit of the Seventh Swim, a few overall statistics: early birds and Parkies swam 1,377 lengths or 38,25 miles for an average of 20 lengths and .6 miles. Competitive spirits may be interested to note that Parkies swam an average of four lengths more than early birders or 0.1 miles. Thanks to John (Neptunis) Hutchins, Director of Citywide Aquatics who organized the 12th annual swim.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Wednesday, July 13, 1988)

BOXERS TRAIN FOR OLYMPICS
AT TWO QUEENS REC CENTERS

The United States Olympic boxing trials have started and Queens Recreation helped throw a couple of the punches. After training at Queens recreation centers for over three years, two Golden Gloves Champions, Lionell Odom and Michael Bent, won their opening bouts at the Olympic trials at Diablo Valley College in Concord, California.

Odom trained at the O'Connell Recreation Center in St. Albans and coached by Assistant Supervisor of Recreation Victor Hanson, won his match by a four-to-one decision over the national 112-pound champion, Tony Gonzales. But the 17-year old high school junior lost his semi-final bout to Chris Carillo of Whittier, California in a unanimous decision.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"And joined in love together,
The Thistle, Shamrock, Rose entwine
The Maple Leaf forever!"

Alexander Muir (1830-1906)