Hamilton Central School

Hamilton Central is a K-12 public school district that serves over 600 children in the town of Hamilton. It is one one of the oldest central school districts in the state; the central school first operated in 1926-27. Upstate Institute fellows have worked with the school on a variety of projects, including:

Empire State Partnership/Digital Literacy program

Foreign Language Program

Arts Initiatives

Empire State Partnership

Through the Empire State Partnership, Hamilton Central ic creating an arts-in-education program that will focus on developing the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills that students need to communicate successfully. Through the arts-in-education program, Hamilton Central addresses the following question: How can we develop our students to be competent, effective and savvy consumers and producers of communications?

This summer, Chris Glendening, '09, will help the school build the capacity of our teachers to implement media projects in the classroom. Chris, a film and media studies student, will work with a small group of teachers as they study technology such as Final Cut Express and web design software. These teachers will then act as mentors for others in the building who would like to develop similar skills.

Foreign Language Program

The Foreign Language program at HCS was piloted in 2004 by a motivated and dedicated group of parents, Colgate professors and students, and school faculty. The program provides an introduction to either French or Spanish to interested children in grades K-2. A plethora of studies indicates the many benefits of foreign language exposure at as young an age as possible: increased chance of fluency and proper accent as well as improvement in standardized test scores in other academic areas.  Foreign language skills are becoming increasingly important in today's global economy. Knowledge of more than one language will be a common requirement when today's elementary students enter the job market. 

In the summer of 2005, Becky Armstrong, '06, worked with Principal Winschel to bring definition and organization to this program in the hopes of making it part of the school's curriculum in the future. She worked to attain funding for the program to pay for supplies, materials, an after-school late bus on Fridays, and stipends for future program coordinators.  She redesigned the introductory level language lessons and created pronunciation guides for the children’s parents.  She also expanded the lesson plans to cater to a more advanced level as the children progress. 

Arts Initiatives

In the summer of 2006, Shamina Chasteen worked with HCS and Colgate's Picker Art Gallery. Her report follows:

With Hamilton Central School I researched programs meant to help students who are at risk of academic failure. After finding a program that could be carried out at the school, I wrote a grant that the principal, Dana Chapman, may use later in the semester. While working with a director from the Picker Art Gallery, Melissa Davies, I shared the responsibilities of several projects. These projects included giving tours to elementary aged children, providing those children with learning opportunities, art projects on the Village Green, art projects at the Hamilton Recreation Center, and gathering images for a visual learning experience for the fifth grade teachers at Hamilton Central School.