Education & Classes in Jefferson Valley-Yorktown

Donna Shari started out as an early childhood teacher whose hobby was painting pottery. At first, she was a familiar face at a paint-your-own-pottery studio. Then she started attending seminars on pouring molds and glazing bisque, until she’d been to more than 250. After an injury cut her teaching career short and the owner of the pottery studio announced his plans to close the place, Donna jumped at the chance to “make my hobby, my passion, into my business,” and took over the studio.

Donna’s new career taps into her talents as both a teacher and an artist as she helps painters of all ages choose plates, figurines, and mugs to personalize with paint, glaze, and territorial tongue licks. After artists perfect their creations, they leave the masterpieces for Donna to fire in a kiln and pick them about up a week later. Donna also teaches students to manipulate clay as it whirls atop a potter’s wheel or a pirouetting ballerina’s head.

Unlike swimming, nobody learns to fly by being thrown in the deep end. Instead, it takes gradual instruction to teach students the controls and feel of an aircraft guided by their hands. Luckily, instructors Antonio Ferrara and Zachary Barrett specialize in that sort of slow-burning scholarship. Both men make their living with their heads in the clouds. Ferrara flies for a commercial airline, ferrying passengers across vast distances in enormous jets. Barrett also possesses his commercial pilot's license, along with an FAA Flight Instructor certification.

At AAFI, LLC, the duo helps fledgling flyers find their sky legs with discovery flights and group ground school. They also teach longer courses, guiding students toward certifications as private-, multiengine-, and commercial-rated pilots.

Grounded from flying long ago, an old Lockheed Constellation sits in front of the terminal at Greenwood Lake Airport. Remodeled into a pilot's lounge and rental hall, the converted aircraft now offers views of aspiring pilots as they sharpen their skills under the capable guidance of Sky Training LLC's FAA–certified instructors. The company's training program meets or exceeds FAA standards, with serious flight students receiving practical experience combined with educational DVDs, textbooks, and Jeppesen visual and audio materials. Ground-school sessions cover regulations, flight planning, and radio procedures, and in-the-air sessions impart takeoff and landing skills and help students to master flight instruments. Sky Training also offers scenic flights over Greenwood Lake, teaching all types of professionals how to fly, from salesmen who want to cover more ground to dentists who need to fit their avian patients for braces.

Runny tofu. Limp lettuce. Bland steamed vegetables. That's how a lot of people view vegan food, and The Seed: A Vegan Experience's founder Harvey Fung was no exception. But that opinion changed in 2011. That's when the avid muay thai practitioner and owner of 82Mercer saw the documentary Forks Over Knives, which set him on his path to veganism and led him to discover that vegan cuisine can be hearty, satisfying, and, most importantly for a foodie like him, decadent and delicious. In fact, it's not unusual for him to have a slice or two of moist chocolate layer cake that leaves him "sated and happy" and able to walk past traditional patisseries without licking the window.

After realizing that his discovery couldn't be kept to himself, Fung decided to share his love of vegan fare with The Seed: A Vegan Experience, an endeavor to reach out to vegans, omnivores who really like tempeh, and vegetable skeptics all at once with inspiring talks, cooking lessons, and samples from NYC restaurants and earth-friendly vendors. The proceeds from the event will benefit two nonprofit organizations: The New York Coalition for Healthy School Fund, an organization that works to improve the health of New York's students statewide, and Mercy for Animals, a national organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty.

The licensed, FAA-certified instructors at United Aviation Academy employ a fleet of helicopters and airplanes that serve as airborne classrooms for students enrolled in instructional programs that range from introductory flights to full commercial-pilot certifications. Since the academy does not reside at a busy airport, students never have to wait for runway clearance before taking off and enjoying the magnificent views of the Hudson Valley from on high. On the ground, the academy grants its pilot's license candidates access to instruction, conference rooms, and offices for quiet study and uninterrupted experiments with paper airplane folding. The outfit's Redbird FMX flight simulator also allows for highly realistic earthbound practice within a fully enclosed cockpit, complete with more than 200 degrees of wraparound visuals and a wealth of training scenarios.

At fully stocked facilities, Mix 'em Up Bartending School's TIPS-certified instructors ready students for a career mixing drinks in a nightclub setting. Real taps, sinks, and machinery offer each pupil hands-on training, all overseen by potable professionals boasting the experience and chiseled biceps acquired during a minimum of seven years manning the taps. Music and disco lights foster a true-to-life atmosphere aimed at granting graduates the confidence needed to work in real bar conditions. Showing a commitment to helping all types of students succeed, Mix 'em Up pours out its curriculum in both full- and part-time classes and encourages graduates to take advantage of lifetime access to job-placement databases.