December 2004
Holiday Happening Week
NEWBURGH - Orange County Community College's Liberty Partnerships
Program and the Newburgh Enlarged City School District's Parent
Effectiveness Program will host a Holiday Happening Week during
December 13-16, 2004 at the Newburgh Extension Center.
To broaden students' knowledge and understanding of other cultures,
there will be presentations about the background and meaning of
Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa and Three Kings Day. Following the
presentations, students will make candy, gingerbread houses and
jewelry. The weeklong event will culminate in a Holiday Celebration
on Dec. 16, 2004. There will be a potluck dinner and gifts from
Toys 4 Tots.
The Liberty Partnerships Program provides various support services
to students in grade 6 who attend the New Windsor School and students
in grades 7-12 who attend North, South and Heritage Jr. High Schools
and Newburgh Free Academy. The program's mission is to help students
successfully complete high school and be prepared for post secondary
education or the workforce. For more information about the Liberty
Partnership Program call 562-2469.
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Concert of Romantic
Music by SUNY Orange Community Orchestra
Orange County Community College's Arts and Communication Department
will feature the SUNY Orange Community Orchestra for a concert
of Romantic Music on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m. in Orange Theater
at the Middletown campus at 115 South Street.
The 55-piece orchestra, which consists of SUNY Orange students,
Orange County high school students, and members of the community,
will perform under the direction of Hilarie Clark Moore.
Featured performers include soloist Kathryn Alicia Tate and soprano
Karen Suchy.
The concert is free to the public. Voluntary donations will be
collected at the door to support the orchestra's percussion fund.
For more information, please contact the Arts and Communication
department at (845) 341-4787.
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SUNY Orange
Winter Concert: Choir and Madrigal Singers Dec. 12
The SUNY Orange Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers, conducted
by Christa Damaris and accompanied by Constance Lacey will present
their annual Winter Concert on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3 p.m. in the
Orange Hall Theater at the Middletown campus at 115 South Street.
The Middletown Community Bell Choir, under the direction of Don
Filkins, will additionally perform with the Choir and Madrigal
Singers. Selections include arrangements of holiday classics as
well as works by Bach, Rutter and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from
Handel’s Messiah.
The concert, which is sponsored by the College's Arts and Communication
department, is open to the public free of charge.
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Holiday Open House
The tenth annual Holiday Open
House will be held in Morrison Hall on December 11 and 12
from 1-5 pm. The theme this year is "Music in the Mansion" and
all decorations will be done by the Middletown Garden Lovers.
The SUNY Orange Madrigal singers will perform on December 11 under
the direction of Christa Damaris, and the SUNY Orange Chamber Ensemble
will perform on December 12 under the direction of Hilarie Clark
Moore.
The event is open to the public and free admission and sponsored
by the Educational Foundation and Alumni
Association. Donations will be accepted for the Peter Alberghini
Inspirational Scholarship which benefits a SUNY Orange student
pursuing a career in public service.
Two Morrison Hall mementos will be sold: a pack of 10 Tiffany
window notecards for $10, and a Morrison Hall goldtone Christmas
ornament for $25. You can purchase the ornament online at https://www.sunyorange.edu/ornament.
On December 12 there is also a Winter Choral Concert in Orange
Hall Theater at 3 pm.
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SUNY Orange Admissions
Office offers Health Information Night in Newburgh
NEWBURGH - Orange County Community College’s Admissions
Office will offer a Health Professions Information Night on Monday,
Dec. 6 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the college’s
Newburgh Extension Center at One Washington Center.
Information will be presented about each of the college’s
seven Health Professions Programs. General college information
will also be provided.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information,
please contact the Admissions Office at (845) 341-4030, e-mail apply@sunyorange.edu or
visit www.sunyorange.edu/admissions/
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SUNY Orange Jazz Ensemble, Thursday,
Dec. 2
The Arts and Communication Department at Orange County Community
College is pleased to announce a performance by the SUNY Orange
Jazz Ensemble under the direction of SUNY Orange music professor
and recording artist Chris Parker on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 11a.m.
and Friday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m at the Orange Hall Theater at the Middletown
campus at 115 South Street.
The performance is open to the public. Admission is by donation
to the Arts and Communication department’s music scholarships.
For more information please contact the Arts and Communication
department at (845) 341-4787.
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SUNY Orange professor has Rockefeller
Center Tree
 MIDDLETOWN
- The Norway spruce grew for 60 years in the Rockland
County backyard, having begun life as a tiny, replanted Christmas
tree. It grew 71 feet tall, 40 feet wide and nearly nine tons
by the time the Rockefeller Center tree team flew their helicopter
over the home of SUNY Orange professor Demos Kontos and his wife
Christine Garbrielibes in Suffern, New York.
While the tree team knew immediately the Kontos' tree was the
one they wanted, Professor Kontos wasn't so sure.
"I said absolutely not," Kontos recalls. "No way.
I'm sorry. I'm honored for you to express an interest, but this
tree is not going to be cut."
Kontos, his wife, and his son Angelos had lived and loved the
tree – the centerpiece of their property – for all
of the fifteen years they've lived there. "It's been a very
busy tree," Kontos says. "We fell in love with it right
away. We've done things to it – even in it."
Although for years they'd jokingly said that it would make a perfect
tree for Rockefeller Center, they never dreamed it would end up
there. And despite Kontos' reservations, he gave in to the pleas
of his wife and son when he consulted experts from Cornell who
told him that a Norway spruce of that age is vulnerable to disease
and the elements.
"When I heard that, I thought, well, maybe Rockefeller can
have it. It's a gift to New York City – maybe a sacrifice.
When you sacrifice, you do something big, right?" he says.
The Rockefeller Center tree team, for months, has carefully cultivated,
fertilized and tended the tree in preparation for the cutting,
which took place Tuesday, Nov. 9. The house and grounds were surrounded
by members of the media, from as far away as London's BBC. Even
Kontos' students from SUNY Orange came to see the event.
The tree, which took over half a century to reach its full height,
took workmen only 90 seconds to saw through with a simple chainsaw.
A 160-ton crane loaded the tree onto a tractor trailer, which then
drove the tree into New York City.
"It's really quite something," said 16-year-old Angelos
Kontos softly, as he watched his tree gently lowered by crane onto
the trailer.
The next time he sees it, at Rockefeller Center on Nov. 30, it
will be bedecked with lights and a Swarovski crystal star, the
symbol of Christmas in New York, the most famous Christmas tree
in the world. He will be driven to it in a limo, instead of walking
to it from his back door, and he will be sharing the branches he
swung on with the entire world – his family's gift to New
York City.
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