Provided photo: Medina will be sending students to Knoxville next month to compete in the national Destination Imagination finals. The group pictured includes, front row, from left: Margaret Griffin, Brandan Heschke, Alissa Blount, Ray Paull and Christopher Goyette. Top row: Cheyanne Farewell, Shelby Greene, Grace Masse, Hannah Sones, Brigid Keller, Madison Kenward. (Absent from photo: Jessica Granchelli and Kody Leno).

Press Release, Medina Central School

MEDINA – After achieving honors for creativity, teamwork and innovation in regional and state academic tournaments, two Medina High School teams have earned the right to compete in Destination Imagination’s Global Finals, the world’s largest celebration of student creativity, to be held May 24-27 in Knoxville, Tenn.

They will compete with other teams in Vanished and Top Secret, two of seven open-ended challenges that require students to apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, in addition to their talents in improvisation, theater arts, writing, project management, communication, innovation, teamwork, community service and social entrepreneurship.

The Medina teams are among more than 8,000 students representing more than 1,400 teams that will advance to Global Finals, which will be held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville May 24-27.

This year, 150,000 students have participated in Destination Imagination tournaments throughout the U.S. and 30 countries in hopes of earning a spot at the Global Finals competition in May.

Destination Imagination is a leader in project-based learning opportunities that blend STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education with the arts and social entrepreneurship. Its academic challenges are designed to teach kids how to think, not what to think, and then present their solutions at regional and state tournaments.

Each year, DI competitions begin with a regional tournament, where team solutions are assessed by a panel of trained appraisers, ranging from educators to artists to engineers. Each team solution is scored on a variety of elements, including originality, workmanship, presentation and teamwork. Teams with the highest scores advance to the Affiliate (state or country) tournaments. The top-tiered teams from the Affiliate tournaments advance to Global Finals.

The students are seeking donations to help fund this opportunity. All donations are tax deductible and can be sent to Destination Imagination 1111South Union Avenue, Cherry Hill NJ 08002;  team numbers 134-10081;134-46268 Or Medina Central School District, 1 Mustang Drive, Medina NY 14103 attn: Destination Imagintion. Please contact Nicole Goyette at goyette15@gmail.com for more sponsorship information.

For more information about Global Finals, click here.

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File photo by Tom Rivers: Classic cars are lined up on Main Street during the Super Cruise on Sept. 2, 2015 when Main Street is blocked off. The car show is usually held in the Canal Basin on Fridays from June through mid August.

MEDINA – The car shows will continue in the Canal Basin this year. The event on Fridays is popular, drawing nearly 100 classic cars to the Basin weekly for about 10 car shows from early June to mid August.

However, those cars and the fans they draw fill up many parking spaces on Main Street and in the Basin. Some businesses have expressed concern to the Village Board about a parking crunch for the downtown, especially on busy Friday evenings.

“We want to work with all of those businesses,” said Mayor Mike Sidari.

The Village Board this evening approved allowing the municipal lot to be used for the car shows in 2017.

“We’ll take a look at this year,” Sidari said. “Hopefully everything goes smoothly.”

Sidari said the village will try to steer some more traffic to the lot south of East Center Street between The Medicine Shoppe and the back entrances of the Main Street businesses all the way to the Medina Theater.

Some of the employees for the Main Street businesses will also be encouraged to use that lot to ease some of the congestion on Main Street and the Basin, Sidari.

He praised the car show’s lead organizer, David Green, for creating an attraction in the village. Green has been among the car show leaders for about two decades.

The show brings in about 200-300 people to downtown on Fridays, Sidari. The Super Cruise on a Wednesday in August draws a much bigger crowd, with Main Street shut down to accommodate about 300 classic cars. (If the Super Cruise is rained out, it will be rescheduled for a Wednesday. Main Street won’t be blocked off on a Friday, Sidari said.)

“It’s a draw for the village,” he said about the cruise-ins. “The car owners come in from Genesee, Niagara and possibly Monroe County. They spend money at the restaurants and they draw people in.”

Village Trustee Tim Elliott, a Main Street business owner, abstained from the vote. He urged the village and businesses during a meeting last week to work on a long-term solution for parking.

The board also decided it would open the bathrooms and showers for boaters during the car shows as well. That way the village won’t have to rent a port-a-john, which will save some money, Sidari said.

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Board considers whether to move cruise-in to another site

File photos: David Green, coordinator of the Canal Cruise-In, is pictured in June 2015. He is shown greeting Vern and Brenda Wetherbee of Holley with their two-tone green 1957 Chevy.

MEDINA – It’s a problem many villages would like to have: a parking crunch on a Friday night.

Medina’s downtown revitalization, with several new businesses opening in recent years, has created a demand for parking on Main Street and at the Canal Basin lot.

The popular new Celtic pub, Fitzgibbons Public House, has filled even more parking spaces in the evenings, especially on busy Friday nights. Fitzgibbons opened on Jan. 6.

The parking spaces, already a hot commodity, will become even more scarce on Friday evenings in June, when the Canal Cruise-In returns. The weekly event started 19 years ago with five cars near Hartway Motors. After the first year, it shifted to the Canal Basin. It draws about 100 classic cars over 10 weeks until about mid-August.

“The Canal Basin is ideal because there is shade and parking,” Green told the Village Board today during a special meeting. “We love it down there. We don’t want to move somewhere else.”

The board has heard from some business owners that the cruise-in should be relocated elsewhere in Medina, perhaps the bigger southeast municipal lot behind the Main Street buildings, between East Center Street and the railroad tracks.

Other businesses and community members don’t want to push a popular attraction from an ideal location by the canal.

The cruise-in has its biggest day on a Wednesday in August when Main Street is blocked off and Elvis impersonator Terry Buchwald entertains. That cruise-in draws about 300 classic cars to Medina. This photo shows Buchwald in September 2015. That event was pushed from August back after Buchwald’s wife had a baby.

Nearly two decades ago, Main Street wasn’t very busy after 5 p.m. on a Friday. Now there are several restaurants open, including the new pub.

“There is a mixed bag of feedback,” Cindy Robinson, president of the Medina Business Association, said about the cruise-in.

The classic cars bring in visitors to the community who give a boost to many local businesses. But she acknowledged the block by the Canal Basin has attracted more businesses and there is a parking crunch at the Basin.

Tim Elliott, a village trustee, also is co-owner of Brushstrokes Studio. He said Friday evenings could be busier for the studio with classes and events if there were more parking spaces.

He said the cruise-in is a positive for the community, but he would like to see it relocated.

“The car show is technically mobile – you guys can move,” Elliott said.

The business owners however don’t have an option to create more spaces. There is a limited number of parking spots, Elliott said.

“We have to find a parking solution,” Elliott said.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Mayor Mike Sidari, center, leads a discussion this evening about downtown parking and the Canal Cruise-In. Village trustees include, from left: Marguerite Sherman, Tim Elliott, (Todd Bensley barely visible in photo), and Owen Toale.

Owen Toale, a village trustee, said the cruise-in has built up a solid reputation through nearly two decades of work. He likes the location by the canal, a welcome sight to boaters who see a lively village.

He believes the cruise-in provides so much positive feeling for visitors that they make many return trips to Medina.

“We’re bringing people into town, and we’re showing them Medina,” Toale said. “Boats are coming in.”

The cruise-in provides an important quality of life for residents and the car owners.

“They sit in their chairs and on the grass, and they visit,” Toale said. “You don’t see that anymore.”

Business owners and residents suggested that temporary event signs be put up for the cruise-in, directing people to other municipal lots in public parking close to the downtown. Business owners and their employees who park on Main Street and at the Basin were also encouraged to move their vehicles at about 4 p.m. on Fridays to ease some demand.

The cruise-ins run from about 5 to 8 p.m. The events include a DJ, Hank Nevins, and a 50/50 raffle with proceeds given to the United Way.

“It’s not a bad thing having so many people coming into our community,” said Trustee Marguerite Sherman.

Mayor Mike Sidari asked for a vote today about the issue, but pushed it back to next week after Trustee Todd Bensley asked for more time to talk with businesses on the east side of the block to see if they would be willing to make some of their spaces available on Fridays when they close after 5 p.m. Bensley also wanted to check on the temporary signage for events.

He worries that not allowing the cruise-ins would create a lot of ill will among the car owners and their supporters.

“We want them as ambassadors for the village,” Bensley said.

Sidari said his biggest concern would be having a quiet downtown on a Friday evening.

“Right now we have a parking situation,” Sidari said. “When you have no cars on Main Street then you have a parking problem.”

The board will meet on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Village Office to make a decision on the cruise-in location for this year.

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Provided photos: Kayla Cuadra and Marc MacDonald compete in the regatta event at Tech Wars on March 16.

Press Release, Medina Central School

MEDINA – Medina Central School District Technology teacher Mike Lepkyj and his students recently competed in the 10th Annual Genesee Community College Tech Wars.

The goal of the event is to allow middle school and high school students to take what they learn in their Technology classrooms and compete in a hands-on educational and fun program.

There are several competitions that the students can compete in ranging from architecture, bridge building, projectile motion and robotics.

“We hold competitions here to determine who will be attending the competition,” said Mr. Lepkyj.  “A lot of schools hold technology clubs after school, but I incorporate mine into my curriculum.  I get the students to do various projects because what they learn here can go beyond the classroom and be transferred to real world application. “

The students had a lot of fun competing against other schools and three of them got to compete in a mystery challenge.

“They don’t have to there with a project already completed,” says Mr. Lepkyj. “They are presented with a problem in the competition and have about two hours to solve it using different techniques. It’s a lot of thinking outside the box. It’s a great experience for them. We also had a second place winner in the Trebuchet competition. So it was a great day.”

Colby Cooper finished second for Medina in Trebuchet at the high school level.

Dansville was the overall Tech Wars winner, with Warsaw in second place and Alexander in third.

Ryan Miller and Anastasia Smith were among the Medina students who tested their mettle in Tech Wars.

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Provided photo: Medina FFA students pictured include, from left: Alyssa Root, Alexis Maines, Kennedy Eick, Jack Hill, Ryenn Oliver and Cora Payne. Kennedy, Ryenn and Cora qualified to compete at the FFA State Convention.

Students in the FFA program at Medina High School recently competed at the FFA Western Regional Career Development Event.

Teacher Todd Eick took several students to the competition and three of them scored high enough to earn a spot at the FFA State Competition where they will be representing Medina and the Western Region at the State Convention at Morrisville College in May.

The results from the Medina FFA competitors are:

• Alyssa Root – 3rd Place in Extemporaneous Speaking;

Jack Hill – 4th Place in Extemporaneous Speaking.

In the Extemporaneous Speaking Competition, participants are given 30 minutes to deliver a speech on one of the three assigned agriculture topics. Students must learn to think on their feet and develop an argument quickly and persuasively.

• Cora Payne – 1st Place in Prepared Public Speaking;

Alexis Maines – 4th Place Prepared Public Speaking;

Kennedy Eick – 2nd Place in Junior Prepared Public Speaking.

In the Prepared Public Speaking Competition, students write and deliver a six- to eight-minute speech about a current agriculture-related topic. The speaking skills gained through this event help students excel in school, community and career.

• Ryenn Oliver – 2nd Place Senior Creed Speaking.

In the Creed Speaking Competition is for FFA members must present the FFA Creed from memory and answer questions about its meaning and purpose.  The event boosts self-confidence and develops the ability to communicate in a powerful, professional manner.

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Provided photo: The students who participated in the Cadet Guard are as follows: 1st row – Kailey Steele, Hailey Wilkins, Madison Owens, Brooke Moden, Destiny Bickel and Raelyn Baker. 2nd row – Bianca Islam, Elizabeth Parker, Gabi Medina-Flores, Phallon Rivera, Lyanna King,  Kiana Cleveland, Alayna Smith and Brooke Woodrow. Back row – Destiny Jones, Neveah Conley, Arie McMurray, Neveah Williams,  Amaya Cleveland,  Allissa Adams, Isabella Zimmer, Melanie Poynter, Kayleigh Wright,  Brooklyn Garrow.

MEDINA – The 2017 Winter Guard season came to a conclusion on Sunday when the North East Color Guard Circuit held their championships at SUNY Brockport.

There were 42 units from Central & Western NY and Canada competing in 8 classifications.  The ARC of Yates also performed in exhibition.

There were 10 guards in the Cadet class and Medina came in second place. In Scholastic A, there were three guard units and Medina came in second with a score of 82.82.

The students who participated in the Varsity Guard are as follows: 1st row (sitting) – Grace Fuller,  Mikayla Soha,  Alexis Neuman,  Leann Schneider and  Shine Sullinger.  2nd row – Hayley Hurt,  Allyssa Beyer,  Sabrina Quiros,  Morgan Allis,  Brianna McMullen and  Sarah Goodin. 3rd row – Alyssa McMullen, Avery Vanderwerf, Danielle Schmidt, Kyra Baes and Kaela Grosslinger. Back row: Paige Martin, McKenna Callard, Talishiona Feitshans and Laura Washak.

The Winter Guard students have been working hard on their shows since November.

“We must also give credit to the ‘Prop Boys’ consisting of Moms and Dads who worked hard at building props for both groups and then hauling them around to practices and to competitions,” said Kathy Dreyfus, public relations manager for the Winter Guard and Medina Mustang Band. “The students themselves also assisted in getting props set up before a show started and removing them afterwards, all within the 7 minutes allowed for each performance. Work has already begun preparing for the Spring Street season.”

First place winners on Sunday in each class were: Cadets, Victor;  Regional A, Patriots Too with a score of 83.61;  A1 class, Lancaster with a score of 83.54;  SR, Magic of Scout House with a score of 77.65; IA,  Lancaster Independent with a score of 88.14; SA – Gates with a score of 84.71; SO, Phoenix with a score of 84.50; and IW, Luminosa with a score of 78.

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Provided photos: Sculptor Brian Porter is pictured with a subframe for a statue of a soldier that will go by the former Medina Armory, which is now the YMCA on Pearl Street.

The statue of a soldier that will go by the former Medina Armory is taking shape.

Brian Porter, a sculptor who works as an assistant professor for Erie Community College, is working on the statue that will resemble a young soldier, someone who looks between 18 and 21.

That was typical soldier of Company F, which trained out of the Armory in Medina. The Company F Memorial Committee wants the statue to look like a typical soldier from the site when they left the community in October 1940 during World War II.

The 7-foot-high bronze statue will be erected outside the Armory, which was used for about 75 years to train soldiers for battle. The statue will honor those soldiers and help people appreciate the building’s past in training soldiers to defend the country

Porter created the statue for the Seabees Memorial in North Tonawanda.

Porter is trying a new process using 3D technology. He scans in the image of the miniature clay model, and data sent to a CNC machine is used to cut out thin plywood slices that are then glued together. The wood structure is a subframe for the clay to be shaped upon.

“It was a really interesting process to get to this point and many people that viewed it on campus were excited about the look of this stage of the structure,” Porter said.

The next step will be to begin carving and prepping the surface for clay modelling.

The plywood slices have been glued together in sections of about 10 pieces each. Porter anticipates that they will be easier to model and mold in this way.

The miniature clay model, about 20 inches high, is next to the wood structure which will be covered in clay in the next step in the process.

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MEDINA – The Medina Village Board is extending the winter parking ban on village streets through midnight this Saturday due to the big winter storm.

The parking ban was set to expire at midnight last night. It applies between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

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Photos and article courtesy of Medina Mustang Band

MEDINA – Medina hosted a Winterguard show, Colorburst 2017, on Saturday with 20 guards performing, traveling from schools in Western New York and Canada.

Overall the home show was a success in terms of attendance despite the weather. A majority of the guards are sponsored by a school district, but there were five independent guards that are not connected to a school but are community sponsored.

The independent groups include the Patriots from Rochester, the Magic of Scout House and the Ventures from Kitchener, Ontario, Lakeside from Oswego and Prizm from Hamilton, Ontario. The independent guards are made up of people who participated in this activity while in school and want to continue by joining these other groups.

In the Cadet class, Medina took second place. In the Scholastic A class, Medina was awarded first place with a score of 76.09.

In the other classes, 1st place went to Victor Cadets,  Patriots Too in RA with 72.33, Corning Painted Post in A1 with 65.05,  Magic of Scout House in Senior with 68.38,  Patriots in IA with 82.05 and Orchard Park in SO with 76.30.

Medina’s next competition is Saturday, March 25, in Jamestown and then the Championships on Sunday, April 2, at The College at Brockport.

Medina’s cadet group finished second in Saturday’s competition.

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Photos and article courtesy of Medina Mustang Band

Lancaster High School hosted a winterguard show on Saturdy and the Medina Varsity Guard took 1st place in the SA class with a score of 71.56.

Winterguard groups range in size from 5 to 25 and both boys and girls participate. Most of the guards are sponsored by a school but there are independent guards comprised of people who are not in school but still want to participate in this activity.

The participants use dance and acrobatics along with props, flags, sabers and wooden rifles. Some shows are at a slower pace while others are faster and yet they manage to not collide or hit each other with their equipment.

Shows are timed and each guard has 7 minutes to get themselves and their equipment on the floor, perform their show and exit with all of their equipment including the floor mat.

Medina’s home show is this Saturday and there will be 20 guards performing.  Doors open at 4 p.m. and the show starts at 5 p.m.  Medina’s cadet guard performs at 5:33 p.m. and the Varsity guard at 8:07.

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‘I call myself Medina’s biggest cheerleader’ – Missy Schening

Photo by Tom Rivers: Missy Schening is pictured at Rotary Park in downtown Medina.

MEDINA – It was January 2009 when Missy Schening started the “Memories of Medina” Facebook page. She was looking for a way to promote the community and help residents connect.

She started posting historical photos from the community. She stopped by new businesses and gave organizations and residents a chance to share news about fundraisers and benefits.

The Facebook page immediately developed a following, and continues to add “friends” every day. As of this morning, Memories of Medina is up to 6,079 friends. Schening notes that has passed the village’s population, listed as 6,065 in the 2010 Census.

“I just focus on what people want to talk about,” Schening said on Friday during an interview at Meggie Moo’s, one of the many new businesses that has opened recently in the downtown.

Schening said the business resurgence in the the downtown is one of the many positives she has witnessed since Memories of Medina started.

A photo of the Wolcott’s Dairy Bar posted on March 2 garnered nearly 100 likes and 30 comments.

She has standards for the Facebook group: keep it positive and no politics. There wasn’t any talk on Memories of Medina of the controversial village dissolution, which polarized the community about two years ago. There hasn’t been any posts about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

“We don’t want anything political or the whole thing could fall apart,” she said about the group. “I just want it mellow. I just want fun.”

She posts older, silly photos and challenges people to “Caption This” – this morning posting a picture of a pillow fight among two children. She gets many of those photos from the social networking site, Tumblr.

She shares other nostalgic images, including of kindergarteners taking a nap, and asks the group if they remember doing that in school.

The photos often ring up more than a hundred likes and dozens of comments.

“I try to put something funny out to get them chatting,” Schening said.

It eight-plus years Memories of Medina hasn’t hurt for positive material. The Facebook group is fortunate that many talented photographers share photos, Schening said.

She also shares positive news articles about Medina, including many from the Orleans Hub.

She checks old newspapers at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library and posts some tidbits and historical photos. She is given tours of historic buildings, and shows people spots they don’t often see, such as the two jail cells that are in the basement of the Napa Auto Parts in Medina.

This photo that Schening found shows a parade from Old Home Week in 1906.

Memories of Medina recently shared news about two lost dogs, and their reunification with their owners. The post about the dogs’ return topped 300 likes.

Schening is the main administrator for Memories of Medina, but there are others as well who keep an eye on the site and will delete posts that are political or have a nasty tone.

“I want it to be like back in the day when you talked over the fence or on your porch,” Schening said.

She credited Dawn Meland and the late Michelle Stanton Jones for encouraging her in the early days of Memories of Medina. Back then, 2,000 friends for Memories of Medina seemed like a longshot. But the group has steadily grown.

Schening, who said she is shy by nature, has made numerous friends through the site.

“I know a lot more people now,” she said. “I call myself Medina’s biggest cheerleader. I’m just letting people know what Medina is.”

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