48 The Queens Courier • kids & education • september 29, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com ▶KIDS & EDUCATION s Bayside has a new playground thanks to local volunteers and community organizations By Suzanne Monteverdi smonteverdi@qns.com/@smont76 Children in Bayside have a new playground to enjoy thanks to a huge team of local volunteers and sponsors. Volunteers from Samuel Field Y and Disney Citizenship joined organizers from KaBOOM! — a national nonprofit dedicated to providing children with safe spaces to play — to construct a brand-new playground at the Bay Terrace Samuel Field Y on Friday, Sept. 23. “It’s really been a collaborative effort,” said Michelle Ragoo, volunteer at the build and after-school program director at P.S. 115. “Everyone decided to work collaboratively and work on a different area in different shifts to make this happen.” Ragoo has been a part of the Samuel Field Y for 10 years, starting as a volunteer at the age of 16. Her job at the playground construction site was building and putting up panels to serve as the playground’s walls. “The playground is gonna bring a lot of joy for many, many years to come” she continued. “It’s definitely a milestone for everyone here in the Bay Terrace community, especially all of the children that are a part of the preschool here.” Melissa Algranati, volunteer and seasonal employee at the Y, echoed Ragoo’s sentiments. She pointed out that local children were kept in mind every step of the way, even when coming up with playground schematics. KaBOOM! used local children’s drawings from a special Design Day in July as inspiration for the build. “They dreamed it last summer and now they can come and see it,” Algranati said. “A week from now the kids will be playing in it and saying, ‘Wow, the adults really put their money where their mouth is.’” The playground is constructed for children aged 2 to 12 and is inclusive of children from all walks of life. At lunch hour, volunteers from The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing Queens were on hand to donate food to hundreds of hungry playground builders. “We love to give back to the community,” said Jake Walden, vice president of business development at The Grand Healthcare System. “The Samuel Field Y was looking for sponsors for lunch and we took the opportunity to bring pizza and make a huge barbecue.” The Samuel Field Y of Bay Terrace is located at 212-00 23rd Ave. Photo: Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS Volunteers work together to put up a piece of the new playground at Samuel Field Y in Bay Terrace Photo: File Photo/QNS De Blasio to eliminate CUNY application fees for low-income students By Angela matua amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua Thousands of low-income students across the city will no longer have to pay a $65 application fee to apply to CUNY colleges. Mayor Bill de Blasio, Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and CUNY Chancellor James Milliken announced on Monday that starting on Oct. 17, high school students will be qualified for the waiver. Previously, 6,500 students were qualified and this initiative will increase that number to an estimated 37,500 students. The CUNY application fee waiver allows a student to submit an application listing up to six CUNY schools free of charge. More than half of collegebound graduates of New York City public high schools enroll in CUNY colleges. There are five colleges in Queens that are a part of the CUNY system including Queens College in Flushing, York College in Jamaica, Queensborough Community College in Bayside, and LaGuardia Community College and CUNY School of Law, which are both in Long Island City. “We need to give all our children – no matter the neighborhood they live in, or background they come from – the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century, and that means removing barriers to applying, enrolling and succeeding in college,” de Blasio said. “Eliminating the application fee for low-income seniors will have a profound impact for thousands of students and their families.” Waivers will be provided to students eligible for the Federal Free or Reduced Price Lunch program, students living in federally subsidized public housing, a foster home, or who are homeless and students whose families receive public assistance. Undocumented students who fit this criteria will also eligible for the waiver. The initiative costs $2.4 million annually with the de Blasio administration contributing $2 million and CUNY continuing its contribution of $400,000 for 6,500 students. “Many New Yorkers are barely scraping by,” said Councilman Daniel Dromm, who chairs the council’s Education Committee. “Application fees are a heavy burden for low-income students and families struggling to pay rent, food and utility bills.” The waiver is a part of the College Access for All initiative under the Equity and Access for All Agenda created by Fariña and de Blasio to provide all New York City high schoolers with a college and career plan before they graduate. Under this plan, high school seniors can also participate in SAT School day where all 68,000 seniors can take the SAT for free on April 5, 2017. “As the first person in my family to attend college, I understand the barriers that stand between students and college, and we must break down those barriers to deliver equity and excellence for all students,” Fariña said. “Today’s announcement will make a real difference for thousands of students and families across all five boroughs, and we are going to keep breaking down barriers through College Access for All and our Equity and Excellence initiatives.”
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