Thirty-six new members were inducted into the Westchester County Senior Citizens Hall of Fame on Friday, Dec. 4, at the Marriott Hotel in Tarrytown during the 27^th annual luncheon. The event was sponsored by the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services.

 

Paul K. Schwarz of White Plains and Lola D. Hunter of Elmsford received Special Recognition Awards at the event. Schwarz, a former English teacher in Scarsdale and Tarrytown, is presently the President of Meals-on-Wheels in White Plains. Schwarz is also a Board Member for the Department of Senior Programs & Services Coalition and serves on the Board of the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services.

 

 

Until this past spring, White Plains-based designer Dylan Wood—who works at Berlin Productions Inc. —could usually be found in front of his computer screen, a Diet Coke and a pack of Yodels within reach. Wood—once a high school wrestler—was not known for his high level of fitness. Time to revise that image; he has become a triathlete.

The radical transformation was inspired by tragedy. Wood’s sister Jen had long been involved in fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, running marathons and half-marathons as part of their Team in Training (TNT) program. In January, Jen died suddenly from an undiagnosed genetic heart defect. The entire Wood family was overwhelmed with grief. The day after Jen’s death Dylan resolved to carry on her work for the LLS. Wood explains in his blog, “It was something she believed in strongly and after a lot of soul searching I’ve decided to do the same and pick up where she left off.” Several months later, Wood is making his pledge a reality.

Team in Training

What does the average teenager do once he turns 17? Get into R-rated movies without parents? Take advantage of additional driving privileges? Donate blood? White Plains High School student, Austin Rivera might be planning to do all those things, but he hopes to have a rather atypical coming of age. On September 7, Austin will be eligible to take a written test, go for a check ride, and have a certified flight instructor sign off to grant him a full piloting license. Only one in every 500 Americans is a certified pilot.

Austin’s journey began in 2005 when his mother, then an office manager at White Plains High School, saw a squadron recruiting students and brought flyers home. The flyers were for the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program located in Poughkeepsie. “I said, ‘hey, this looks pretty cool’ and the rest is history,” Austin says. He joined the local CAP squadron in North Castle in November of that year. “At first I wasn’t really interested in flying, it was just the idea of a military-style program that grabbed me. After the first orientation flight I realized that [flying] was what I wanted to do.”   All CAP cadets in good standing are able to take the controls in a series of orientation flights, and some, like Austin, can take advantage of scholarships for flying lessons as well.

The Civil Air Patrol has often jokingly been referred to as “the best kept secret around.” CAP was founded in December 1941, one week before Pearl Harbor.  It has since played a significant role in homeland security, from spotting submarines off the Eastern seaboard during WWII to having the first planes up in the sky taking pictures of the 9/11 wreckage. CAP airplanes also serve as dummy targets for F16s used by the Air Force and it performs 95% of continental US inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force.

Under CAP guidance, Austin learned fundamentals such as signaling, checking weather, and talking to control avionics through a scenario-based program. During training, real-life flight situations are simulated. Instead of just flying in a practice area, cadets plan and execute a trip. Sometimes along the way there are “engine failures” and other difficulties and cadets must be able to effectively cope with the obstacles. Austin learns in this way with the help of CAP Captain and flight instructor Howard Kravitz. “It’s amazing how he can take someone who’s never flown before and turn him into one of the best pilots out there. He always provides constructive criticism and he brings a positive attitude to every flight,” Austin says of Capt Kravitz.

A cadet must have a minimum of 40 hours of solo flight time before he is eligible to go for a pilot’s license. Though Austin has not reached that requirement yet, he has taken many solo flights and is only a few hours away from reaching the mark.  Austin’s first solo came as a surprise. “Before we took off, Captain Kravitz got out of the plane and said ‘OK, take it, let’s get it done today.’ It was pretty shocking.” Austin made a short solo flight from Poughkeepsie to Orange County. That opportunity to solo, Austin says, was the most rewarding moment of his entire CAP experience.