PTSA to present a family workshop on youth in the digital world

BY kate Hill Staff Writer

On Thursday, March 30, the Cazenovia High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) will present a family workshop aimed at facilitating meaningful technology discussions between teens and their parents/ caregivers.

The “Build Up & Belong” workshop, which will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Betsy Kennedy Community Room at the Cazenovia Public Library & Museum, is designed for parents, caregivers, and teenagers ages 13 and older.

The event will examine the use of technology as a communication and relationship tool, discuss ways to build belonging and positive communities in a digital world, teach how to navigate privacy and safety on digital platforms, and help families engage in interactive conversations about online scenarios, experiences, and expectations.

cam advertising agency on Madison Avenue, a bartender and lifeguard in Cape Cod, and a professional ski patroller at Vermont’s Sugarbush Resort, which once had the longeststretching gondola in the world.

A couple summers in a row back in the 1950s, he was tasked with digging up leaking

To

The workshop will be facilitated by PTSA President and Fayetteville-Manlius High School Teacher Kathleen Benedict, Cazenovia Middle School Psychologist Micael Speirs, and Syracuse University Professor Jennifer Stromer-Galley.

According to the Syracuse University website, Stromer-Galley has been studying “social media” since before it was called social media, researching online interaction and strategic communication in a variety of contexts, including political forums and online games. She has published over 70 journal articles, proceedings, and book chapters, and received over $15 million in federal and corporate grants to support her research endeavors. Her book, “Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age,” provides a history of presidential campaigns as they have adopted and adapted to digital communication technologies.

“There’s a lot to our workshop and a lot that both parents and teens can learn,” said Benedict. “The PTSA is asking that parents, gas service lines in Syracuse. His knowledge of the area led him to the various jazz joints of the 15th Ward—The Penguin Club and The 800 Club included—and often enough he would be the only white person in the place. caregivers, and teenagers ages 13 and up attend this workshop together as facilitators lead parents and teens through discussions of realistic scenarios that will both challenge and deepen our understanding of how our youth are interacting in today’s digital world.”

With the United States Army in the early 1960s, DeVore was a Morse code and voice radio operator, which is how he first got into the realm of broadcasting.

Food, including wraps and chips, will be provided starting at 6:45 p.m.

Register for the event by visiting cazhs. memberhub.com/w/buildupbelong.

The workshop is supported by a grant awarded by the National Parent Teacher Association (National PTA), the oldest and largest child advocacy association in America.

Cazenovia High School was one of 30 schools nationwide to receive funding last fall through the National PTA’s “PTA Connected: Build Up and Belong” program, sponsored by Discord, an online gaming chat app.

The PTSA was awarded $1,000 to facilitate meaningful conversations between teens and their caregivers about ways to work together to protect privacy, be safer, and support one another online. The goal of the program is to help families explore ways to foster positive relationships, navigate digital dilemmas, and build belonging in the digital world.

Over the years, he also advised the Jazz-NCaz concert series and sat on the board for the Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse.

According to Benedict, the Build Up & Belong workshop will include an overview of Discord and other popular social media platforms for teens, like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram.

The PTSA is a member of both the National PTA and the New York State Parent Teacher Association Leatherstocking region.

According to the Cazenovia Central School District website, the mission of its parent teacher association programs is “to support and speak on behalf of children and youth in schools, to assist parents in developing skills they need to raise and protect their children, and to encourage parent and public involvement in the public schools.”

To learn more about the PTSA, visit cazhs. memberhub.com or email cazenovialakersPTSA@gmail.com.

To catch “Roger’s List” live on the air every Monday afternoon, visit wsiv1540.com and click the “Listen On-Line” tab.

Save Money! Free Tax Preparation for people over

with Disabilities

By Appointment Only in Madison County: Call 315-750-6894 for Oneida

Call 315-630-9660 for Morrisville, Hamilton, or Cazenovia Call 315-750-2638 for Canastota or Chittenango

The Key Consignment Shop in Cazenovia, NY is seeking an Executive Director. Executive Director needs to be energetic, excellent with people, capable with numbers and creative. Retail and personnel management experience required. This is a part-time salaried position of approximately 20 hours per week reporting to the Rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Cazenovia, NY. For more information and to submit your résumé please contact: parishoffice@stpeterscaz.org or 315-655-9063.

Never enough books

“I guess there are never enough books.”

This quote is attributed to John Steinbeck one of America’s most well known and prolific authors.

Many may remember him only from high school or college where works like “The Pearl,” “Of Mice and Men,” and “The Grapes of Wrath,” were often assigned reading. Others may have found his writing on their own or may have been inspired to read his other works that deal with the human condition, the rights and lives of workers, the political climate of America across decades from the 1930s and into the 1960s, war, hunger, romance and the struggles of individuals, families and even brother versus brother.

While this is subject matter Steinbeck tackled in his work, it is also subject matter that many other authors have explored in their writings from Charles Dickens to Jane Austen, from Stephen King to Kurt Vonnegut to Sylvia Plath, authors have tackled subject matter, explored varied ideas and concepts and tried to share a glimpse into their own world and experience on the microscopic scale and relate it back to the human experience as a whole on the macroscopic scale.

To paraphrase an old saying and a popular meme, by reading and reading widely, you have the opportunity to live many lives and explore many worlds with the opportunities books offer to readers.

The month of March, among many other things, is recognized as National Reading Month.

This is a time that can serve as a good reminder about the importance of reading as well as the magic of it, that feeling of getting lost in the pages of a good book that excites, entertains or even challenges us to think differently and look at the world from a different perspective.

According to nationaltoday.com, March was designated as National Reading Month to celebrate Dr. Suess. He was born on March 2, 1904. Interestingly enough, Dr. Suess was not a doctor at all, he was a writer and an illustrator of very popular children’s books including “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” He also wrote several books for beginner readers of which “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” (published in 1960) was the most notable one. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his contribution to the education of America’s children and their parents.

Today we might take reading for granted but it has a very long history and there was a time when only a few people knew how to read. The first written communication did not happen until 3500 B.C., and the first books did not appear until around 23 B.C. in Rome. Around this time, books were also developed in some Asian countries and the Middle East. Before the printing press was introduced in the 15th century, books were quite expensive and rare but as printed books gained popularity, literacy rates began to rise. In 1892, the first book covers appeared and in the 19th century, publishers started printing books with hardbacks.

And now, while there are preferences and debates about it, we have almost unlimited access to the printed word. While some prefer a physical book, our phones, computers and other mobile devices also allow us to read almost anywhere and any time with access to digital editions of books and other publications.

So whether it is a classic, a sci-fi epic, a love story, a horror story, a hardcover book with a cup of coffee on a rainy day or an interesting article on your phone, take some time to catch up on some reading and find the joy the written word in its myriad forms has to offer.