Field School Fellows

This summer, I had the opportunity to work at The Cornelius Whitney Vanderbilt Long Lake Public Library (CWVLLPL) in Hamilton County, NY, and witnessed firsthand the essential role it plays in the community. My role is to help fill the void of a summer reading program and address the community's achievement gap and summer learning slide. I designed and led the summer reading programs, which included three weekly events: crafternoons, storytimes, and infant hangouts. I also conducted a community-based research project to assess how the Long Lake Public Library fulfills its mission and determine the community's perception of the library.

This summer, I have had the opportunity to work with the Chenango Greenway Conservancy based out of Norwich, NY through the Upstate Institute’s Summer Field School. The rail-trail committee within the Greenway aims to establish a 60-mile multi-use rail-trail along the current New York Susquehanna & Western (NYS&W) railway corridor from Chenango Forks to just South of Sangerfield. The “Chenango Heritage Rail Trail” would connect the communities of the Chenango Valley in a transformative way that stimulates future growth and community development, while also honoring the history of the people, river, canal and railroads that have shaped these communities.

This summer I worked on three projects with the Oneida County History Center (OCHC) in Utica, NY., a small, but mighty, non-profit organization focused on preserving and sharing the history of Oneida County and the greater Mohawk Valley. Firstly, I was to create a panel for a plaque outside OCHC’s front entrance. This panel was to commemorate the addition of their building to the National and State Registers of Historic Places. Secondly, I was to organize the Center’s attic, which served as an archive for their organizational and business records. Lastly, I was to create content for their social media to increase engagement. These three projects hope to help the Center and Community engage in a fruitful relationship and ensure efficiency as the organization grows. 

The National Abolition Hall of Fame (NAHOF), located on the second floor of the historic Presbyterian church in Peterboro, NY, “honors anti-slavery abolitionists, their work to end slavery, and the legacy of that struggle, and strives to complete the second and ongoing abolition–the moral conviction to end racism.” My role this summer involved hosting daily tours at the museum, but my larger project was to develop three interactive learning modules for 11th graders. These three modules focused on slavery, abolition, and emancipation, with an emphasis on Upstate New York history.

This summer, I had the privilege of working with the Lake Moraine Association (LMA) in Hamilton, NY, as part of the Upstate Institute's Summer Field School. The LMA is a dedicated nonprofit organization focused on preserving the natural beauty and ecological health of Lake Moraine. My primary project was archiving the LMA’s historical documents, which include meeting minutes, reports, and newsletters. This archival work is essential for preserving the association's history and helps us understand how past efforts can guide future initiatives.

This summer, I worked on the B-Team project at the Friends of Rogers Center, which helps educate the public about native bees and the issues they face, then encourage the public to take action within their communities to create pollinator habitats and partake in other behaviors that benefit native bees. I managed a multi-media outreach and education campaign, hosted educational nature walks and B-team meetings, expanded the B-team webpage, ran a volunteer event for invasive species removal, and worked on implementing new pollinator habitat space.

BRiDGES, or the Madison County Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc. (MCCASA), started in 1985 in Oneida, NY, to tackle the rising issues of alcohol and drug use among adolescents. This summer, my focus at BRiDGES has been on gathering and analyzing data from various sources, like the Madison County TAP survey, community surveys on alcohol and marijuana, and the New York State Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

As part of the 2024 cohort of Summer Field School Fellows, Mary Thomas Powell ’26 and Charlie Tourbaf ’25 are conducting hands-on environmental research.

I spent half my time kayaking on lakes and ponds observing Loon behavior and checking for leg bands. This banding information can be used to indicate information about the year the loon was banded, mating patterns, and migration patterns, which all inform our understanding of loons' behavior.

Jorge Parada Cisneros '25: During my time at Young Scholars Liberty Partnerships Program, I met the incredible staff and students to get a better understanding of the program and its goals. My research provided tools, techniques, and resources for the program and its staff to help assist the students in the program and set them up for success.