Courtesy of Medina Central School: The project includes a new vestibule at the Clifford Wise Intermediate School.

MEDINA – The school district will be holding a public information meeting today at 6:30 p.m. to go over a proposed $34.3 million capital project. The meeting will be in the junior-senior high school auditorium.

The project will go before voters from noon to 8 p.m. on Feb. 14 with voting in the district office board room.

The $34,357,277 project includes significant work at the three school buildings, plus the bus garage.

There won’t be any new taxes as part of the capital project. District officials said the cost will be covered through $29,895,213 from state building aid (87 percent of the total cost), $2,750,000 from capital reserve and $1,712,064 by retiring debt service payments, resulting in a “tax neutral” financing plan, district superintendent Dr. Mark Kruzynski said in a letter to the community on the district website.

Doing the projects as part of a capital plan will make the district eligible for state aid, covering the majority of the costs. If the project is voted down, Medina would still need to proceed with some of the “critical safety requirements and building preservation needs,” Kruzynski said. However, not doing the work in a capital project would put the full cost on district taxpayers, he said.

Eligible voters must be at least 18 and a resident of the school district for at least 30 days prior to the vote.

Here is a breakdown of the capital project:

Junior/Senior High School – $17,324,760

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• New Choral Room (including new office and practice rooms)
• New Band Room addition (including new offices, practice rooms, and storage)
• New Music Storage Room with stage access
• Replace stage curtains and add stage outlets
• New STEAM Classroom
• New Technology Computer Lab
• New Technology Wood Shop addition (including exterior dust collector system)
• New Greenhouse addition
• New first-floor connector link to provide access to new classrooms
• New first-floor classrooms at former District Office
• New 8’ wide corridor including new single ADA-compliant toilet rooms
• New first-floor boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms
• New second-floor boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas
• New shared bus arrival/dismissal parking area for Jr/Sr High School and Intermediate School

Clifford H. Wise Intermediate – $9,769,533

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• Reconstruct existing Pool (including pool tank, gutter, deck, mechanical equipment, and lighting)
• Reglaze and reseal windows with failed seals
• Reconstruct select mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, including generator replacement, panel board replacement, sanitary piping replacement, sump pump replacement and crawlspace drainage improvements
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas: reconstruct existing exit onto Gwinn Street and expanded parking and roadway configuration

Oak Orchard Primary School – $6,198,091

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• New District Office in former Media Center
• Reconstruct Girls’ Locker Room to provide ADA-compliant toilets adjacent to Cafeteria and Gymnasium
• New Media Center
• New Computer Lab
• Reconstruct select mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, including panel board replacement, sanitary piping replacement and crawlspace drainage improvements
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas
• New parking lot at relocated District Office
• Bus loop paving restoration

Bus Garage – $1,064,893

• Roof replacement
• New staff parking area

If the project is approved by voters, the school district will work on final designs to be submitted to the State Education Department this fall, with SED approval expected in early 2024. The project would then go out to bid with the bulk of construction expected to start in summer 2024, according to a timeline from the district. Medina school leaders anticipate the entire project would be completed in early 2026.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Wine About Winter was another sell-out success in medina on Saturday. The annual event has been very popular since 2009. On Saturday, all 800 tickets sold for $25 each.

The top photo shows the first wave of people arriving at the Medina Senior Center, a former railroad depot, to get their commemorative glasses and maps for the 22 spots to sample wines.

The event is organized by the Medina Area Partnership. The event has become so popular that MAP has staggered the crowd into three groups to ease the lines for people getting tastings.

The Walsh was new as a wine-tasting stop this year. Andy Morris volunteered to pour wines from the Thousand Islands Winery from Alexandria Bay. This one he is pouring is a Wellesley Island White.

This group poses for a photo in The Walsh. They include, from left: Cheryl Holt of Medina, Lary Coia of Albion, Charise Blew of Batavia and Tim Jeziorski of Alden.

“It’s a great time to get together with friends and support local businesses,” Holt said.

The wine-tastings are inside businesses in the downtown Medina area.

Jocelyn Demmin of Medina is taking the photo of the four people in this picture. Demmin, 28, also was sampling wines for Wine About Winter.

She was making a “staycation” out of the day with dinner to follow at the Harvest restaurant at Bent’s Opera House and then a night at one of the Bent’s hotel rooms.

“Over the last five-six years Medina has really grown into something people want to visit,” she said.

Wine About Winter brings in out-of-towners, but Demmin said she also sees many of her local friends at the event.

Wine About Winter remains one of Medina Area Partnership’s most popular events, drawing big crowds regardless of the winter weather.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Zyann Pore of Albion sings a solo from “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen as part of the all-county elementary chorus.

Orleans County Music Educators’ Association presented the February All-County Festival today at Medina High School.

There were 76 students in the elementary chorus from Albion, Holley, Kendall, Lyndonville and Medina school districts.

Anna Ferlito, a Medina music teacher, stepped in to conduct the all-conty elementary chorus after the guest conductor from Oklahoma had a cancelled flight and couldn’t be there.

Besides “You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen,” the chorus sang “Shanty Boys” arranged by R.E. Dwyers, “Tarantella” by Viktor Bobetsky and “I Sing Because I’m Happy” arranged by Kenneth Paden.

Will Arlington of Lyndonville (back to camera) plays the timpani with the all-county junior high band which included 79 students.

Brad Batz led the junior band. Batz is director of jazz studies at Nazareth College in Rochester.

The junior high band performed “Jubilance” by James Swearingen, “Dixieland USA” by Andy Clark, “Balladair” by Frank Erickson, and “Boom Boom Galop” by Randall Standridge.

The senior high chorus was led by guest conductor Frank McCauley, the vocal teacher at Sharon Middle/High School in Sharon, Pa.

The high school chorus included 72 students and they sang “Festival Sanctus” by John Leavitt, “Omnia Sol” by Z. Randall Stroope, “Found/Tonight” arranged by Jacob Narverud, and “Total Praise” arranged by P. Barrett & Doreen Rao.

Press Release, Medina Central School

MEDINA – The Medina School District will be hosting an information night for families of incoming universal prekindergarten students on Thursday, March 2, from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. at Oak Orchard Primary School.

Anyone wishing to attend or looking for more information is asked to sign up (click here for more information).

To be eligible for UPK, children must be 4 years old by Dec. 1, 2023. To be eligible for kindergarten, children must be 5 years old by Dec. 1, 2023.

Doors will open at 5:15 p.m. and the event will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. There will be a brief general session for adults in the auditorium, and then participants will visit scheduled locations throughout the building. Please plan to arrive by 5:30 and stay for the duration, in order to receive all of the information prepared. Childcare will be provided for children eligible to attend school in the 2023-24 school year.

Families interested in learning more about Medina’s UPK program are asked to complete the sign up, whether or not you are able to attend the information night. If you are unable to attend, information will be shared afterward on Oak Orchard Primary School’s website and respond to the email address provided on the sign up.

Timeline for UPK application, acceptance, registration and screening:

• Thursday, March 2: UPK Information Night 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. at Oak Orchard Primary
• March 2 – April 2: UPK applications accepted at the information night, by calling the Oak Orchard Main Office, or through our website, starting on March 2.
• April 3: Families notified of acceptance into UPK Program or if program capacity is reached, that lottery is to be held.
• Week of April 3: Lottery held, if needed, and registration packets mailed.
• Week of May 1 – May 5: UPK student screening, applicants should bring all registration materials to the screening. A parent and the child are expected to attend the screening. Applicants will be contacted by phone to schedule their screening time.

Any questions can be directed to the Oak Orchard Main Office by calling 585-798-2700, option 3 and then 0, between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Please be sure to register for the information night (click here).

Information for kindergarten registration to follow at a later date.

Press Release, Tops Friendly Markets

Mercedes Holloway Wilson

WILLIAMSVILLE – Mercedes Wilson, or as she is known among friends and family, Sadie, is over the moon about her recent sweet success of expanding her relish line into 66 Tops Friendly Markets.

Wilson, a 2000 Medina High School graduate, debuted her products at 39 locations last summer just in time for Father’s Day, a fitting tribute to the man she has to thank in part for her success.

Inspired by her grandma Grace’s “Cha-Cha” recipe, you will often find Wilson cooking side by side with her father, Kelvin Holloway, incorporating her family’s recipe in everything from breakfast staples like eggs to side dishes and others such as, ribs, chicken, on scallops and tacos!

“When my father mentioned it, I had no clue what it was,” Wilson said. “He did his best to describe the flavors to me, and I made it until my father said it reminded him of what my grandmother used to make.”

Since then, Wilson began making it for friends and family, who fell in love with it.

“What you see at Tops on the shelves is the one inspired by my grandmother,” Wilson said. “I hope it makes her proud.”

A foodie at heart, Wilson was always around food since she was little. She recalls being around her grandma, the inspiration for this recipe, who was always cooking as her father was one of 11 children.

“Once breakfast was done, she was already getting ready for the next meal,” Wilson said.

That inspiration led Wilson to start her own line of Sadie’s Relish’s, and she tells a Tops spokeswoman perhaps some other delicious homemade recipes are on the horizon.

During Black History Month, Tops is highlighting Sadie’s Relish created by Medina native Mercedes Wilson.

Wilson attributes her success to simply being kind to people and building relationships.

“The more genuine you are with your relationships and get to know people, the better business you are,” she said. “It comes back to you.”

Wilson is also grateful for new partnerships she is forging with essential and impactful programs like UB’s Cultivator Program and Launch NY, which she joined last summer, that is helping her grow her business.

“I am so excited to be a part of the UB Cultivator program,” she said. “This program was created to help early-stage startup founders in Western New York with mentorship and support. These mentors have rolled up their sleeves and helped me problem solve and become a better founder and thinker when it comes to my business.”

Wilson said the program also provides connections to investors and continued support through co-working space.

“I am so excited about expansion in 2023 Launch NY: Founders Go Big Initiative is an initiative that is designed to enhance the engagement of underrepresented, underserved founders in creating high-growth potential businesses,” she said. “I have mentors in this program that I meet with, and they challenge me to become better. Buffalo is truly amazing!”

As if her plate wasn’t already full running a successful business, she also recently joined AM Buffalo as co-host alongside Emily Lampa in June 2022 and is busy raising her family of four with her husband.

An accomplished singer, author, breast cancer survivor, and founder of a non-profit, there isn’t much that Sadie hasn’t tackled head-on and succeeded at. Last month she was also recognized in a ceremony at Medina High School as a distinguished graduate.

‘A big benefit is the mind/body connection. Yoga cultivates an awareness of yourself so you are more aware of things happening with your body.’ – Kaylin McCarthy

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Kaylin McCarthy and daughter Amelia, 6, demonstrate the art of yoga at the Orleans County YMCA in Medina, where Kaylin will give free lessons beginning Tuesdays in March.

MEDINA – A “Teaching for Equity” grant from the Yoga Alliance will fund a series of free yoga lessons by Kaylin McCarthy at the Orleans County YMCA in Medina.

The Yoga Alliance is a nonprofit membership trade and professional organization for yoga teachers, headquartered in Arlington, Va.

McCarthy, an Albion resident, is a registered Yoga teacher, a title in the United States that designates a yoga teacher who has received a certain standard of yoga teacher training at a registered Yoga school.

McCarthy has always been intrigued by people and early in her career she trained in social therapy.

“We looked at food they were eating and exercise they were getting, and that resonated with me,” she said.

She and her husband Patrick lived for 10 years at Heartbeet Life Sharing in Vermont, a community of people with special needs.

“We lived and worked with the adults on the farm there,” McCarthy said. “All had special needs. Some couldn’t eat without help, yet everybody contributed what they could.”

While there, she trained in yoga at Kripalu, the largest retreat and yoga school in North America.

When Patrick and Kaylin decided to make a move, they chose to come to Western New York. Housing was scarce and expensive in Vermont and they had family in Rochester and Niagara Falls, so settling in Albion was a perfect location. They arrived in December 2020 with their three children: Alden, now 9; Amelia, 6; and Etta, 5.

Kaylin, 36, has always loved yoga. She explains its benefits, especially breath work.

“It takes you from ‘fight’ to ‘flight,’” she said. “Modern science has proven most people are stuck in a fight or flight mode, and yoga takes you out of that and gives you the opportunity to reset. It has physical benefits of moving and stretching your body. A big benefit is the mind/body connection. Yoga cultivates an awareness of yourself so you are more aware of things happening with your body.”

She said she is ADHD and when her three children were under 3, she had anxiety. She was diagnosed with chronic exhaustion and fatigue.

“Yoga got me out of that state,” she said. “I understand the struggles people are going through. My work is based on my personal healing journey.”

Kaylin McCarthy and 6-year-old daughter Amelia love practicing yoga together.

Kaylin works with school districts and has taught a mindfulness class for teachers. She hopes to teach Kaliedoscope ME, a social, emotional learning platform that builds character, instills life-enhancing values and promotes healthy choices, similar to “Best Buddies” or “Big Brother, Big Sister” programs.

Kaylin began her yoga classes at the YMCA in Medina in October, and has seen a steady increase in attendance, she said. She has five neighbors in Albion who have adopted a regular yoga regimen, one of whom is in the 80s, she said. She even has inspired them to eat regular eat kale.

In January, she added a second yoga class.

The grant-funded yoga classes will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday from March through May. They are open to all ages. She currently opens her classes to individuals 5 to 85. Anyone interested in joining the classes just has to show up at the YMCA by 5:30 p.m.

The classes are suited for all ages, and chairs are available for those who may need to sit to practice.

All mats and materials are provided for the grant-funded classes. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and bring a bottle of water.

Kaylin explained the “Teaching for Equity” grant is available to teachers serving under-represented populations. She said a lot of yoga studios shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not reopened. She also offers classes remotely.

“I want everyone to have access to these classes and the benefits they provide,” she said.

District seeks upgrades at 3 school buildings, plus bus garage

Conceptual renderings from Medina Central School: This shows a proposed new media center in the Oak Orchard Primary School.

MEDINA – The school district will seek the community’s approval on Feb. 14 for a $34,357,277 project that includes significant work at the three school buildings, plus the bus garage.

There won’t be any new taxes as part of the capital project. District officials said the cost will be covered through $29,895,213 from state building aid (87 percent of the total cost), $2,750,000 from capital reserve and $1,712,064 by retiring debt service payments, resulting in a “tax neutral” financing plan, district superintendent Dr. Mark Kruzynski said in a letter to the community on the district website.

“Major reconstruction and mechanical upgrades for our aging pool were identified among our most critical asset preservation needs,” Kruzynski said in his letter. “In addition, key educational program goals of this project include renovations to our music, technology, and STEAM spaces. The project will also address important safety and security improvements at all school entrance vestibules and main offices. Rehabilitation and reconstruction of our intercampus roadways, parking areas, and bus loops will further improve safety and circulation for parents, students, and staff.”

Doing the projects as part of a capital plan will make the district eligible for state aid, covering the majority of the costs. If the project is voted down, Medina would still need to proceed with some of the “critical safety requirements and building preservation needs,” Kruzynski said. However, not doing the work in a capital project would put the full cost on district taxpayers, he said.

There will be a public information meeting on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the junior-senior high school auditorium. The vote will be from noon to 8 p.m. on Feb. 14 in the district office board room.

Eligible voters must be at least 18 and a resident of the school district for at least 30 days prior to the vote.

Here is a breakdown of the capital project:

Junior/Senior High School – $17,324,760

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• New Choral Room (including new office and practice rooms)
• New Band Room addition (including new offices, practice rooms, and storage)
• New Music Storage Room with stage access
• Replace stage curtains and add stage outlets
• New STEAM Classroom
• New Technology Computer Lab
• New Technology Wood Shop addition (including exterior dust collector system)
• New Greenhouse addition
• New first-floor connector link to provide access to new classrooms
• New first-floor classrooms at former District Office
• New 8’ wide corridor including new single ADA-compliant toilet rooms
• New first-floor boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms
• New second-floor boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas
• New shared bus arrival/dismissal parking area for Jr/Sr High School and Intermediate School

This shows a proposed new band room in the junior-senior high school.

Clifford H. Wise Intermediate – $9,769,533

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• Reconstruct existing Pool (including pool tank, gutter, deck, mechanical equipment, and lighting)
• Reglaze and reseal windows with failed seals
• Reconstruct select mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, including generator replacement, panel board replacement, sanitary piping replacement, sump pump replacement and crawlspace drainage improvements
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas: reconstruct existing exit onto Gwinn Street and expanded parking and roadway configuration

Oak Orchard Primary School – $6,198,091

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• New District Office in former Media Center
• Reconstruct Girls’ Locker Room to provide ADA-compliant toilets adjacent to Cafeteria and Gymnasium
• New Media Center
• New Computer Lab
• Reconstruct select mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, including panel board replacement, sanitary piping replacement and rawlspace drainage improvements
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas
• New parking lot at relocated District Office
• Bus loop paving restoration

Bus Garage – $1,064,893

• Roof replacement
• New staff parking area

If the project is approved by voters, the school district will work on final designs to be submitted to the State Education Department this fall, with SED approval expected in early 2024. The project would then go out to bid with the bulk of construction expected to start in summer 2024, according to a timeline from the district. Medina school leaders anticipate the entire project would be completed in early 2026.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Rob Robinson of Medina toasts to being cancer free for 100 months.

MEDINA – Rob Robinson’s whole life changed in 2014, after what he thought was a routine visit to his doctor.

Robinson, 66, has always suffered from allergies, so kept regular appointments with Dr. Surinder Bath in Medina, during which Robinson routinely had blood work done. It was after one of those appointments that he got a call from the doctor’s office saying he had to come back to the office, “Now.”

“I arrived to find Dr. Bath with tears rolling down his cheeks,” Robinson said. “He had me booked at Roswell at 9 the next morning.”

His blood work showed he had multi melanoma, a cancer of the bone marrow.

“What has happened since is a series of miracles,” Robinson said.

The first few months were really rough, he said. He had to be driven to Roswell once a month, where he spent an entire day having his stem cells collected. Often, they couldn’t harvest enough and he would have to return again and again. Once, he had to go 12 straight days, arriving at 6 a.m. and lying in bed for six hours while hooked to a machine.

“I would lay there and watch the Rockford Files,” Robinson said. “When the show was over, I knew the procedure was half way through.”

His pastor, the Rev. Vince Iorio of the Calvary Tabernacle Assembly of God, arranged for someone to take him and come back and get him each day.

This regimen has continued for eight years, which includes taking three chemo pills a day and visiting the clinic at Roswell once a month.

“I’m in my 100th cycle now, meaning Jan. 26 will be my 100th monthly visit,” Robinson said. “The nurses have told me people rarely make it to the 100th month. All my numbers are miraculously normal.”

Robinson volunteered to be in a study, so the treatments don’t cost him anything. If they did, he would have passed the $1 million mark long ago, he said.

Robinson and his wife Cindy are eager to share his story to tell people the importance of early detection. Robinson, whose mother Virginia Bishop used to play piano at the Apple Grove, inherited his mother’s love of music, and has played piano in big-name area bands all his life.

When he decided 10 years ago to form his own band, which he calls the “A” Band, he decided to use the band to spread the word about early detection. His first wife died of cancer in 2006, and he has since played gigs on what he calls the “Kill Cancer Tour.”

He believes God’s hand is in his life, which is why he has been able to attain total remission. He also has a philosophy.

“It’s all about attitude,” he said. “There’s no laying around feeling sorry for myself. Besides my band, I started the Busker Festival during Ale in Autumn last fall. It was so successful, we are making it an annual event. I’m still involved in Scouting and work at my job as an electrical inspector.”

On Feb. 10, Robinson and his band will perform at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina for the Finally Fridays concert series at 7 p.m.

There isn’t a day goes by that he doesn’t give thanks for his miraculous life.