Starting Next Semester, FFS Will Offer Classes In Horseback Riding, Tennis, And Instrumental
By Nick M.
Starting next semester, The Family Foundation School will offer new activities to enrich its students’ learning.
Horseback riding lessons will be offered at Cat Hollow Farms and Stables in Deposit, NY. Lessons will be taught by Pat Cammer, owner of the farms. Cammer is qualified to teach Dressage, exhibition riding or horsemanship, in which the horse is controlled in certain difficult steps and gaits by very slight movements of the rider. Students signing up for this activity will be going once or twice a week during the afterschool activity periods.
French Woods Festival of Performing Arts camp owner and director Ron Schaefer has offered The Family School students permission to use his outdoor tennis courts during the summer camp’s off-season. The camp’s five courts are fenced in and are well maintained. Several staff at FFS have shown interest in helping teach tennis to the students. “Tennis is not going to be a competitive sport; it is more for the love of the game and the exercise that comes with it,” said Bill Musgrove, Athletic Director.
Another new activity will be music lessons, which will be made available to the students by staff who know how to play instruments. The lessons will be offered at a beginner level.
Even before these new activities begin, many of the staff are excited about the new opportunities to spread the message about things they love. “It is another chance for personal growth for our students through staff,” said Mike Argiros, Family School President and CEO.
Many of the school’s existing extracurricular activities have come to be because of the willingness of staff to walk the students through the activities. The art program, for example, came about because of Yuri Kuchukov’s desire to reach out to the students through his artistic abilities.
The performing arts program is another great example. Paul Geer and Tom Kovaleski carry the message to students in their classes via music and dance. Geer always says that “chorus is a reflection of your program.”
John Broce, the woodcarving teacher, helps students in his class become proficient in woodcarving techniques and vocabulary. Many students pick woodcarving as an extracurricular early on in their stay at The Family School and stay in it until they leave or graduate.
Debate came from a staff member’s love of arguing. Bruce Hutchison, founder and coach, started the forensics team back in 2002. The team has done very well in the past seven years, winning the sweepstakes award at most of the tournaments that they have been to. FFS has sent students to the National Tournament for the past several years.
Journalism and yearbook only came into the curriculum at FFS when Chris Stein started teaching at the school. The Family Times goes out monthly and is an award winning paper, and the yearbook has received tremendous accolades. Stein teaches his students how to use writing, pictures, and layouts as a service for the readers of the paper.
The new extracurricular activities being added to The Family School’s curriculum allow the staff to share the passions that they have for their hobbies with students.
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