IC, South Hill School Form Partnership
	Ithaca College and South Hill Elementary School will celebrate their long-standing informal relationship with the announcement of a formal partnership between the two educational institutions on Tuesday, March 17. Students, faculty, and administrators from Ithaca College and the Ithaca City School District will participate in a morning assembly at the South Hill school, which will include the signing of a "Declaration of Partnership." That will be followed by classroom activities involving Ithaca College faculty and/or students in each of the grades. "We want every student and teacher to go home that day saying, ‘I did something really neat with someone from Ithaca College today,’ " says Bill Russell, director of the Ithaca College Center for Teacher Education. Activities will include music, storytelling, a chemistry demonstration, and game playing. Russell notes that the ceremony is intended not only to mark the beginning of new programs, but also to recognize the work that has gone on quietly through the years. South Hill principal Michael Ouckama says the partnership represents a tremendous opportunity for his students from kindergarten right up through fifth grade. "First and foremost, it can have an impact by stimulating these young people and expanding their horizons. It can expose them to areas that they otherwise might not have an opportunity to explore, but in which Ithaca College has a particular strength, such as the sciences, theater, and communications. The partnership won’t interfere with what each institution needs to do for its own students, but will capitalize on what each has to offer the other." Ithaca College education students have long served student-teaching assignments at the school in such areas as music and physical education, while South Hill teachers and administrators have returned the favor with presentations in the College’s teacher-education courses. In recent years Ithaca students have also volunteered in the South Hill library, on the playground, and for special events; used the school as a research site for psychology projects; and served as instructors in after-school programs. Ithaca College faculty have made presentations as part of the College’s Partnership in Teaching Program and serve on the South Hill School Council. The natural relationship between the two schools goes beyond being geographic neighbors. Many Ithaca College faculty and staff are parents of current South Hill students — not to mention South Hill graduates themselves — while the elementary school counts among its teachers and staff a number of Ithaca College alumni. A South Hill/Ithaca College Partnership Committee, with representation from both institutions, will be formed to monitor progress and facilitate cooperative ventures between the two institutions.