The Henry Viscardi School in Albertson unveiled a new digital multimedia learning center last Thursday that will give students in grades seven through 12 to access to a full range of digital content and allow them to collaborate on creating content for distribution in the Albertson school and outside it.
“I think it’s an incredible advance for the Viscardi Center,” Viscardi Center president and CEO John Kemp said. “It gives us national if not global reach so our students have all the opportunity in the world open to them.”
The Viscardi School, which is part of the Viscardi Center, offers children with severe physical disabilities, who often require life-sustaining medical treatment throughout the day, a traditional education setting option that provides rigorous academics and opportunities for personal growth and leadership development. The Viscardi Center is a network of non-profit organizations that provides a lifespan of services for children and adults with disabilities.
A comedic video dubbed “Nightmare on Viscardi Street,” created by a group of Viscardi School seventh graders was shown at the multimedia center unveiling on Thursday.
A virtual tour of the Adelphi University sculpture garden was also shown to demonstrate the capacity the new center offers for distance learning.
Viscardi students can now take virtual tours of museums that would otherwise be inaccessible to them, according to Kim Brussell, Viscardi Center spokeswoman.
Thursday’s demonstration of the multimedia center started with Kemp delivering a video message from the center to a conference room in the Viscardi Center.
The multimedia center will also enable learning opportunities for adults who receive vocational training at the Viscardi Center.
A $350,000 donation from John and Janet Kornreich enabled the overhaul of the school’s multimedia learning center.
Kemp said the Kornreich’s saw the value of upgrading the center, which Kemp said had become “virtually obsolete.”
John Kornreich said he and his wife have been involved in providing financial support to the Viscardi School since 1996, establishing the Kornreich Technical Center, a music and arts center and a playground park a the school since that time.
“This has been something cooling in my mind for the past 18 years,” Kornreich said of the new multimedia center. “The Viscardi Center now has a state-of-the-art facility for transmitting and receiving any kind of communication over any media.”
Brussell said the multimedia center will give students the ability to produce creative content and public service messages for their fellow students. She said it will also offer a chance for high school students to gain practical experience they could apply to jobs they might take.
“It gives them hands-on experience,” Brussell said. “It’s a way for them to explore future careers.”
She said the Viscardi Center plans to eventually stream online video of the Viscardi School’s annual wheelchair basketball tournament and its yearly Sports Celebrity Night fundraising event.
