December 8, 2010
Volume LXXIX Issue 13
Serving The College of Saint Rose Community in Albany, New York
www.strosechronicle.com
School Magazine Takes Different Direction This Year By CHELSEA KRUGER
// Kayla Germain Volunteer Leah Chamberlin practices flash cards with local immigrants at the Emmaus Church.
Emmaus Church Reaches Around the World from Albany
By LAUREN BEALE, MARISSA CRARY, & KAYLA GERMAIN Emmaus United Methodist Church, which extends services to local immigrant and refugee families, will mark its multicultural flair Saturday when it celebrates Christmas Around the World. “Everybody is welcome,” said Noel John, the lay leader at Emmaus and a native of Pakistan. The service is part of a World Cage series hosted by the church to showcase the talents and traditions of the many cultures that make up the congregation. Saturday’s event at 715 Morris St. runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. During the December and January school break, the Emmaus adult English as a Second Language program and children’s
programs will each continue to offer services to individuals from Burma, Haiti, Rwanda, Pakistan, Congo, Iraq, India, and China. The ESOL after school program, as well as adult tutoring sessions, have been created to support families in their transition to the United States. “They’ve come to America not by choice but by necessity. You can just imagine how difficult it is to have your life uprooted- to lose your home, culture, job and ability to converse freely in the community,” said Wendy Cotter, an English integration teacher. Classes for adults are offered in the morning, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and in the evening, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The executive director of ESOL services, Rifat Nazir, is originally from Pakistan and was a high school principal there for 11 years. She under-
stands the importance of what the classes offer, “They need this program desperately because when they get here language is the biggest barrier for them,” said Nazir. “Many of them improved their English skills and were able to get jobs.” Children in the ESOL after school program come from local schools including Pine Hills Elementary, Hackett Middle School, Giffen Elementary, School 19, Myers Middle School, Delaware Community School, and ASH Elementary. Students are in grades kindergarten through ninth grade and are adjusting to school in a new country. “Projects are geared toward what the kids are learning in school and their homework,” said Elizabeth Stampfel, a student volunteer. Continued on Page A2
Embossed pages and striking photography are just some of the new features adorning this year’s edition of Sphere, the school’s annual magazine, setting it apart from its successors. Sphere, the product of College of Saint Rose students enrolled in Professor Gary McLouth’s Magazine Practicum class, is published yearly. The creation of the magazine is an arduous process: the class participants must think of a unifying theme for the magazine, produce its content, design the graphics and publicize its release. Normally the class has upwards of 14 students in it, but this year only four students enrolled. Each became an editor: Theodore Traver, Shena Louissaint, Jordan Miller, and Ryan Harlow. The editors couldn’t agree on a single
theme for the magazine, so each wrote content for a section, focusing on his/her points of interest. “My job was to try to stay out of the way; I wanted them to run it,” said McLouth. “[The class] worked more like a seminar and I was working with them on the articles.” The quartet decided to dedicate the unprecedented 56-page issue to McLouth, who is retiring from the communications department after this semester. This year’s class took a different route with the magazine’s production. With only four students in the class, more content needed to be produced individually, a difficult goal when each student had a different idea of what the magazine should be about. Continued on Page A5
Burglaries Beset Student Area By IAN BENJAMIN The student housing area between Partridge and Lake Streets has been the scene of an outbreak of burglaries in recent weeks. Since the beginning of October there have been more than 30 separate burglaries in the area (see map). Though burglaries are not uncommon in the student area, their recent prevalence is above normal. These burglaries are also notable for taking place as often in the daylight as at night. Of the 24 burglaries which took place specifically between Western Avenue and Mercer Street, 14 took place during daylight hours. The number of burglaries has been especially high on Mercer and Warren Streets.
According to an Albany Police Department press release issued on Friday, December 2, the burglars have been targeting laptop computers and electronics items. Of the total 34 reported burglaries in the area during October a majority, 19 were in homes where the resident had not locked either windows or doors. The remainder were executed through forced entry. APD officers arrested Juhmir Arrington last week and charged him in connection with two of the robberies after having been seen in a fenced rear yard of a Hudson Avenue home. In one of the two burglaries he stole a laptop, a game system and a camera. Continued on Page A7