Showing posts with label GOTO's Kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GOTO's Kids. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

GOTO NYC Scholarship Reception - May 22

Friends of GOTO:

Please mark your calendars!

On Saturday, May 22nd, please join us for GOTO's Class of 2010 & Returning Scholars Reception. Held at the Center for Arts Education (A on map below) near Madison Square Garden (B on map below). Here's the full address:

14 Penn Plaza 225 West 34th Street
Suite 1112
New York, NY 10122

Please join us between 1:30 and 2:30pm on this special day as we welcome the new GOTO scholars and parents to the GOTO Family, as well as catch up with returning scholars and parents.



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Friday, April 16, 2010

GOTO NYC's Class of 2010

GOTO NY has selected the new class of lucky sixth graders who'll be making the trek to Elmer, New Jersey this summer!

As the kids look forward to their 1st day of camp (Sunday, June 25th), we'll be introducing you to all of our amazing scholars - one day at a time.

Look out for GOTO Scholar bio-a-thon beginning in June!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Who Gains the Most From a College Education?

There was an interesting post on this week's Freakonomics blog quantifying the value of a college education to underprivileged students.

A new study finds that the students who are least likely to go to college (based on family background, abilities, and friend group) are the ones with the most to gain from a degree. Jennie E. Brand and Yu Xie find that the unlikeliest male college graduates earned 30% more over their lifetimes than comparable men who earned only a high school degree.

It makes you wonder which kids gain the most from a summer music camp experience? To read the full post, you can check it out here.

Friday, March 12, 2010

A GOTO Revolution!

The incredibly talented GOTO mentee Lauren Reyes designed this awesome piece of artwork for our most recent Gala silent auction.

Even more evidence of how much our kids rock ...

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

GOTO NYC 2010 Spring Information Session

This Saturday, we’ll be introducing our 6th grade scholarship nominees to Appel Farm Arts & Music Summer Camp and the fine volunteers of GOTO at our 2010 Spring Information Session.

A few camp Directors will be in the house. And so will current GOTO scholars, ready to share their experiences with nominated kids and answer questions from nervous parents.

Including all of the nominees, current scholars and families, we’re expecting a packed house, but any member of the GOTO family is welcome to attend.

All of the Info Session details are below. If you think you can make it, please RSVP here.

Hope to see you there!

Info Session Details:
Saturday March 6th from 11am-2pm (please arrive by 10:30am)
Center for Arts Education
11 Penn Plaza, 225 West 34th Street, Suite 1112 (between 7th and 8th Avenue), NY, NY
(Near the 1/2/A/C/D/E/N/W/R/F/V trains)

Sunday, January 31, 2010

GOTO Mentee Profiles

At our upcoming Winter Gala, we'll be joined by two former GOTO scholars who've agreed to perform for all of our guests: Alanna & Raven. Here's a profile on each of our star alumnus.

RAVEN
Q. What were your majors/minors?
Rock Band

Q. Do you stay in touch with other GOTO Grads?
Yes

Q. Tell us about your musical interests. Do you play any instrument? Do you like certain genre of music?
I love all music. I love to sign. I have a guitar.

Q. Tell us about your artistic interests. Do you enjoy
certain types of art? DO you enjoy performing arts?
I love art. I love the performing arts. Before homeschool I attended a performing arts school

Q. What other hobbies do you have? Do you play or enjoy watching any particular sports? Do you have a favorite team?
I love to watch college basketball especially. My favorite team is North Carolina. But in the NBA it woud be the Celtics then the Bulls. I like the #1.

Q. Tell us about any awards or recognitions that you've received. Please include acceptance to schools, special programs and any scholarships etc. This is your chance to tell us about you!
Accepted to Brown University Pre-College Program. Accepted to Columbia University College Prep.
Accepted to NYU Pre-College Program. (Raven has since been granted interviews to all three schools for undergraduate study.)

Q. Tell us about what you'd like to do with your BRIGHT future! Include college aspirations, career paths...All of that good stuff!
Be awesome at Yale! Get my PhD in Political Science. Own buildings. Begin my career in entertaining. Be a director. Get a castle in Ireland. Start saving the world.

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ALANNA

Q. What were your majors/minors?
Musical Theater, Drawing

Q. Do you stay in touch with other GOTO Grads?
Yes

Q. Tell us about your musical interests. Do you play any instrument? Do you like certain genre of music?
I like to sign! Genre of music: POP, ROCK!

Q. Tell us about your artistic interests. Do you enjoy certain types of art? DO you enjoy performing arts?
Yes. I enjoy performing arts-sing, dancing, acting.

Q. What other hobbies do you have? Do you play or enjoy watching any particular sports? Do you have a favorite team?
Favorite team: Yankees!

Q. Tell us about any awards or recognitions that you've received. Please include acceptance to schools, special programs and any scholarships etc. This is your chance to tell us about you!
*Salutorian of Renaissance HS graduation!! All 4 years of HS->perfect attendance, academic achievement in all subjects. *National Honor Society member. *Acceptance into #1 school SUNY OSWEGO! * Working at the Bronx Zoo (3 yrs now). *Performing at the GOTO Gala on Feb 20, 2009!!*

Q. Tell us about what you'd like to do with your BRIGHT future! Include college aspirations, career paths...All of that good stuff!
Attending SUNY OSWEGO for Zoology/Vet medicine for 5 years. Hopefully traveling & researching wild animals (African Wild Dogs and Big Cats). Working hands-on with wild animals at Bronx Zoo or San Diego Zoo.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

GOTO NYC Scholarship Information Session: 03/06/2010

It's that time of the year again!

GOTO NY's Spring Information Session (where we introduce our 6th grade scholarship nominees to Appel Farm and GOTO) is just around the corner, and we hope that as many of you in the GOTO family can make it.

Appel Fam camp directors will be in attendance as well as current scholars to share their experience and answer any questions.

All of the meeting details are below. If you can make it, send your RSVP here. Hope to see you there!

When:Saturday March 6th from 10:30am-2pm

Where: Center for Arts Education11 Penn Plaza
225 West 34th Street, Suite 1112 (between 7th and 8th Ave.)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Because of camp ...

GOTO's Annual Appeal season has begun and we'll soon be asking all of our smart, generous, good looking supporters for donations.

While some of you may take our word on the benefits of summer camp and the arts, other may need additional persuasion. Below is one such piece of persuasion.

This short clip - created by the American Camp Association - highlights how the camp experience has changed the lives of a couple of notable artists.

Friday, August 28, 2009

GOTO New York Goes to Camp











On August 15th, a busload of GOTO New York volunteers made the trek down to Elmer, New Jersey to visit the many scholars who attended Appel Farm's 2nd camp session.

The vols spent the day touring the camp, hangin with the kids and eating good, old fashioned camp grub.

A few pics from the day are posted below. But if you want to see more photos, here's a full photo album from the day's events.






























GOTO Boston Goes to Camp

A few weeks ago, four carloads of GOTO Boston volunteers caravanned past the blueberry patches of Washington, Maine and down a long dirt road, to visit their scholars at Camp Med-O-Lark.

They toured the campground, which was dotted with red cabins donning names like "Hotel California," and along the way spotted their campers dancing, fencing and acting with friends new and old. Whether they were exploring their creativity in the Art Barn, mastering their cooking skills, or just lunching with friends at the picnic tables, the GOTO scholars were thriving in their activities and having a ball!

The GOTO Boston crew wants to send a big thank you to all of their donors and volunteers for making the summer of '09 possible. They sent 20 deserving GOTO Boston scholars - the largest group ever - to learn, grow and accomplish their artistic goals in picturesque Maine.

Here are more pics from the big day ...

Monday, August 10, 2009

Report from Appel Farm: Rachael Bralow (Bunk 1 Counselor and Acting Instructor)

"Bunk 1 was quite the exciting place this summer, and Vanessa Wilson and Clyde Ilagan (both GOTO scholars) greatly contribute to the team morale. They both worked hard in their majors and minors and both girls kept the rest of the bunk on their toes, always ready to play a new game or lead the bunk in a new adventure.

Vanessa (photo on left) is a beautiful dancer. On July 11th, she got the chance to perform with both her dance majors and her music video dance minor in the mini-session showcase. She especially liked
the Michael Jackson tribute dance that her major did.

She also worked really hard in her swim minor and made great improvements in the pool. Besides swimming every day during Minor 1, she could be found swimming away at the pool during free time. During performance week, she performed in a toy box theme dance show she shined once more!

Clyde (photo directly below) also worked really hard in the ceramics studio during majors. She finished glazing and firing in the knick of time for her arts exhibition.

Clyde said that she made all of her pieces for her grandmother, which includes plates, a cup, a portrait of herself and some ceramic cookies! Clyde also got to exercise her inner rocker chick through her rock band where she played the drums.

Having both girls in my bunk was great, and I have missed having them this session!

Thanks, GOTO!"

Below is their Bunk's photo from First session. Clyde majored in ceramics and minored in dance for musical theater and the drums and Vanessa majored in dance and then minored in another dance class focussing on working with the video kids to create music videos and also minored in swimming.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Notes From A Camper: Crystal '09

Crystal - a 1st time GOTO NY Scholar - just returned home from Appel Farm on Sunday and she couldn't wait to share her experiences with (and to thank) the GOTO faithful. Here's what she had to say ...

Thanks for the scholarship I'm really grateful for that! I had a blast making new friends and performing for everybody! I felt accepted by the first to the second night. Everyone is awesome over there! As you should know i went on the first session June 26- July 24.

My major was voice, my minors were piano and swimming and I had a great time doing it all. In my major I learned a lot of songs and I had fun, my performance in swimming has improved and in piano I learned a lot, a lot!

It was very hard to say goodbye. Everybody was crying I felt very sad but I just couldn't cry, but it's okay at least I get to keep in touch with my friends! I'll name some of my friends: Aron, Sarah, Ella, Audrey, Alyssa, Clare, Glendon, Christian, Josh, Josh P., Josh C., Marco, Jonathan, Brett, Aloria, Sammy, Cyan, Emma, Ahmira, Theresa, Alex, Dana, Jasmine, Maysa, Marialle, Sean, Tommy, Kyle, Katy, Shannon, Peter, Anna, Natalia, etc.

Again thanks for providing me with this great experience, I'll forever be grateful!!!

Sincerely,

Crystal

Monday, July 27, 2009

Introducing GOTO New York’s Class of ‘09

Appel Farm's 2nd session of camp began yesterday. And given that most of our New York scholarship recipients attend the August session (there are fewer school conflicts than with the earlier session), we thought that now would be a good time to introduce our new class of kids. Either that or we forgot to post it sooner. So without any further ado ...

Sinaya attends PS 72 in Brooklyn, NY. A budding modern dancer, Sinya looks forward to learning ballet, jazz, tap and folk styles at camp.

Jade is a student at PS/IS 73 in Brooklyn where she impresses her teachers with the sophistication of her painting, drawing and sculpting.

Christian attends Mott Hall II in Manhattan. He is passionate about photography and capturing moments on film.

Kayla is from PS 175 in the Bronx. She sings in the chorus and enjoys harmonizing in groups.

Malik is an artist inspired by both nature and comics. A student at PS/IS 73 in Brooklyn, Malik creates his own original comic books by drawing characters from his favorite strips and placing them in his own stories.

Blessing is a student at MS 144 in the Bronx. A recent African emigrant, Blessing has had to learn to communicate in a new language. She sees the visual arts as a universal language and looks forward to expanding her ability to express herself creatively.

Crystal attends TASS Middle School in Manhattan. Her teachers describe her voice as "amazing" and Crystal hopes to compliment her vocal talents by learning piano.

Alexander attends PS 175 in the Bronx. His mother describes him as a shy artist who will benefit from learning amongst like-minded students.

Kwaku is a student at Mott Hall II in Manhattan. He is passionate about music and hopes to study film at camp in order to create music videos.

Jenzia is Bronx resident and student at The Center School in Manhattan. A singer, Jenzia plans to expand her vocal talents at camp.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

GOTO Scholar Profile: Jenzia

Jenzia is a member of GOTO's latest class of scholarship recipients / rock stars. She's also a Bronx resident & student at The Center School in Manhattan.

A natural born singer, Jenzia plans to expand her vocal talents at camp this year. She also hopes to learn how to play the piano while at Appel Farm Arts & Music Summer Camp.

Jenzia's 6th grade teacher describes her as a "vocal powerhouse" who stands out in school performances and a student who always has a great attitude.

This will be Jenzia's first summer at Appel Farm ... Welcome to the GOTO Fam', Jenzia!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

5 Questions for a GOTO Kid: Joseph Gordon '02

1. What did you like most about Appel Farm Arts & Music summer camp?

The thing I liked the most was the family-like environment that was created. Everyone was accountable for everyone and there was very little conflict. Everyone got along and it was easy to make friends.

2. What were your majors?

My majors were always music (either concentration in piano or saxophone).

3. What are you up to now?

Right now I'm attending Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm majoring in Business and Minoring in Music (concentration in Piano).

4. What are your plans for this summer?

My plans for summer is to be playing at different churches, participate in a few sporting competitions in football, baseball and track. Also, learning to drive a stick shift.

5. Who’s your favorite artist or musician?

I don't really have a favorite musician or artist.

Bonus 1. What do you want to be doing ten years from now?

I should be working and have my PhD in Music and Masters in Accounting and working up the corporate ladder to Chief Financial Officer and starting a music school/studio.

Bonus 2. What’s your favorite activity that does not include arts or music?

Playing baseball, football, soccer and any sport that keeps my interest.