In 1985, Frank San Felice, the Social Studies Department Chair of the Hyde Park School District went to the state capital seeking funding for a bold idea: A Dutchess County Regional High School of Excellence (RHSOX). The program was originally conceived of as a way for the county's 14 school districts to pool resources and take talented students out of the classroom for a few hours a week to work directly with local professionals, scientists and artists.
Funding was eventually obtained by State Senator Jay P. Rolison, Jr. of Poughkeepsie; however, the scope of the program was pared down. RHSOX was re-envisioned as a Summer Scholars Program. It was launched in July 1986 at Bard College for 100 high school juniors and seniors from all around the county. In subsequent years, 140 students per summer were accepted in programs that were held concurrently at Bard, Marist and Vassar colleges. Students lived in the dorms for two weeks and had the opportunity to make friendships with other kids from all over Dutchess County. While the curricula included Math, Science and the Humanities, generally speaking each campus had a central theme and project assignment for the duration of the summer. The initiative was the first of it kind in the state and would enjoy an 8 year run.
In 1987 the students attending RHSOX at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY were tasked with producing video documentaries predicting the future of Dutchess County in the year 2000. Over the course of the program, the kids studied the various challenges that were confronting the county at the time. They were given direct access to a variety of Dutchess County and state officials to discuss the issues and attended seminars with guest speakers, such as futurist and author Alvin Toffler. The students then received basic instruction in video production and editing.
The participants were divided into four groups, each of which would explore a different subject and produce their own documentary. This author (Joshua Cohen, the Vagoda's guitarist) was in a group that focussed on township planning and how Dutchess County might prepare for a future with a diminished IBM. [As we all know now, the dominance of the Big Blue would be challenged by the emergence of mini-mainframes in the 1980s and the company would soon begin cutting back its presence in the county, a process that was accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s. ] A second group explored poverty in the county, while a third focussed on the future of transportation. The final group decided to take a different tact, creating a modern day "Rip Van Winkle" tale of a student that goes into a comma and returns to a completely changed Dutchess County in the year 2000.
While I had attended RSOX in the prior inaugural year at Bard and had greatly enjoyed the experience, it was during the summer at Marist traveling around the county and filming in the various townships that my personal identity as a "Dutchess County native" was truly solidified. For our documentary submission, fellow John Jay High School student Eric Chen and I composed all the music. It was an extremely fulfilling process. Moreover, there were a few pieces of music that really poured on the cheese hard, and to-date, I still get's teary-eyed hearing them. I hope you enjoy the score for "Dutchess 2000" and my channeling of Bob Dylan in the song "Shopping Mall Blues." (at minute 7:38 of the video)
Here are all four video productions, seen for the first time in more than 35 years! Let's open the time capsules, shall we?
Dutchess 2000: Crossroads to our Future
The Other Dutchess County: A Documentary
Road to Nowhere? Dutchess 2000: An Overview of Our Transportation System
Awaken 2000
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