Oswego County GENIUS Olympiad in the Oswegonian

A student from Phoenix High School presents his project to judges in Shineman Center at the competition. (Neeny Phakdeetham | The Oswegonian)

Learning About the Affordable Care Act:

Whether you’re for or against it, the Affordable Care Act is here. Wondering what is all means? Here’s some information and links we received in an email from our friends at Rock the Vote.

“We get it. The Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) is confusing, and it doesn’t help that everybody and their mother has a different opinion about it. So here are the important facts you need to know:

• Are you under 26? You can stay on your parents’ health insurance. No sweat!
• Do you have a job? Your employer might have healthcare benefits available. Check to see if this is an option.
• Are you older than 26 and do not have healthcare through work? You can now enroll at www.healthcare.gov (and at a competitive price too!).
• Opting out? Starting next year, you will have to pay a penalty for not having health insurance. The penalty starts small, but will increase gradually over the next few years.

Over 19 million Americans ages 18-34 do not have health coverage. Don’t be a statistic. Enroll today and #GetCovered.

If you have questions, our friends at Young Invincibles have your back: Read up on some Healthcare FAQs.

Sincerely,

Heather”

Fall 2013 Newsletter

View this document on Scribd

Civic Engagement Award Winners

The nominees for both the Agent of Change Award and the Civic Leadership Award are – Brad Frate, Alex Lykins, Stephanie Chytalo, Tucker Sholtes, and Francisco Perez.

First, the Agent of Change Award:

This award recognizes a student who has identified a need on campus or in the community and worked to address the need or solve the problem.  The problem-solving project should be identified and initiated by the student who recognizes events, services, or programs that would not otherwise exist on campus or in the community if the student had not initiated action.

Eligibility & Selection Criteria included:

1) Demonstrated leadership, committed to ethical action and social responsibility

2) Has identified a campus or community need or problem and worked to provide a solution.

3) Has initiated action on the problem.

This year there are two recipients:

The first, Director of Greek Affairs for Student Association, has been involved in a number of projects on SUNY Oswego’s campus and the Oswego community including the Quality of Life Campaign. The Quality of Life Campaign was created in order to improve the community’s quality of life as well as college students who reside there during the academic year. Through this objective, Brad and former S.A President Rebecca Witkin, had a goal; to create a relationship with the mayor and chief of police, to effectively communicate to students what the Quality of Life Campaign was and act as the liaisons for the college community. This group met a total of three times this past semester, and the progress made is being continued on through the new SA president (Anthony Smith), and whoever is selected to be the director of Greek Affairs for the next academic year.

The Second, Tucker Sholtes, has been actively involved in helping both communities he considers home; Binghamton and Oswego. During the end of August and beginning of September 2011, the Southern Tier of New York was hit with major flooding caused by the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Because of the large amount of SUNY Oswego students whose families and friends were affected by the flooding, a Binghamton Area Flood Relief Project was started by Tucker Sholtes with the goal of helping families begin to rebuild both their homes and their lives. Through a collaboration of student organizations, staff and students, five weekend flood relief trips were conducted during the 2011-2012 academic year. Students and staff helped to gut and rebuild homes, rebuild little league baseball fields, construct swing sets at homes that lost them, and replace a community garden. Tucker applied for and received $2600 in grants to support the recovery efforts along with volunteers from SUNY Oswego, high school students and volunteers from the affected region, and from Queens Habitat for Humanity contributed to making this project successful.

Tucker continued his involvement and commitment to the community in 2012-2013. As a leader in Enactus, he has partnered with a number of other student organizations and community members to help develop the Oswego community garden after its inaugural year in 2012. He recruited students to volunteer at the garden in the fall of 2012 and applied for and received a grant through the campus’s ACTS program to help further develop the program.

Next, the Civic Leadership Award:

This award recognizes a student who has demonstrated a sustained commitment to civic engagement on the campus or in the community.  The application should (a) provide evidence of civic leadership during the preceding 12 months and (b) demonstrate the student’s capacity to identify and begin to address root causes of campus or community issues through creating public policy change or other efforts focused on creating positive change.

Eligibility & Selection Criteria:

1) Currently a junior or senior in good standing at SUNY Oswego.

2) Demonstrated civic leadership on campus or in the community.

3) Demonstrated capacity to identify and address root causes of campus or community issues.

This year’s recipient, President of the Political Science Club at SUNY Oswego and long time Student Association Senator Francisco Perez, was a huge help during Civic Engagement’s Rock the Vote Campaign. He volunteered countless hours of his time and even went as far as to offer to run two nights of events during Constitution Week; both nights of the Film Series. He was an intricate part of educating students about the important issues and the candidates’ stances during the 2012 election season at events as well as tabling. Finally, his ability to collaborate with Civic Engagement allowed members of his organization to become more involved on campus, in the community, and in their nations political process.

Press Release per Oswego County Today

Thrive’s Community Incubator Hosts the Oswego County CARES Expo

OSWEGO, NY – As a part of the Thrive Oswego County Community Incubator initiative, the Office of Business and Community Relations at SUNY Oswego will host the Oswego County Community Awareness Regarding Exceptional Services (CARES) Expo.

The expo will showcase a wide range of human services available to Oswego County residents, as well as several mini seminars of community interest.

The CARES Expo was created in partnership with the Rural Health Network’s Co-Morbidity Task Force and is co-sponsored by the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities Family Support Services Council.

It will be held on May 9 from 1 to 6 p.m. at the SUNY Oswego Campus Center Arena.

“This is a great opportunity for community members and our students to learn what programs and services are available to them in our county for any needs that may arise for themselves or their family members,” said Tammy Elowsky, assistant director, Office of Business and Community Relations at SUNY Oswego. “It will also provide lots of fun for children with an inflatable obstacle course, face painting, story time, and arts and crafts so that caregivers will have the opportunity to explore the expo and even take advantage of some of the mini classes we will have available that day. This is a part of our Thrive Community Incubator initiative and is our way of ‘paying it forward’ in our community.”

The CARES Expo is on the heels of the success of the innovation Rainforest Launch and workshops recently facilitated by Greg Horowitt, venture capitalist out of California.

Thrive is sure keeping the momentum going.

The children’s activities will be provided by members of Kappa Delta Pi (International Honor Society in Education) and Alpha Phi Omega (national co-ed service-based fraternity) led by SUNY Oswego student Keri Frazer, President of Kappa Delta Pi, and graduate student Jon Zella of the Civic Engagement Coalition.

The Oswego County CARES Expo, children activities, and seminars are all free for Oswego County residents.Attendees will each receive a directory of services available in Oswego County.

Parking will be provided in Lots E-31, E-1 and E-18, with overflow in EC-7.

For more information on the expo or to register for free booth space, please go to http://www.oswego.edu/obcr/events

If your organization is interested in providing an educational seminar, please contact tammy.elowsky@oswego.edu

Today’s Winners of the Oswego County GENIUS Olympiad

1st place (top picture) won $2,000 for his school’s science department (Central Square) as well as a trip to the International GENIUS Olympiad this summer. There was also a “Directo’s choice” from the Director of the International GENIUS competition who will also be presenting this summer from Fulton. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to Fulton and Central Square schools for participating this year!

(Photo Credit: Jon Zella)

Live Blog: The Sustainability Fair (GENIUS Olympiad)

We’re here today at SUNY Oswego’s Sustainability Fair hosting the Oswego County GENIUS Olympiad. Students from Fulton City Schools and Central Square Schools created sustainable and environmentally related projects for a chance to win money for their school as well as move on to the State and National GENIUS competitions.