MARCH 9, 2023

Students from Bedford Road School, Pleasantville Middle School and Pleasantville High School were treated to a sneak preview of scenes from the high school’s spring musical, Bye Bye Birdie, on Wednesday. 

High School Choral Teacher Nadia Rizzo directed the show, which will run March 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 12 at 2 p.m. at Pleasantville High School auditorium. 

There will also be a special performance for senior citizens and veterans on March 15. The show will start at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served prior to the show, at 5:30 p.m. in the PHS Library. The play and refreshments on March 15 will be complimentary for seniors and veterans. 

When the cast of “Bye Bye Birdie” takes the stage for the spring musical, they will be wearing costumes created with love, care and tradition.  

Pleasantville High School’s volunteer costume designers have been meeting since the fall to create the perfect clothing for Conrad Birdie and the gang.  

Eileen Cerrati, who was hired to be Costume Designer and Costume Chair for “Bye Bye Birdie,” said she is surprised by the number of local residents – many of whom no longer have children in the district -- who volunteer to shop for fabric, design and sew the costumes that turn students into performers.  

“I have never seen this kind of commitment in other districts,” Cerrati said. “Generally, there are maybe four or five parents helping out, but here in Pleasantville I have an email list of 36 volunteers.” 

While most high schools in the region rent costumes for their spring musicals, Pleasantville’s storerooms are so stuffed with handmade costumes that the district rents its costumes out to other schools.  

In January, volunteers organized a “Sewing Saturday” that featured four or five tables full of people cutting fabric, sewing and ironing seams. 

Amy Franks first volunteered to sew costumes for Pleasantville’s 2008 production of Grease and went on to become FOPA Chair for the district. Her youngest child graduated from Pleasantville High School in 2014 but Franks continued to volunteer. In 2016, she started as Costume Design Chair, a position she held until 2022. For the past decade or so she has run the student Costume Crew, which teaches the next generation how to read a pattern, cut fabric and use a sewing machine. 

“Last year one girl made fur monkey vests for Seussical,” Franks said. “They have made tunics, skirts, hats, scarves and aprons. For dress rehearsals and performances Costume Crew serves as runners delivering repaired costumes to cast, and they can be dressers backstage if they commit to every dress rehearsal and performance.” 

Several students have gone on to pursue costuming or fashion in college, she said. 

Debbie Paruolo, a retired college administrator who was Costume Design Chair for seven years, volunteered this year to make Conrad Birdie’s signature gold lame jumpsuit.  

“My favorite road trip is to a fabric store,” Paruolo said. “It is really nice to make the kids feel happy about how they look. The costumes definitely help them become the character. Of course, I also do this because I love theater.”  

Pleasantville High School juniors Lily Anderman, Lola Mackanesi and Rowan Capko are trying to reach their goal of raising $50,000 for Leukemia Lymphoma Society's Student Visionaries of the Year program before their campaign ends on Friday. 

“This team, Panther Paws for a Cause, is knocking it out of the park,” said Pleasantville High School Science Teacher Allison Steinberg. “The team has been relentless in its pursuit of Student Visionaries of the Year and the mission of curing blood cancer. To date, they have raised the most money of any previous team we have had representing PHS. We are lucky to have students like this in Pleasantville.” 

Steinberg and fellow Science Teacher Stephanie Marra are the co-advisors for the high school community service club ECHO, Encouraging Students to Help Others and helped the students organize the seven week-long fundraiser.

“We reached out to people on social media and at community events and so many people responded,” said Lola Mackanesi. “This community has been amazing.” 

“Our class was also really motivated because Steven, a boy in our grade, had lymphoma,” said Lily Anderman. “Through him, we got to see first-hand how important this fundraiser is.” 

The students also set up a popular soccer clinic for little kids, which helped bring them closer to their fundraising goal. 

This is the fourth year that PHS has had a team run for Student Visionaries of the Year. Steinberg is the Leadership Chair for LLS for the region. 

“Student Visionaries of the Year titles are awarded to the candidate teams who raise the most funds in their community during the 7-week competition,” the LLS website said. “With the goal of delivering the greatest mission impact possible, LLS is thrilled to celebrate our student visionaries for being leaders today, tomorrow and into the future.” 

The campaign ends on Friday, March 10, 2023.

The Pleasantville Middle School Science Olympiad team won first place in the Lower Hudson Valley Regional Tournament in Scarsdale on Saturday, March 4. Competing against 30 teams throughout the region, the Pleasantville A Team ranked first overall. Across the 18 qualifying events, Pleasantville achieved 27 Top Ten finishes. 

The top six teams will advance to the New York State Tournament next month in Syracuse.  

“We are so proud of all of our students,” Benson said. “They did an amazing job. We wish them good luck in their journey to the state competition in April.” 

The program was founded by Drs. Chuck and Martha Matteo and is coordinated by Leanne Benson, Jake Sablosky, Lana Pattinson and Kristine Cochran. Besides them, there are many coaches who volunteer to work with these amazing students on various science challenges!  

The thirty-nine students who competed are: 

Eighth graders: Miikko Cascardo, Caitlin Chiong, Julian Giebelhaus, Prerna Gupta, Julian Jacinto, Siya Kapoor, Neave Traymore, Marco Schares Suarez, Carla Schober-Gonzalez, Yasmina Shouery, James Vukelj 

Seventh graders: Lexie Boyce, Alec Cochran, Aiden Crowder, Nick Davidson, Caydence Liu, Akshay Malhotra, Lea Nasr, Elias Neuman, Connor O’Brien, Ryan O’Malley, Cameron Pattinson, Nehla Sauthoff, Alex Sayed, Myla Silver, Xander Tsilikoudis 

Sixth graders: Aryan Bhat, Asher Dundas, Ean Freitas, Anton Gardner, Jordan Herst, Wyatt Marzec, Tanvir Matharu, Nihal Matharu, Thomas O’Brien, Praneeth Pothuganti, Dante Ramsey Lavoie, Colin Rhatigan, Kellan White 

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