by Intern on March 28, 2010
Mia Rotundo
How Aspiring Geologist Mia Rotundo Wound Up at The Family School
By Sarah B.
Mia Rotundo was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Growing up, she wanted to be a college professor and go to strange places to study rocks.
In high school, Rotundo was introduced to the 12 Steps. Her school offered opportunities to attend meetings so the students would be aware of the program. Rotundo does not apply the program in her own life, but she sees the benefits of doing so.
When Rotundo was a teenager, she and her parents would visit their getaway house in Hancock. She loved this house. It had no electricity or heat. It was like a camping trip, a big difference from the busy city Rotundo lived in.
When she attended college, she graduated as a geology major, following her childhood dream. Until ten years ago, however, Rotundo lived in many places other than the peaceful Hancock she grew to love.
While pregnant with her second child, Rotundo spent a lot of time in the hospital. “I appreciated how the nurses helped me feel better,” she said. Rotundo decided she wanted to be a nurse. She went back to school and came out with a degree in nursing from DCMO BOCES.
She worked for four years as a nurse in a Roscoe, N.Y. nursing home before coming to The Family Foundation School. She has always known about the school. “I receive The Family Times at home,” Rotundo said. She wanted to work at the school because she grew up with a bunch of kids who lost their way in life, and because she tends to have an optimistic view in tough situations.
Rotundo lives in the Hancock area with her two daughters, 10 and 5, three cats, and a dog. “When I was a teenager, I loved being up here, watching the seasons change. This is a big change from how I was raised.”
by Intern on March 27, 2010
Just short of a miracle ... FFS students (l to r) Chris B., Scott M., Matt W., Ted W., Isaac M., and Will H. with skating guru psychiatrist Richard Falzone.
Psychiatrist Richard Falzone Challenges Paradigms
By Liam M.
Dr. Richard Falzone always has a couple of skateboards in the cargo box of his car. He keeps them there in case a good skating opportunity presents itself during his travels.
This may seem out of the norm for a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, but Falzone is all about breaking stigmas.
At McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, Falzone runs an adolescent dual-diagnosis substance abuse group for young teens who use drugs on top of their psychiatric problems. He teaches clean and sober coping skills to achieve total abstinence.
These coping skills are primarily outlets for teens to develop and unleash their passion for life in healthy ways. For Falzone and many of his patients, skateboarding is a very positive tool in the quest for recovery.
“I had always thought that the skater subculture was too closely affiliated with drug use to be endorsed here, but Falzone effectively convinced me otherwise,” said Rita Argiros, Family Foundation School Administrative Vice President.
Through his own observations, he himself being a sober skater, Falzone has watched the sport grow to become a large part of mainstream culture, which encompasses all kinds of people. He also pointed out that the FFS gym provided for students who enjoy team sports like basketball, but did not currently provide for those who are into solo activities.
Tony and Betty Argiros, founders of The Family School, always had a vision for the school that everything that was fun and not bad for you would be allowed. Remembering that, Argiros decided to give Falzone’s concept a test.
Falzone grabbed the skateboards from his car, and invited the schools’ skaters to ride in the gym. After seeing the amount of joy the skateboards brought, as well as the exercise the boys were getting, Rita Argiros decided to rethink FFS’s skateboarding ban.
“Today I can honestly say that my life at The Family School is complete. Sobriety, skateboarding, family; what more could a man ask for?” said Ted W., one of the skaters.
Falzone was very impressed with the FFS staffs’ open mindedness on the issue. “Skating has taught me and the kids I work with a lot about life, and I appreciate when people are willing to reevaluate their opinions on it as a therapeutic tool.” He hopes that the next time he visits it will be to unveil the outdoor skate-park which he dreamed up with Argiros.
FFS Administration is still deliberating on how they can organize and oversee skateboarding. A few students who are doing well in school and with their programs already have boards being sent up.
by Intern on March 26, 2010
The Facts Behind It All and What to Know
By Brendan O.
Emotions are running high in the natural gas drilling conflict. Fear of damaging the environment clashes with the vast economic benefits that drilling could bring. As with any large issue, facts are often hidden in a lot of bias and embellishment. Each side presents the information it wants you to know and not much else. The fact of the matter is that there are a substantial number of pros as well as cons to the natural gas debate.
The fears associated with drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in upstate NY range from deforestation, pollution, and contamination, to harmful health effects related to the chemicals and extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing. But are these fears credible?
When drilling began in Dish, Texas, people feared adverse health effects on the population. They did a few tests and found that their air was full of benzene and other chemicals. They immediately blamed it on the drilling. They didn’t take into consideration the fact that their town is located near Alliance Airport, and that their town is literally sprayed with benzene and other chemicals on a daily basis from the planes taking off. In fact 70% of gasoline is benzene, so anyone who lives along a highway would probably be exposed to more benzene and other harmful chemicals than someone who lives in a rural area and has a drilling rig nearby.
There have been no documented cases of groundwater contamination or air pollution as a direct result of hydraulic fracturing. Many people worry that since so much water is needed for fracking that their local streams and ponds will be drained. This is also not true because GE has invented a type of filtration system that will allow the drilling companies to filter and reuse water that has already been utilized for fracking.
New York currently has the tightest restrictions on air and water pollution of any other state, and gas drilling companies in N.Y. are even required to perform seismic tests to check for fault lines or other conditions that would put the water table at risk.
Chris Fitzsimmons, Chairman of the Joint Landowners Coalition, believes that New York may have gone overboard with restrictions. According to Fitzsimmons, the real concerns should be damage to roads and human error. “Accidents happen,” said Fitzsimmons. It is inevitable that people will make mistakes, and spills of chemical-laced fracking fluid have occurred. However, the SGEIS, the DEC’s environmental impact statement, has tightened the regulations to prevent spills and has laid out procedures to follow in the event of a spill.
Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale could potentially bring in enormous profits to New York, money that could help schools and communities, and lower state taxes. NYS collected $900,000 from 500 80-acre wells. Thousands more wells are proposed, closer to 640 acres per well. It all adds up to a colossal windfall for New York.
by Intern on March 25, 2010
Students Asked to Wash Their Sheets Weekly
By Jake H.
Students are now required to wash their bed sheets at least once a week at The Family Foundation School. The announcement was made by Rita Argiros during a recent circle-up before lunch.
Apparently some students at FFS believed that washing bed sheets was unnecessary for good hygiene. What the students don’t know is that the average human sheds about one-fifth of an ounce of skin per week into their bed sheets. These skin particles are the favorite food of the common dust mite. The dust mites eat the skin then metabolize into the sheets.
On average, a mattress can contain between 100,000 to 10 million of the little creatures, and 25% of the weight of a two-year-old pillow is dead dust mites and their leavings. So, when students slip into their beds at night, they are joined by a myriad of microscopic creepy crawlers. Although the dust mites do not directly harm humans, many people react with certain allergens of the dust mites’ waste particles.
“Personally I don’t care about washing my sheets,” said Gabe L. “As long as it doesn’t make me smell.” According to the 2010 Sheet Washing Survey, only 25% of the student population agrees with washing sheets once a week and 14% had no specific preference about how long to wait before washing. “I don’t feel that every week is necessary,” said Josh W. “Once they get dirty, then I wash them.”
On the other hand some students see the rule as a good thing for the students. “It’s a good rule because whether it will cause sickness or not, it’s good to sleep in a clean bed,” said Jill M. Hygiene aside, washing sheets once a week can’t hurt.
Alumni News
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