FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | Farmingdale State College celebrated its annual Community Engagement Week from April 15-19, and nine student-athletes from FSC's athletics program paid a visit to nearby Northside Elementary School on Friday morning to meet students in their classroom environments.

Each Farmingdale State student-athlete was paired with one of the Northside classrooms, which ranged from kindergarten to fifth-grade settings, for a 45-minute time period. While part of the time was spent as a question-and-answer session with the classes' newly found friends, the student-athletes engaged in classroom activities such as reading to the children, painting as part of an Earth Day project, and even being educated about one class's pet turtle.

The event, which came up as a concept during a brainstorming session in one of Farmingdale State's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) earlier this year, is something that both the Department of Athletics and Northside – which is located just over one mile from the FSC athletics complex – are looking to continue with more frequency.

"I am very proud of the partnership that our student-athletes, and our department, were able to form with Friday's visit to Northside Elementary School," said Tom Azzara, director of athletics at FSC. "Through months of preparation by both sides, Tom Emberley (FSC director of athletic communications and SAAC liaison) and I could tell that the first event at the school would likely be amazing. And with hearing the positive feedback from everybody that was involved with the day, it just shows how much of an impact our student-athletes were able to make on Northside's students. We look forward to continuing this community partnership well into the future."

Student-athletes who participated in the Rams' first visit to Northside included:

• Joshua Andrechuk (Sophomore, Baseball; Holbrook, N.Y.)
• Christopher Cerna (Junior, Men's Soccer; Brentwood, N.Y.)
• TJ Cox (Sophomore, Baseball; Mineola, N.Y.)
• Sarah Fava (Junior, Women's Lacrosse; Lynbrook, N.Y.)
• Bailey Hammock (Freshman, Softball/Women's Soccer; Port Jervis, N.Y.)
• Alycia Haynes (Senior, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field; Adams Center, N.Y.) #
• Robert Kalinowski (Junior, Men's Cross Country/Track and Field; Farmingdale, N.Y.)
• Carly Livingston (Freshman Women's Lacrosse; Farmingdale, N.Y.) %
• Samantha Stolfi (Sophomore, Softball; Pt. Jefferson Station, N.Y.) ^

# - president of the FSC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
% - alumna of the Farmingdale School District, and former student at Northside Elementary School
^ - secretary of the FSC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

What they are saying about their visit to Northside Elementary School

Joshua Andrechuk: "It really felt good to spend time with the students at Northside. The ability to help out a class and engage with the students in their activities was an awesome way to spend part of our Friday morning."

Carly Livingston: "I enjoyed getting to spend time with the students in the classroom. This was a fun way for us to give back, and for the kids to look up to us and see us as role models."

Samantha Stolfi: "The staff and students at Northside were nothing but excellent, and they made all of us feel so comfortable."