A Look at Connecticut’s Annual Woodstock Fair

Dr. Steven Raheb, a retired physician who formerly owned and served as president of Connecticut’s Women’s Health Center of Putnam, has built a career as an adjunct biology professor. Dr. Steven Raheb is also an active member of his local community, holding positions with the Woodstock Agricultural Society and the Woodstock Fair.

The Woodstock Fair is an annual agricultural event established in 1861. Designed to entertain the entire community, the event offers a range of activities, including a petting zoo, go-kart races, and livestock shows.

The fair’s more than 200,000 estimated annual attendees also have the option to browse food and flower vendors and take in musical performances. Past performers at the Woodstock Fair have included New England native Rachel Platten, who had a No. 1 hit in 2015 with “The Fight Song,” and country singer Craig Morgan.

The Woodstock Fair holds distinction as the second-oldest event of its kind in Connecticut. To keep up-to-date on news regarding the 2021 iteration of the fair, visit www.woodstockfair.com.

Glassblowing: An Age-Old Technique That Is Still Practiced

An adjunct professor of biology and human sciences at Quinebaug Valley Community College, Dr. Steven Raheb possesses a background as a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve and as a physician. Dr. Steven Raheb has begun to pursue his interest in forming hand thrown ceramics and glassblowing.

Glassblowing is a labor-intensive artisanal craft that requires significant precision and skill. Glassblowing is a technique that has been used since the 1st century B.C., originating in the ancient Roman Empire and spreading across the world as the empire expanded.

Over the years, glassblowing has been used to produce glassware for daily and practical use, as well as recreational items such as pipes. The process of glassblowing involves using a blowpipe to inflate and expand molten glass. The molten glass is then subsequently molded into glassware. In the 1960’s, the modern Western glassblowing movement began, sparked by works produced by Harvey Littleton. Today, there are many different art institutes that offer classes focusing on glassblowing.

Glassblowing – Main Tools

Dr. Steven Raheb has transitioned from a career practicing medicine to a career teaching university-level biology. Active in his community, Dr. Steven Raheb serves on the board of the Woodstock Agricultural Society and has created crafts (glass blown objects and hand-thrown ceramics) for the annual Woodstock Fair.

A versatile art, glassblowing involves giving the desired shape to glass by blowing air into it while in molten form. By blowing molten glass, it is possible to craft a variety of objects, ranging from plates to statues. The main tools used in glassblowing are the furnace, blowpipe, marver, jacks, and small shape-adding tools.

Furnace: The furnace heats a piece of glass to a molten state, making it malleable.

Blowpipe: A pipe-like instrument, the blowpipe is used for blowing air into the molten glass, and can make possible shaping the glass into cylindrical and symmetrical forms.

Marver: A slab of polished steel, brass, graphite, or iron, the glass is rolled over the marver to make it into a cylindrical shape.

Jacks: This tweezers-like tool is used to remove the glass from a blowpipe.

QVCC Designated Military Friendly School 10 Years in a Row

Dr. Steven Raheb is a physician with decades of experience caring for patients as an OB/GYN. Now serving in academia, Dr. Steven Raheb is an adjunct professor of biology at Quinebaug Valley Community College (QVCC).

At the start of 2020, QVCC announced it had maintained its Gold status distinction as a designated Military Friendly School. The Military Friendly School designation is awarded every year to colleges and universities that make meaningful investments to better serve active military and veteran students. Using standardized and proprietary criteria, the Military Friendly Advisory Council together with Viqtory, subjects schools to surveys and then combines their survey scores with performance ratings in benchmark metrics like student retention, graduation, loan default, and job placement, among veterans.

Over 1,600 schools participated in the 2020-2021 survey, while only 695 earned a Military Friendly designation.

QVCC remains committed to giving quality education opportunities to the men and women who have served selflessly in the military. It continually invests in veteran-friendly programs, which have led to its recognition as a Military Friendly School for 10 years in a row.

Rotary-USAID Partnership Helps Improve WASH in Ghana

Happy faces in Ghana Photo by bill wegener on Unsplash

Experienced obstetrician and gynecologist Steven Raheb, MD teaches biology at the Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, Connecticut as an adjunct professor. Dr. Steven Raheb is actively involved in community service through Rotary International.

Rotary International, in partnership with USAID, seeks to solve Ghana’s major problem in WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene). Only two-thirds of Ghana’s rural population has access to safe drinking water, which becomes available only after making a 30-minute round trip. Twenty percent of Ghanaians do not use latrines but defecates outside which results in water, food and soil contamination.

The partnership tackles the issue by building latrines and teaching Ghanaians proper hygiene and sanitation by changing their behavior. In this partnership, Rotary provides business skill and community leadership while USAID supplies the needed technical expertise. Additionally, Rotary provides half of the $18 million funds needed to keep the partnership operational.

Phase 1 of the project ended in 2013, while Phase 2 is currently ongoing and is expected to conclude in 2020. Many deprived communities have been reached by the initiative. Three goals are being accomplished as the project unfolds: sanitation and hygiene have improved in schools and health facilities, communities have increased access to safe drinking water, and the Ghanaian government has been amply enabled to finance WASH efforts.

At the end of Phase 2, over 160,000 locals will benefit from 174 latrine blocks built in schools, 166 community hand pumps, six mechanized boreholes, and three reticulated water systems. Moreover, trained community-based hygiene promoters and school health educators are expected to lead the behavioral change campaigns that will seek to stop open defecation. At present, about 740 Ghana communities have been declared free from open defecation.