FEATURES Our Neighborhood: The Way It Was • Interesting People • Local History • Events Around Town And More 19 • TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2014 All-Star Honor For Midville Teacher Recognized For Achievements Before MLB’s Midsummer Classic Corona Plaza Gets Cleaned By P.S. 16 Volunteers from the school helped beautify Corona Plaza underneath the elevated 7 line subway tracks at the 103rd Street station on Saturday, July 5. Members of the P.S. 16 PTA Gardening Club spent the day grooming the plaza’s garden and planting flowers in a nearby green space on 104th Street. They worked under the direction of NYC Parks Queens Director of Horticulture Adriana Jacykewycz. Next month, the gardening club will return to plant colorful annuals. LIC, Bayside Buildings Are Honored For Their Design Four Directions In LIC & Alley Pond Ctr. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Design Commission President Signe Nielsen announced public works projects across the five boroughs honored at the 32nd Annual Awards for Excellence in Design. Each year, the city’s Design Commission selects projects that improve and uplift their communities with exceptional design. Mayor de Blasio recognized each of the honorees at an awards ceremony last Monday, July 7, at BRIC House, in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn’s emerging Cultural District. This year’s honorees span neighborhoods across all five boroughs, including a new Little League grandstand on Staten Island, the reconstruction of a children’s playground in Sunset Park, a 17-foot diameter Peace Clock near the United Nations, a redesigned environmental center at Alley Pond Park, a new entrance and educational facility at the Botanical Garden in the Bronx, and Cornell Tech’s first academic building at its new Roosevelt Island campus. “Whether it’s a world-class monument or a new vital fixture of a neighborhood, we want design that inspires New Yorkers and gives us all pride in our city. We’re fortunate to have the legacy of so many incredible public works from generations past— these 10 projects represent the best of what we are doing today to break new ground,” said de Blasio. “For more than 30 years, the Commission has recognized leadership in design in the public realm. This year’s winning projects represent exemplary additions to the cityscape and epitomize the best of what talented artists and designers can do in collaboration with the public sector,” added Nielsen. Established in 1898 as the Art Commission, New York City’s design review agency was renamed in 2008 to better reflect its mission. The Design Commission reviews permanent works of art, architecture, and landscape architecture proposed on or over city-owned property. The Commission comprises 11 members and includes an architect, landscape architect, painter, and sculptor, as well as representatives of the Brooklyn Museum, the -SEE DESIGN ON PG. 56- William Termine teaches grades four through eight at P.S./I.S. 87 in Middle Village, and was among 29 other teachers honored on the field during the Mid-Summer Classic Tuesday, July 15. Each of 30 MLB teams was attached to an All-Star Teacher selection. Termine, a Yankees fan, was the representative for the Bronx Bombers With thousands of nominations from coming students around the country, Termine was honored to be recognized, he said. He has taught at the school since 1998 and is a lifelong Queens resident, all features that made him attractive for the selection, he believes. “I think that’s part of why they liked my story so much, that I’m a local person,” Termine told the Times Newsweekly prior to his trip to Minnesota. “I think it’s a fantastic honor to be selected considering so many people were nominated. It’s an honor.” Termine has lived in Middle Village “my whole life,” he said. “I do a lot of things in the community,” he added He works to promote positive actions through example by preaching patience and discipline to his kids at school, and in the neighborhood, he said. As a Yankees fan, Termine said he was looking forward to stepping on the field at a real MLB yard, and hoped meet his favorite player, the retiring Derek Jeter a second time. “Hopefully I will get to meet some players, but the but the biggest thrill is to be on the field and be honored,” he said. He has met Jeter previously, but this time would be special “because this is his last year and his last All- Star game since he is retiring,” Termine said. He has been involved in sports his whole life, he said, and credits this for his embrace of competition and the lessons he tries to impart to students. “That’s what drove me to become a P.E. teacher,” he said. He believes baseball and teaching are conspiratorial in educating young people to be patient, disciplined and in getting them to embrace structure, both on the field, and in the classroom. “Probably that’s because it’s a slow moving game, it requires patience and it’s a thinking game,” he said. Termine was selected as part of MLB, People magazine and Target’s effort to recognize teachers, and raise the profile of the importance of education, a press release noted. by Noah Zuss A Middle Village physical education teacher was honored before the first pitch as one of 30 All-Star Teachers selected from around the country at the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star game in Minneapolis. All-Star teachers William Termine of Middle Village (left photo, at right) and Renan Ebeid of Brooklyn (left photo, at left) were among 30 educators from across the country honored at Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game at Target Field in Minneapolis. They are pictured in the left photo with actress/signer Idina Menzel; Termine is pictured in the right photo with Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. (
RT07172014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above