Sharon Robinson Visits Riverdale Country School

Last week, Riverdale Country School, with trustee Gregg Hymowitz, hosted author Sharon Robinson, the daughter of the famous baseball player Jackie Robinson.

Sharon met with students from both the Lower and Middle schools. She spoke about her father’s life, and answered various questions asked about her own childhood. She explained what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a legend, and why she decided to become an author.

Sharon’s nonfiction works include: Stealing a Home: An Intimate Family Portrait by the Daughter of Jackie Robinson, Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, Jackie’s Nine: Jackie Robinson’s Values to Live By, Testing the Ice, and Jackie’s Gift.

Sports Program is a Winner at the Riverdale Country School

At the Riverdale Country School the sports program lets student athletes shine as they develop team spirit, sportsmanship skills, the ability to work in a team, the great feeling of going beyond one’s abilities, and trying hard at something, while also exercising the body in healthful and enjoyable ways.

Riverdale Squash Team Deserves Kudos

This past February, from the 11th to the 13th, the 2011 U.S. High School Team Squash Championships were held in Connecticut. Riverdale’s Varsity Squash team finished in the 26th place out of 85 teams, an excellent showing deserving of a much deserved congratulations.

The U.S. High School Team Squash Championships just happens to be the largest such tournament in the world. Together there are 2,300 games which are played between 141 teams. The teams come from 16 different states with a total of 1,250 players.

The winners are divided into six separate boys’ divisions and four girls divisions’, with champions chosen in each of those categories. Riverdale’s squash team is only in its second season, nevertheless the team was able to improve its ranking significantly in only one year, from 48th place last year to the very impressive 26th place this year.

Praise for Squash Team from Coach

Coach Sally Hatfield praised the team under her tutelage: “We graduated just one senior last year, so this year I had the chance to work with basically the same kids. It was really rewarding for them to see how much they’ve improved, both individually and as a team. The High School Championships provide a fantastic bonding experience, and I hope for many more successful seasons to come!”

Gregg Hymowitz is on the Board of Trustees of the Riverdale Country School, an “independent day school that provides a continuous coeducational program for boys and girls from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve.”

Hymowitz Children’s Foundation Sponsors Poetry Slam

The Knicks Poetry Slam is an innovative program which encourages New York City youth to express themselves through the written word and the hip medium of rap. The competitive process involves months of preparation, including an open audition, poetry slam workshops, preliminary slams and semi-finals.

The Spoken Word competition is open to any student between ages 13 and 20, and 150 of those performing at the Open Audition and College Fair are then invited back to free poetry workshop sessions. After a round of workshops and semi-final competitions 13 of the top poets are invited back to the finals.

This year the finals took place on February 24th, 2011 at the New Amsterdam Theatre where the 13 competed for grants to attend college and other prizes.

Several organizations support the Knicks Poetry Slam, which awards 450,000 dollars in scholarships, grants and prizes to the winners. The Hymowitz Children’s Educational Foundation, for which Gregg Hymowitz is a trustee, is one of those organizations.

Youth Summit from Riverdale: Gregg Hymowitz

Riverdale Country School, where Gregg Hymowitz is on the Board, is thrilled by recent developments for four students. This team has just won a bid to be part of the Algalita Plastics are Forever International Youth Summit, which is a conference intended to teach youth leaders how to find solutions to reduce plastic waste.

The team from Riverdale was selected from 74 teams in 18 countries and a total of 30 teams, representing 14 countries, were selected to participate. The Riverdale team includes junior Dyaami D’Orazio, freshman Savannah D’Orazio, junior Kiara Santos, and senior Brett Miller. The Youth Summit will take place from March 11-13 in Long Beach, California.

Gregg Hymowitz and EnTrust Capital Employees

EnTrust Capital, where Gregg Hymowitz is Managing Partner, is made up of a team of very bright and highly educated employees. One of these is Michael Erb, Managing Director of Trading and Operations and a member of the EnTrust Capital Partners Risk Committee. Erb has a long history of work experience in the field, having been Manager of the Portfolio Reporting Department at Neuberger Berman LLC. He comes with an educational background of economics, having earned his BSc in the subject from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Like Gregg Hymowitz, Erb has now been with EnTrust Capital since 1997.

Riverdale Country School’s Science Symposium

This past November, Riverdale Country School and trustee Gregg Hymowitz launched an exciting, interesting event. Thirteen Upper School students were given the opportunity to present their summer science research to parents, students, faculty and staff at the Science Symposium of 2010.

The evening began with each participant presenting his or her poster and answering questions from the viewers. Then, the students shared a 5-7 minute PowerPoint presentation of their study.

The Science Symposium is unique in that there is no winner. Pam Findlay, a science teacher, explained that the event “is just an opportunity for the public and other students to hear about the wonderful, stimulating research programs our kids are lucky enough to be involved in over the summers

Riverdale Country School’s Family Reading Party

Earlier this year, the Lower School of Riverdale Country School, with trustee Gregg Hymowitz, launched an event which required the students to come with pillows, blankets and pajamas! The Family Reading Party included students, teachers, siblings and parents, all of whom spend the day celebrating the fun of reading. The participants enjoyed a read-aloud storytelling in the gym, and then discussed their favorite books.

This unique program is just one of many which take place at Riverdale Country School every year. They believe that activities like these will spark the imagination and interest of their students, and encourage them to enjoy learning.

Beautiful Horse at Rose Hill Farm

This is a picture of a beautiful horse at Rose Hill Farm, or Jolli Farms. The farm is owned by businessman and philanthropist Gregg Hymowitz.

Positive Power of Poetry at Knicks Slam

Hymowitz Children’s Educational Foundation is one of the proud sponsors of the yearly contest in New York City known as the Knicks Poetry Slam. It is always a challenge getting high school kids excited about almost anything, and especially things that could be labeled artsy or educational. But the Knicks Poetry Slam is able to engage kids and challenge them to express themselves in a way that suits their passions. Competing for valuable prizes and scholarships, high school kids can participate in either of two ways, orally or in writing.  The kids are now in rehearsal mode and will be begin competing in early December. Finals will take place on February 24, 20111 at the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway.
Gregg Hymowitz, as a trustee of the Hymowitz Children’s Educational Foundation, Inc, is an enthusiastic supporter of this innovative and fun program to get the kids into the world of creativity and the arts.


EnTrust Managing Partner Gregg Hymowitz Shorting No More with Cantillon

William von Mueffling decided last June to take his investment firm, Cantillon Capital Management down a new road. He closed his hedge funds, returned 3.5 billion dollars of investment money to investors, and stopped shorting stocks.

Since that sea-change Cantillon has gained back billions in pension fund investors and has more money under his control than he had before his decision. He charges less fees, and his investors are happy with the results, one of those investors being Gregg Hymowitz, managing partner of EnTrust Capital, Inc. Admiring the quality of Mr. Von Mueffling’s investments, Gregg Hymowitz, who is the last hedge fund-of-funds still partnering with Cantillon, said: “I think his analysis of securities is very disciplined. We’re not getting the short exposure, but we’re also not paying the hedge-fund fees.”