Nazareth honored for its evolving partnership with Greece schools
Teachers, students, and families in the Greece Central School District, as well as Nazareth College students, faculty, and staff, are benefiting from a partnership that has evolved and grown over the past two years, despite the pandemic.
The Greece Central School District — the 10th largest in New York state — honored Nazareth at the Greece school board meeting May 3, 2022, with a Power of Partnership award for teaming up to support children and families through multiple interprofessional initiatives. Valerie Paine, Ed.D., Greece schools assistant superintendent, says the effort aligns with its community schools strategy: "Greece established this award when we began implementing the community school strategy a few years ago. The vision of this strategy is to ensure equitable outcomes for all by creating strategic community partnerships and we have done just that with Nazareth. The relationship is mutually beneficial and with the synergy of the team members continuing to grow we look forward to what the future holds."
Faculty, staff, and students from Nazareth's School of Education and School of Health and Human Services have worked with Greece staff and teachers to provide play therapy, mindfulness research and practice, clinical placements, college coursework on site at two elementary schools, advisory board participation, conference presentations, and more.
The work aligns with Nazareth's focus on being engaged in the community with impact and with the education and health and human services schools' focus on both interprofessional work and community engagement.
"We are so honored to receive this award as it is a testament to our vision of 'partnership,' said School of Education Dean Kate Daboll-Lavoie. "We think this partnership is a model for P20 collaboration (pre-school through graduate school/careers) as it spans a large preK-12 district (preschool through grade 12), and also multiple academic units and programs at Nazareth. Instead of many individual and siloed district/College initiatives, we have moved to a systemic partnership between Greece Central School District and Nazareth College. Through the partnership we are supporting the needs within the two systems, to support positive outcomes for all."
Cathy Rasmussen, interim dean of the School of Health and Human Services, agreed. "We are so pleased to collaborate as an institutional team to benefit both Nazareth Health and Human Services and School of Education students and our community partner," she said. "This was a wonderful opportunity for hands-on learning, thinking together about how best to support children and families, and being able to implement creative new programs. Truly a powerful partnership!"
Nazareth faculty, staff, and students involved include (pictured left to right) education student Ashleigh Brown, Shanna Jamanis, education student Jessica Holtz, School of Ed Dean Kate DaBoll-Lavoie, Colleen Burrell, School of Health and Human Services interim Dean Cathy Rasmussen, Susan Sturm, Gerald Callan, and Stephen Demanchick. Not pictured: Lisa Hiley, Leanne Charlesworth, and Michael Rood.
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Nazareth faculty, staff, and students involved include: (Pictured left to right) Education student Ashleigh Brown, Shanna Jamanis, education student Jessica Holtz, School of Ed Dean Kate DaBoll-Lavoie, Colleen Burrell, School of Health and Human Services interim Dean Cathy Rasmussen, Susan Sturm, Gerald Callan, and Stephen Demanchick.