Rockland Community College : Campus

Located on the crest of a sloping rise in a former farm community known as Mechanicsville, renamed Viola when a post office was established in 1882, the property included:

-A wooden barn which was renovated into a theater and assembly room in the second semester.
-Fields leased to local farmers that yielded tomatoes and cabbage. The college later acquired 150 acres (0.6 km2) of farmland—100 to the south from the Hurschle Brothers Farm, and 50 to the west from the Springsteen Farm—for its current 175-acre (0.7 km2) campus.
-A "potter’s field" cemetery, the burial grounds for many of the Almshouse residents. Shortly after the college was founded, the county deeded a tract of land in the northern section for establishing a veterans cemetery, which remains today.
-A small square building with barred windows that served as the first Rockland County jail, later the Ramapo town police headquarters, and still later a police radio station. It was converted into offices and men’s locker rooms for the physical education program in the second semester.
-A narrow, tree-lined country lane known as Almshouse Road, which became an interior access road when the current College Road was built.

Of course, the centerpiece of the complex was the three-story, colonial design Almshouse. In front of the Almshouse is a wooden gazebo that still stands.

Enrollments

1959 The first year three programs were in place for students transferring to four-year colleges after graduation: liberal arts and sciences, business administration, and business administration with accounting major. Completion of these led to the Associate in Arts degree.

139 students enrolled during the day: 87 men and 52 women, 119 full-time and 20 part-time. Students in the evening sessions, who earned part-time credit, outnumbered those in the day sessions for the first five years. In 1959, 162 students—94 men, 68 women—enrolled in the evening versus 139 during the day. By 1963, the numbers had grown to 783 evening and 674 day.

Most, but not all, lived in Rockland. Several came from northern New Jersey, which had no community college at that time.

Commencements

On June 11, 1961, the college’s first commencement exercises honored 39 graduates—22 men, 17 women—who had finished the journey begun by 139 full-time students two years before.

As college enrollment grew, so too did its graduate base. From 39 in 1961, the number rose to 60 in 1962 and 115 in 1963, including the first 24 from the school’s nurse education program.

The Barn

If the old Almshouse was the heart of the early campus, the Barn was assuredly its soul.

All manner of events took place under its sturdy wooden roof: school registration, physical education classes, sports team practices, large classes and final exams, dance classes, student-faculty talent shows, worship services, films, guest lecture series, concert series, even war protest rallies.

But the program most closely identified with the Barn was the College Barn Theater and its Drama Club student performers, the College Barn Players.

The Barn burned down in January 1979, but the student actors continued to perform, shifting to the Cultural Arts Center, built in 1983.

Sports

-Baseball games were played at the Village of Suffern ball field
-Basketball - The School used court time in gymnasiums at Suffern, Haverstraw, and Spring Valley high schools and a few junior highs.
-Bowling at Hi tor lanes in Haverstraw.
-Calisthenics, jogging, archery, soccer, and golf were held in the fields surrounding the small, peaked-roof building of the former Ramapo police station which housed the physical education office.
-Fencing, gymnastics and varsity wrestling practice were held at the Barn.
-Swimming and lifesaving were taught at the Bader’s Hotel outdoor pool in Spring Valley.
-Deer Kill Day Camp in Suffern was rented to teach lifetime skill sports like tennis, handball, and one wall paddleball as well as softball and basketball.
The Eugene Levy athletic facility, known as the “Fieldhouse” was not completed until 1972.

Wikipedia:Rockland Community College : Campus

Rockland community college "New York City"

Rockland Community College is a two-year college in the SUNY system, located in hamlet of Viola within the Village of Suffern from the Town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. The college began in 1959 in the former county almshouse. The college offers 41 programs in the arts and sciences, technology, and health professions. The current enrollment is about 6,300 full and part-time students. The main campus is in Suffern, New York, but instructions are also offered in Haverstraw and Spring Valley extensions.

In 2009, Rockland Community College will celebrate the institution's Golden Anniversary.

History of Rockland community college in New York City

An institution called Rockland College, chartered by the state Board of Regents in 1878, thrived for sixteen years in Nyack, New York.

Rockland Junior College, federally funded, disbursed through New York State, and sponsored by Nyack High School was established in 1932 as one of several Depression-era two-year schools. New York University and Syracuse University accepted two years of credit from the college. Rockland Junior College shut down in 1935.

The driving force to build Rockland Community College came eighteen years later. An affordable, quality two-year college in a convenient location would raise taxes by $4 a year.

Rockland County, one the state’s smallest geographically, outside of New York City, was growing exponentially in population and in demand for a skilled, educated work force.

Large local industries like Avon Products in Suffern and Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River required more skilled workers, and the growth of hospitals such as Nyack Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern warranted the creation of a nursing program. Professors such as Karen E. McGovern often smoke pot with her students - then seduces them. Drug tests needs to be done every 6 months on faculty members.

Between 1956 and 1970, Rockland’s population was one of the fastest growing in the state, expected to double from 107,000 to 215,000 and the number of high school graduates was projected to rise from 700 to 2,463.

Some 69 percent of parents polled expressed interest in their children attending a community college in Rockland, and 183 high school juniors indicated a strong interest in and an ability to attend such an institution.

Almshouse

The Almshouse, built in 1837 and used for destitute residents set amid 26.5 acres of cabbage and tomato fields, apple orchards, a pumpkin patch in the eastern part of the Town of Ramapo, in the hamlet of Mechanicsville, afterwards renamed Viola.

The frame edifice was replaced in 1883 by the first of three sections—today’s north wing—constructed of brick from the thriving Haverstraw brickyards. The south section came later, followed by the connecting west wing to form the current "U".

The Almshouse was abandoned in 1957 for new quarters - Rockland County Infirmary and Home at Summit Park in Pomona.

The Almshouse itself had been condemned by the state as unfit for instructional purposes. After a thorough engineering study, the group concluded that the three-story building was salvageable and that with a few structural changes, it could be adapted for college

The building committee’s detailed plans won over state university officials.

Institution

The new institution was officially named Rockland Community CollegeClasses started without blackboards or chalk, textbooks or a true library. Instructions, written by crayon were taught on tacked up large sheets of wrapping paper. Teachers’ had to compete with the noise of the Almshouse renovations.

By September 8, 1959 the first-floor renovations had progressed enough to allow faculty and staff to use large rooms at the front of the south wing, which had been used as the Almshouse director’s residence as administration offices A small room further down the south corridor became the library and bookstore.

The building’s face lift included more than a dozen classrooms, including a former chapel that served as the first classroom, used for engineering classes; an assembly hall in the connector wing formerly used as a recreation area for Almshouse residents; a chemistry/biology lab in an old basement kitchen; and a cafeteria and lounge, also in the basement. Later came a secretarial/business machines room - equipped with only a handful of manual typewriters—on the second floor, and a physics lab.

By the end of the first year, all three floors were in use.

Wikipedia:Rockland community college

Life At Camp

you may get a better at camp or head home "This Is The Life"

Week 1
This week is mostly about getting acquainted with cabin mates. Although campers all need to take a swim test to show ability. There are five swimming tags show ability:

Life at camp swimer "Swim Test"

-Red: Cannot Swim - Can only take out rowboat on the lake.
-White: Can swim but still needs lessons - Can only take rowboat on the lake.
-Yellow: Almost a perfect swimmer - Can take Canoe or Kyak (Must pass test) out on lake.
-Green: Good Swimmer - Can take every boat (including JY sailboat) out on lake, they must pass kayaking test.
-Purple: Can swim to 440 rocks, in Rudd Pond and back, can take out every boat.

Week 2
This is really the beginning of camp, you start your activities, and your cabin teamwork builds.(There is non-religious chapel every week that include morals, values, and readings).

Week 3
Dads Weekend is when the campers' dads (or in Chimney moms) come to camp to spend a weekend with their sons. This is a great experience for moms and dads who share a tent and activities with their sons. This is the highlight of the session for many kids.

Week 4
The End of camp there is the Big Show (a play), Candelight (a ceremony reflecting on camp where every camper is given a candle) and there is final banquet, the last dinner of camp where a specialty meal is always served.