In the Spotlight...

SFC Students Learn About Jazz with the Ben Waltzer Jazz Quartet

The Ben Waltzer jazz quartet featuring Ben Waltzer (piano), Chris Lightcap (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums) and Christine Correa (vocals) performed for Bank Street middle and upper school students on April 1st, 2009. The musicians alternated between playing such jazz favorites as "Old Devil Moon" and "Caravan" and engaging students in a discussion of jazz rhythm and improvisation. After the concert, the quartet taught two workshops for the 12/13s. The concert was funded by the Alex Cohen Endowment Fund for the Performing Arts in memory of Bank Street alumnus Alex Cohen SFC '86. The Fund brings a wide range of performing artists to Bank Street School each year to stage theater, music and dance productions for its students.

Celebrating Elsbeth Pfeiffer

A celebration of the life and work of Elsbeth Pfeiffer (1916-2008) took place in the Daniel Tabas and Evelyn Rome Tabas Auditorium at Bank Street College of Education on Friday, March 6, 2009.

An esteemed colleague, friend, mentor, and inspiration to many, Elsbeth Pfeiffer was the founder and Chair of the Bank Street Special Education program, as well as founder of both the College's Child Life and Museum Special Education programs. She retired in 1995 after twenty-nine years at Bank Street. Her legacy continues to enrich and enhance the lives and work of faculty, students, staff, children and all who are or have been connected with Bank Street.

The memorial celebration was introduced and moderated by Bank Street Trustee, Margaret L. Stevens, '77, who was an advisee of Elsbeth's. After President Elizabeth D. Dickey spoke in appreciation of Elsbeth and her work, a series of speakers provided personal and professional reminiscences of Elsbeth and detailed the impact she had on their lives. They were Georgi Antar '76, Rosaleen (Rusty) Horn '74, Margaret (Peggy) McNamara '78, Patricia Weiner, Claire Wurtzel '77 (who spoke for Deon Hilger '79), and Jon Snyder, Dean of the Bank Street Graduate School. Music for the program was performed by Bill Wurtzel on guitar. Read more >>

BSCCA presents "Teachers Tell Tales," a Storytelling Workshop
An eager crowd gathered at Bank Street on Thursday evening, February 5, 2009, to participate in the Bank Street College Alumni Association's most recent event in its Rediscover and Reconnect Series, a Storytelling Workshop for educators.

After an introduction by BSCAA President Jesse Pugh, three storytellers (all Bank Street graduates), Labia Abdur-Rahman '93, Amadoma Bediako '93, and Kim Thurman '95, demonstrated and explained storytelling techniques and how to use storytelling for educational purposes in the classroom. Read more >>

Bank Street College Alumni Association (BSCAA) honors three for 2008
The Bank Street College Alumni Association (BSCAA) held its twelfth annual alumni awards ceremony on Thursday, October 30, 2008, in the Evelyn Rome Tabas and Daniel Tabas Auditorium at Bank Street College of Education.

Jesse Pugh, President of BSCCA, introduced Bank Street's new President, Elizabeth D. Dickey, who welcomed the overflow audience, and thanked the BSCAA leadership for its activities and initiatives on behalf of the Bank Street community. She said how impressed she was that two of the three awards were "going to our faculty members, as exemplary models of what Bank Street is about." She concluded by noting the transformative possibilities of a new administration, "particularly as it affects children and families," and that she expected that "Bank Street will be one of those voices at the table as new educational policy is developed." Read more >>

New Jersey meets new Bank Street President Elizabeth D. Dickey
On the evening of November 12, 2008, Bank Street President Elizabeth D. Dickey traveled across the Hudson River to meet New Jersey's Bank Street alumni, donors, and the classroom teachers who participated in Bank Street's twelve-year New Beginnings Project to revitalize the Newark public schools. The reception was held in Newark's New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

In her welcome, Beverly "Bev" Walsh '87, a former president of the Bank Street College Alumni Association (BSCAA) and a New Jersey resident, announced that she is organizing a Bank Street New Jersey alumni group. She observed that more than 700 graduates of the Graduate School and the School for Children live in New Jersey, as do hundreds more who have taken courses at the College and understand why it is such a special place. "We consider them our alums, too," added Ms. Walsh. She was encouraged that Bank Street's new president, Elizabeth Dickey, wanted to build on Bank Street's already considerable work in New Jersey. "There is so much more good to be done in helping New Jersey schools, children, and families," she said. Read more >>

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