Rodrigues netted a hat trick in the first period alone and scored five of the team’s first six goals to remain atop the SUNYAC standings with two weeks remaining in the regular season. Rodrigues becomes just the 10th player in Laker history to record a five-goal game. Brendan McLaughlin was the last to do it on Nov. 11, 2005, against Buffalo State. The program record for most goals in a game is seven by Pierre Bellanger and Sean Fitzgerald.

The first line of Rodrigues, and sophomore forwards Luke Moodie and Jon Whitelaw had themselves a night, finishing with a combined 13 points on six goals and seven assists. Moodie finished with four assists and Whitelaw added a goal and two assists.

Oswego State (17-2-2 overall, 10-0-2 SUNYAC) wasted no time in pulling ahead, as Rodrigues scored his first goal of the game at 1:33 of the first period while on the power play. Moodie and Whitelaw were credited with the assists. The power-play goal was set up by a tripping penalty by Ryan Marcuz.

Senior forward and assistant captain Ian Boots was the only player other than Rodrigues to score a goal in the first two periods, recording his seventh goal of the game on a tap in off a rebound from junior defenseman Taylor Farris.

Rodrigues got on the board again on the power play at 14:21 of the first period after a roughing penalty by Tom Longland. Moodie and junior forward Chris Muise were credited with the assists.

A little over four minutes later, Rodrigues earned the hat trick on an assist from Farris to give the Lakers a four-goal lead at the end of the first period. Although the shots were even at 11 for the first period, Oswego State was converting on 36 percent of its shots.

Rodrigues continued his moment into the second period, scoring the lone goal of the frame at 13:15 once again on the power play. Moodie and Whitelaw found Rodrigues following a hooking penalty by James Jarvis.

The Mustangs (4-17-1 overall, 3-10-1 SUNYAC) nearly allowed another power-play goal on Rodrigues’ fifth goal of the night, but Todd Hosmer’s roughing penalty expired just two seconds after the puck found the back of the net. Junior forward Chris Ayotte earned the assist on the play.

Morrisville managed to avoid the shutout when Hosmer tallied his 14th goal of the season at 8:24 of the third period. Tom Longland and Alex Tillaart were credited with the assists.

Hosmer’s goal did not stop the bleeding, as the Lakers tacked on two more goals before the end of the game. Whitelaw scored his 10th goal of the season at 9:42 of the third period before Muise added a power-play goal at 13:11. Rodrigues and Moodie earned assists on Whitelaw’s goal and Boots and junior defenseman Jesse McConney were credited with the assists on Muise’s goal.

The Mustangs, who came into the game leading Division III with penalty minutes per game, were whistled for 12 penalties totaling 24 penalty minutes. Oswego State made them pay all night long, finishing four-for-ten with the man advantage. Morrisville finished 1-for-7.

Christopher Azzano finished with seven saves and was pulled after the first period for Colin Breen. Breen finished with 35 saves, including 26 in the second period alone. Junior goaltender Andrew Hare finished with 23 saves to earn his 14th win in net this season.

The win, coupled with losses by Buffalo State and SUNY Fredonia, clinches a first-round bye and at least one home playoff game in the SUNYAC playoffs. The Lakers sit one point in front of SUNY Plattsburgh for the conference lead. The Cardinals defeated Buffalo State, 1-0, on Saturday night.

The Lakers return home for the remaining four games of the regular season. Oswego State hosts Fredonia on Friday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Campus Center Ice Arena. The Blue Devils are tied for third in the SUNYAC standings.

The Tigers (19-1-1 overall, 12-1-1 ECAC West) enacted some revenge against the Lakers on Saturday, defeating Oswego State on its Senior Day in much of the same fashion as the Lakers did last year to RIT. The victory for the Tigers completed the series sweep, as RIT shut out Oswego State, 4-0, on Friday night.

Saturday’s game started just like Friday’s, as the Tigers jumped out to a one-goal lead on the power play. The Lakers found themselves down two skaters after an interference penalty to sophomore defender Chelsea Hunt and a cross checking penalty to sophomore forward Olivia Boersen. At the tail end of Hunt’s penalty, RIT’s Kim Schlattman found Kourtney Kunichika with a cross-ice pass, who just slipped the puck past the outstretched stick of Oswego State freshman goaltender Bridget Smith.

The Lakers (9-10-2 overall, 8-6-2 ECAC West) responded with their first goal at home since Jan. 17 against Hamilton to tie the game at 12:00 of the first period. Sophomore forward Melissa Seamont deflected a shot from the blue line by junior defender Breanne Reith past RIT goaltender Ali Binnington. The two teams went to the first intermission tied at one.

RIT’s Ali Hills scored the game-winning goal at 13:15 of the second period with a shot through traffic that beat Smith top shelf. Danielle Read and Kristina Moss were credited with the assists.

The Lakers recorded just two shots on net in the second period, but came out in the third period firing, desperately looking for the game-tying goal. The goal would not come, but the Lakers’ frustrations with the Tigers boiled over with 15 seconds remaining in regulation while Oswego State was on the power play and also had an extra attacker with the goaltender pulled.

In a last-ditch effort for a goal, the Lakers registered a shot on net and crashed the net, bowling over Binnington in the process. RIT retaliated and wrestled the Laker skater to the ice, sending all 10 players on the ice into a massive squirmish that resulted in 33 penalty minutes and a lengthy delay. All 10 players, minus the RIT goaltender, were accessed roughing penalties except for freshman forward Carly Marchment, who received a 10-minute game-misconduct penalty and a five-minute major for contact to the head.

Binnington earned the victory in net with 15 saves on 16 shots faced. Smith recorded 28 saves on 30 shots faced.

Friday’s match up between the two teams was much more lopsided, as the Tigers scored twice in the first period and coasted the rest of the way, defeating the Lakers, 4-0, at the Campus Center Ice Arena in the annual “Pink at the Rink” night.

The Tigers scored on three of their five power play opportunities and limited the Laker offense to just 15 shots, including three in the second period.

RIT took the lead at 10:21 while on the power play on a goal by Kolbee McCrea after Reith took a penalty for interference. Kristina Moss and Kourtney Kunichika were credited with the assists.

McCrea recorded her second goal of the game on the breakaway, beating sophomore goaltender Catherine Cote with a series of dekes while skating in on net. Ariane Yokoyama and Kunichika were credited with the assists.

The Tigers capitalized on two of their final three power play opportunities, as Lindsay Grigg scored at 12:26 of the second period and Kunichika scored at 19:00 of the third period.

RIT goaltender Laura Chamberlain earned the shutout with 15 saves, while Cote took the loss with 29 saves on 33 shots faced.

The Lakers take to the road for the final four games of the regular season, starting against Division I Sacred Heart on Friday, Feb. 10 and continuing on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Graphic by Bill Portoghese| The Oswegonian

Being fired, forced to move and wrung through the judicial system all at the same time would be stressful. Add to that a quickly approaching finals week and that is the situation Anthony Lombardi dealt with this past fall. And all of it over a paintball gun.

Lombardi, a junior adolescent education major and former Onondaga resident assistant, left for Thanksgiving break this past November, with his closet doors closed. He returned to open closet doors, a missing paintball gun and note indicating it had been confiscated and that Lombardi would need to meet with his hall director.

Already on probation for pledging, which first semester RAs are prohibited from doing, Lombardi said the meeting was tense. He was dismissed from his job. Lombardi said the degree of severity was significantly worse due to his Greek affiliation. Jacob Gardner, the Onondaga Hall director, said so explicitly.

“In the conversation that I had with my hall director and assistant head of housing, they said that my pledging really hurt me,” Lombardi said. “They’re saying that it hurt their view of me.”

After the initial meeting with Gardner, Lombardi met him a second time to sign a contract. He was told the contract would help him avoid a trial. The contract required him to take an online course on alcohol safety, resulting from a bottle found in his room. After meeting with University Police, Lombardi was arrested. When the dust settled, Lombardi was no longer an RA or an on-campus resident.

He and his two suitemates were forced to move out. Days before finals he relocated off-campus.

“[My suitemates] had to move out of the room, which I don’t think is fair because they didn’t do anything wrong,” Lombardi said. “And I feel like my grades suffered because of this [incident].”

In addition, Judicial Affairs voided his contract the day after it was issued to complete the online class in lieu of a trial.

But after a meeting with the dean of students, his contract was reinstated. Lombardi says he still does not know if there will be a trial or not.

“I’m kind of like stuck in the middle, I don’t know whats going on really,” Lombardi said.

Gardner refused to comment.

Assistant Dean of Students for Judicial Affairs Lisa Evaneski declined to comment on the specifics of the case. However, she was explicit that, in general, reasons for the weapons policies on most campuses are in place for student safety.

“A lot of recreational and sport weapons can look a lot like deadly weapons and can create a variety of safety issues in our densely packed residence halls,” Evaneski said in an email.

Director of Residence Life and Housing Rick Kolenda said he agrees with the policy for exactly those reasons. The safety of residents and visitors is the main concern and any breach will not be tolerated, Kolenda said.

He said the policy has been in place for many years. Looking to the future, he does not predict much change.

“I cannot see anything in this climate that would relax the weapons policy on campus,” Kolenda said.

Lt. Kevin Velzy of the University Police said the policy has been around for at least as long as he has been with the force, since 1989. He also noted that the campus policy is more inclusive than the New York state law, article 265 of the penal code. Oswego State’s weapons policy has been consistent, he also noted.

Also consistent is the annual appearance of the policy in the student handbook. Velzy stressed the student’s responsibility to read, comprehend and follow the handbook. Especially for those students that own weapons.

“Owning a weapon is even more of a responsibility,” Velzy said. “You should know all the rules and regulations.”

On average there is one arrest per year for violations of the campus weapons policy, Velzy said. He noted that some weapons legal to carry in New York state might not be legal to have on campus. While a paintball gun is rarely fatal, it is hazardous.

“Don’t say that to people who have been shot in the eye and lost the eye,” Velzy said. “They can be dangerous.”

For students who live on campus and need access to weapons (like hunters or martial artists), the campus is required to provide storage. The storage is free and weapons are redeemable 24 hours a day, but the system is something UP keeps close to the vest.

“Every campus has to provide that but we don’t advertise that,” Velzy said. “We don’t want people to bring weapons to campus.”

Velzy said he did not know if there is a paintball club on campus, but he knew that no paintball guns are being currently stored with UP. There is, in fact, a paintball club and Lombardi is a member. Lombardi stored his paintball gun in his room and said that other members regularly do the same.

The locker’s contents come and go throughout the year. During the fall the number of guns averages five or six because of deer season. Currently the weapons room holds only one student’s weapon, an air pistol. With the student population at approximately 7,000 and UP doing nothing to advertise on-campus storage, what are the chances that just one student brought just one weapon to campus? It is a question raised by Velzy, and one he admits he cannot answer.

Capt. Michael Beckwith, public information officer for the Oswego Police Department, said that after the new police chief, Tory DeCaire was instated in June, he saw that the rise in illegal drug activity needed to be addressed.

“There is a slight increase in minor crimes and quality of life issues, but the Anti-Crime Team was not implemented because of some huge spike in crimes,” Beckwith said. “We wanted to get in there and stop these minor crimes from happening before we saw a huge spike in criminal activity within the city.”

At first the team was used occasionally for specific concerns, and then DeCaire realized the usefulness of having an Anti-Crime Team which could combat the ongoing drug issue.

Beckwith used the “Broken Windows Theory,” still taught to cadets within the police academy, to explain the drug issue. The theory states that bigger crimes always start out with smaller ones and if the smaller crimes can be targeted early on, than the larger problems will decrease.

Beckwith explained that most individuals involved with illegal drug activity are causing a lot of the other crimes within the city.

“The users of these drugs are going to utilize other crimes to get their drugs,” Beckwith said. A lot of burglaries and car robberies happen because of the fact that these drug users look for valuable items to steal and pawn off for cash later used to buy drugs.

Right now the Anti-Crime Team is made up of three members who recruit more officers when needed for larger investigations.

At the start of these larger investigations, the team looks at information brought forth by civilians.

Depending on the nature of the information, they may be able to act immediately or apply for a search warrant.

The team also specializes in undercover work, which is used extensively within the team.

Though officers do not wear a uniform while undercover, they establish their street creditability by often times wearing a badge around their neck on belt.

Many times an undercover officer may be mistaken as a civilian and when a patrol officer sees an undercover in a dispute with a perpetrator they may intervene thinking these are two civilians fighting.

This problem has occurred in larger departments but Beckwith guaranteed that because the Oswego Police Department is a small department everyone knows each other and it has not been a problem.

Within bigger departments, a color of the day will be worn by undercover agents to signify their statues to patrol officers.

Beckwith could not elaborate on the undercover aspect of the Anti-Crime Team in order to ensure the safety of its officers.

Unlike normal police officers, members of the Anti-Crime Team are able to focus on one particular issue and formulate an investigation around it.

The team does not go on normal patrols, and although many of the pieces of equipment they use are similar to what regular officers would use, the team works closely with surveillance equipment.

Betty Gray, Oswego’s Neighborhood Watch coordinator, has noticed a decrease in the amount of crime since the Anti-Crime Team has been established.

“We mostly get cases involving car burglaries by 16 and 17-year-olds.” Grey said. “They need the money and will take whatever you have in your car.”

“Chief DeCaire has made a lot of progress and improvement for the city since he has become our new chief,” Gray said. “I applaud him for doing that. He has changed a lot of things since he has come along.”

Gray explained that since DeCaire has been chief there are a lot more police officers who patrol residential neighborhoods and many who patrol on foot.

“The police department in Oswego is so amazing, they are working with us to stop crime,” Gray said.

Gray urged residents, especially college students, to never walk alone and if you see a crime in progress call the police, do not handle the situation. “Call 911, working with the police department will help this community,” Grey said.

Oswego Neighborhood Crime Watch has its own website where residence can anonymously report crime they have witnessed in the area.

Beckwith acknowledged college students who often times find themselves within the drug and alcohol scene around the city.

“Anybody who has ever been arrested for committing a crime never thought they would get caught, you never know,” Beckwith said. “The Anti-Crime Team is out there.”

photo provided by flickr.com

After the nine-day trek, climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro, the 23 climbers visited poverty-stricken towns.

“The kind of poverty, the lifestyle, was something we’ve all seen on TV. But there’s a difference between knowing about it and being there,” said McKenzie Dillman, junior and member of the Outdoors Club, on the African village that Oswego Going Global (OGG) visited in Tanzania.

They visited two towns as part of a wind-down after the monumental achievement of being the only state school to successfully organize and make the climb up Kilimanjaro. All climbers reached the summit. OGG brought a duffle bag of school supplies to help a struggling secondary school that they visited in Arusha.

“There was 1100 kids to six faculty members,” Dillman said. “You were lucky if you had a backpack. You were even luckier if you had something to carry in it. How are you supposed to teach children in conditions like that?”

Students were not the only ones working with less-than-adequate tools.

“Some of our porters were wearing bowling shoes or flip-flops made out of tires,” junior Stefanie Cornnell said. “I know if I was planning to go on a climb back home dressed like that they wouldn’t even let me on the mountain.”

The Outdoors Club is having a gear drive on Tuesday, March 27, collecting material to send back to the guides that helped them during the summit. Dillman stressed that the Outdoors Club was willing to take anything students could afford to let go of. Socks, especially, were a crucial supply during the trip that many of the students gave whatever they could spare of to their porters.

“When [Dillman] says anything and everything he’s pretty serious,” Cornell said. “They don’t have anything compared to what we have.”

Mehran Nojan, founder of the OGG and Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, emphasized in her explanation of the OGG that while an important achievement, the founding idea was to foster the sense of being a global citizen.

“Reaching the top is the goal, but it is not the point of the entire class,” Nojan said. Nojan plans to use the success of the OGG to fund the dream that the club was built upon, to start a study abroad scholarship to aid low-level income students who wish go take part in international education programs.

“Financial resources are one of the biggest obstacles that students face,” Nojan said.

Individual donors among major corporations and even students on campus could bring a life-changing experience to individuals who would not otherwise be able to take part.

“If a student could spare $5 it would be a step in the right direction,” Nojan said.

Photo by Adam Wolfe | The Oswegonian

The return of Oswego State students from winter break has brought energy back to the city, along with a boost to many local businesses.

The bars, pizza shops and fast food restaurants on the west side of Oswego certainly felt the absence of the students during the month-long vacation. Classes ended mid-December and did not resume until Jan. 23. The city is once again bustling with college students.

One business that certainly felt the absence of Oswego State students is C’s Farm Market and Beverage Center. The company is both a produce and beer shop. Its alcohol section, consisting of beer, wine coolers and malt beverages has one of the largest selections in Oswego County.

Eric Ormsbee, a senior at Oswego State has worked at C’s for nearly eight months. He is also one of the small group of students who remained in Oswego over a portion of the winter vacation.

“I was able to go home for a while, but I figured I’d stay up here for part of break to work a little,” Ormsbee said.

He works the beer shift, which is usually open until 8 p.m. on both Fridays and Saturdays. Over winter break, however, the store closed at 5 p.m. on Fridays and at 2 p.m. on Saturdays. According to Ormsbee, business is much slower during the month that the students are away.

C’s keeps less employees in the store during that time.

“We only had one person working the beer shift and two people on produce,” Ormsbee said. With the students back, the store uses two people for the beer shift and three for produce.

The River’s End Bookstore does not make many changes with the absence of Oswego State students. According to Bill Reilly, an employee at the bookstore, it keeps regular hours year round.

The bookstore may not alter its hours due to the presence or absence of the students, but Reilly said the business “can definitely tell” when the students are back.

“There’s a different energy when you guys (students) are here,” Reilly said.

Oswego State students go into the store often. According to Reilly, they frequently partake in the shop’s river’s end readings.

Oswego State junior Adam Jean spent the majority of his winter break in Oswego. He is employed at Aldi on the east side of Oswego.

“Life is a lot different when you’re the only college kid in Oswego,” Jean said.

He claimed there was no real difference in business at Aldi with the students home. His social life, on the other hand, nearly disappeared.

“There’s nothing to do here over Christmas break,” Jean said. He said the extra hours he was able to work without a busy class schedule made staying in town worth it. He offered a quick pointer for making it through the break without his friends being in town.

“Thank god for Netflix,” Jean said.

Photo by Bill Portoghese | The Oswegonian

Wales native, Christopher Monger, diverged from the cultural when he became a writer and a director.

“Where I came from, the choices were to either be a coal miner or a doctor; neither of those appealed to me,” Monger said Wednesday night in Campus Center to approximately 150 people.

He began painting at a young age. “When I see something that inspires me, I try to grab it and hold onto it to get that emotion across,” he said.

Besides painting, he directed his first amateur 25-minute movie with his brother, which was circulated across Monger’s campus.

“It’s funny because it’s such bad acting and bad sound, but it still packs an emotional punch,” he said.

“I have no idea how I did it [making the film],” he said. “I was getting these grants to make more films and each one I tried to didn’t turn out right because the feeling behind it wasn’t there anymore.”

“I started asking myself; ‘who am I and what the hell am I doing?’” Monger soon picked up landscape painting with friends.

“I started fooling around with trying to create feeling into the painting.” In doing so he realized he could integrate these paintings into storyboards for his films.

Monger said according to Sigmund Freud, Celtics could not be psychoanalyzed because they could not distinguish between their subconscious and their conscious; that it all blurred together.

“Sometimes we can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality,” he said. “I’d like to think that’s why I’m a great storyteller.”

“I was interested in what he had to say about what the creative writing process is for him,” said Amber Hammonds, a senior broadcasting major. “I want to make films and this talk has inspired me to write again.”

Peter Mahan found out about the talk through the local newspaper and was hooked.

“I’m about his age and it’s an inspiration,” said local resident Peter Mahan. “I love his ‘just go for it attitude.’ I’m interested in becoming a filmmaker and since I’m retiring in four years, which is scary, I figure it can be used as my jumping off point.”

Monger told the audience that if they work diligently and endlessly on a project, they will get results.

“It may not be what you imagined, but it will be better than what you thought,” he said.

Photo by Adam Wolfe | The Oswegonian

National data indicates that annual movie ticket sales have been at their lowest since 1995. Despite this, Zach Portelli, co-manager of the Oswego Cinema said he did not believe it was a cause for concern.

“It depends on what movie is out and also if college is in session. College students are a big demographic,” he said.

Even though ticket sales have been down, viewers have still kept up with the latest films, even if they have not been going to theaters. Websites, such as Netflix, have been growing recent years. As of January 2011, Nexflix had about 20 million users, which includes streaming videos online and getting DVDs sent in the mail.

Recently, Netflix changed its prices, but some customers still find Netflix to be well worth the money. Sophomore and Netflix user, Carlee Pacht, said that although she now only streams movies from the site, she still enjoys it “because they have a lot of movies and shows.” The only downside, according to her, “the movies aren’t always the newest ones.”

RedBox allows viewers to rent movies for as long as they choose, costing a dollar per day. At the end of June 2011, RedBox had more than 33,000 kiosks in more than 27,800 locations.

“I like it because it’s convenient, cheap and it has new releases,” said senior Lindsey O’Leary.

Movies being viewed online have affected local film makers as well. “We have noticed that more people buy our stuff video-on-demand style than on DVD,” said Jay Covey, producer for Mad Angel Films, based in Utica, N.Y. in an email. Covey said that 20 percent of people buy DVDs and the remaining 80 percent buy video on-demand.

Cost increases and different types of movie styling like 3-D include some of the reasons why people have not gone to the movies as much as they used to, but people do not plan on forgetting about seeing movies in theaters completely. Cinema and screen studies major, senior Nic Markham, said that even though there are so many different ways to watch, films are “primarily going to go through theaters for awhile.”

Another problem that may affect some college students is getting a ride to the movie theater. This is not a problem for students who attend Oswego State.

“I don’t think having to drive to the movie theater really impacts students because a lot of people carpool and it’s fun to get out rather than always staying in,” Pacht said.

If given the choice, many students would choose to see movies in theaters, as opposed to viewing them online.

“The big screen and the sound surrounding you,” Markham said. “It’s an event to go to a theater instead of sitting at home. And seeing a movie with a full crowd is great. Laughing with others or screaming with others, pure nirvana.”

Between seeing movies in a theater or on DVD, there is “no competition. You get more experience going to the movie theater than watching a DVD,” Portelli said.

Photo by Seyi Lambidi | The Oswegonian

Born and raised in Mexico City, Rice Creek Director Lucina Hernandez always had dreams of becoming successful in life, especially in the area of science. As a child, she loved animals and was certain that she wanted to pursue a profession in science as an adult.

“When I was a child, my dream was to go to Africa to study animals,” Hernandez said Wednesday afternoon. “I dream, I dream, I dream to work with animals.”

Hernandez presented her trials and triumphs while being a woman ecologist in Mexico as part of Liberal Arts and Sciences lecture series on in Sheldon Hall.

Her appointments to director of Rice Creek Field Station and Assistant Professor of Biology at Oswego State in 2008 has helped further her research, work and publications within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) field.

Hernandez area of specialty is in ecology and conversation with research interests in various areas including mammal biodiversity, predator-prey interactions and impact of the global change in terrestrial mammal communities.

She has worked with more than 45 publications and is known worldwide for her work in ecology and conservation. Hernandez will be recognized in the month of April at the International Conference of Biology Diversity in China.

Hernandez was able to gain a great amount of experience by working for Gonzalo Halffter, who created the Institute of Ecology. She was able to gain connections with scientists in the U.S. through the institute’s creation of Biosphere Reserves in 1970.

In addition, Hernandez worked for various biospheres in Mexico such as the Mapimi Biosphere in 1976. The biosphere protected endangered Bolson tortoise species, which are the largest tortoise species found in North America. La Michilia Biosphere was another reservation that Hernandez worked on, which protected the endangered species of Mexican wolf.

Although Hernandez gained many experiences within the field of ecology, she faced many trials in order to become a successful woman in science. “People brought me down by telling me that I should not study biology, instead I should do some work with flowers,” Hernandez said.

“My wedding was more important than my PH.D to my family,” Hernandez said about one of her trials.

“As I arrived in America and came to SUNY Oswego. I was surprised to see that the president of the school was a woman and that many women held high positions,” Hernandez said. She was used to seeing men in high positions and in many areas of the workforce.

Despite all of the trials Hernandez faced, she made triumphs by becoming the first woman to become the director of the bio-reserves at the branch of Durango at the Institute of Ecology.

“My main goal is being able to facilitate research experiences to students and many women,” Hernandez said. She added “I think it’s important for professors to have a relationship with students and watching them succeed.”

Hernandez said her biggest commitment is to help her students to make their dreams a reality.

“All of us have dreams, some of us have dreams close to us, but we do not see it,” she said. “It is the help of the professors to help students achieve their dreams.”

Oswego State will present a series of lectures based on women is in STEM professions. Lectures are free to the public and will be held in Sheldon Hall Historic Classroom (Room 222) at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays until the month of May.

The Oswego Residency Initiative for Teacher Excellence (O-RITE) takes graduate students and offers them teacher preparation in their discipline through a three-year graduate program, said project director Barbara Garii, associate dean and associate professor for the School of Education.

O-RITE takes the 180-day student teaching requirement and has the graduate student teach in high-need schools in Oswego County, Syracuse and/or New York City, according to a Faculty Assembly document.

“The schools involved in the program have large populations of students that are not making adequate progress when it comes to things like standardized testing,” Garii said.

Garii explained that student teachers that come to these high-need schools are a huge help. They are able to take students with many challenges and give them one-on-one help while the teacher educates the larger portion of the class.

“These high-need schools that we are working with need extra support and to have another trained individual in the classroom is extremely beneficial,” Garii said. “These Oswego students are also learning so much by being able to use what they’ve learned through their training in an actual classroom setting.”

Nina Vetrano, an Italian teacher at Suffern Middle School in Suffern, N.Y., believes that any opportunity a student teacher has in the classroom, in terms of planning lessons and being able to reflect on their experience with students, are crucial aspects to becoming a good teacher.

“Student teaching gives perspectives teachers experience in the classroom,” Vetrano said. “Teaching is not all about theory, you need to be able to interact with your students.”

Vetrano believes that this grant given to Oswego State is well deserved.

“The sooner we can get these students in the classroom and engaging with their students, the better and more beneficial it will be for the future teacher,” she said.

Since O-RITE is a residency program designed for 33 graduate students, they will live near their placements and complete the majority of coursework online.

Upon completion, students will receive a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) for students with disabilities with concentrations in various mathematics, sciences and linguistics. Graduates will be trained and recommended to work with special needs students. The students will also sign an agreement that states they will work in a high need school for four years after receiving their degree.

Because of this new program, Oswego State’s School of Education has been getting a lot of recognition.

“People are looking at SUNY Oswego now,” Garii said. “Other organizations are asking us about this program because it is the wave of the future.”

Garii taught algebra to undergraduates for a number of years before taking her position as associate dean and associate professor for the School of Education at Oswego State.

“I absolutely loved teaching,” Garii said. “It’s an opportunity to empower students and get them to take control of their future.”