The 21 schools were selected based on the home addresses of CRD employees. They are: Shenendehowa High School, Niskayuna High School, Scotia-Glenville Senior High School, Mohonasen Senior High School, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, Ballston Spa Senior High School, Bishop Maginn High School, Amsterdam High School, Schenectady High School, Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School, Shaker High School - North Colonie School District, Saratoga Springs High School, Saratoga Central Catholic High School, Albany High School, Colonie Central High School - South Colonie School District, Troy High School, Duanesburg Junior-Senior High School, Schalmont High School, Guilderland High School, Watervliet Junior-Senior HS, Waterford-Halfmoon Junior-Senior High School. Each school selected their award winner based on the student's demonstrated leadership, teamwork, committment to the community, achievement and potential.
Steinmetz Park was chosen because its namesake, Charles Steinmetz, was one of the founders of the GE R&D Center. Steinmetz, an avowed naturalist and force behind the creation of Schenectady's fine system of parks, would surely have approved of the project. The extensive renovations included general clean up, landscaping and flower planting, new picnic tables, benches, barbecue grills, and playground equipment. The planning, decision making and actual work on the Steinmetz Park project was the result of months of planning among GE R&D employees, GE Elfun volunteers, Steinmetz Park neighbors, Cornell Cooperative Extension staff, and staff from the City of Schenectady Parks and Recreation Department, and the City of Schenectady School System. One very important aspect of the park restoration became the responsibility of neighborhood children who play in Steinmetz Park and got to choose the new playground equipment from a catalogue of playground furnishings.
Some 80 Schenectady elementary students from grades 2-6 benefitted from full-tuition scholarships at a unique one-week day camp of discovery, creation and innovation called Camp Invention. The $20,000 program was sponsored by GE Corporate Research & Development as part of its year-long Centennial Celebration. It began on Monday, June 26 and continued until Friday, June 30 at Pleasant Valley Elementary School. Camp Invention, an outreach program of the National Inventors Hall of FameŽ builds on a child's innate curiosity and intuition about the way things work. Its engaging, hands-on activities give children a wide variety of opportunities to explore, create, discover, cooperate, and problem-solve.
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