St. Joseph’s College and National Park Service to Host Joint Centennial Celebration

August 03, 2016

Patchogue, N.Y. – St. Joseph’s College (SJC),  Fire Island National Seashore, and the Friends of Fire Island National Seashore (FFINS) will cohost an event to celebrate the centennial anniversaries of both the College and the National Park Service (NPS) on Sunday, August 28 at Watch Hill on Fire Island. The celebration will begin at the Watch Hill Ferry Terminal on West Avenue in Patchogue, New York at 11:30 a.m. with the ferry scheduled to leave for Fire Island at noon.

“SJC and NPS both turn 100-years-old this year. The proximity of the College to Watch Hill provides rich learning opportunities for our students and the local community. We thought it would a great idea to partner and celebrate together,” said Paige Carbone ’02, Director of Alumni Engagement and the College Centennial at SJC.

Students and faculty can participate in guided environmental programs and other activities at Watch Hill, including:

  • Guided marine seining, barrier island nature explorations, and en plein air painting and sketching workshops facilitated by SJC professors and National Park Service park rangers
  • Hiking the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness, New York State’s only federal wilderness, which contains a variety of barrier island ecosystems in a relatively natural condition
  • Bird watching, photography and discovery along the self-guided boardwalk nature trail winding through vast salt marsh habitat, maritime forest and swale barrier island ecosystems
  • Sun bathing and swimming  at the life guard-protected ocean beach

“As the centennial year for both NPS and SJC, this is a great opportunity for Fire Island National Seashore to connect the next generation of park stewards to the national park in their backyard,” said Chris Soller, Fire Island National Seashore superintendent.

The Centennial Celebration is free and open to the public. Events will be followed by a reception with light refreshments at The Pier at Watch Hill Marina. For more information or to RSVP, contact Paige Carbone at 631.687.2653 or [email protected], or Kathy Krause at 631.687.4772 or [email protected].

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 407 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at nps.gov, on Facebook at facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter at twitter.com/natlparkservice and YouTube at youtube.com/nationalparkservice.

ABOUT ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE
St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service. Through SJC Brooklyn, SJC Long Island and SJC Online, the College offers degrees in 49 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs.