- [Stephond] Tonight on WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories, Jefferson Community College has roots that many aren't aware of.

Learn how and when it started in 1961.

And spring is here, and the best of it can be seen at Commissioner's Park in Ottawa.

The Canadian Tulip Festival celebrates its 70th year.

Also, we bring you the incredible vocals of opera singer Margaret Chalker.

We share her journey with you thanks to the legacy fund of Dorothea Susan Badenhausen.

Your stories, your region coming up right now on WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories.

(exciting music) - [Announcer] WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, The Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, Carthage Savings, CSX, The Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, The Richard S. Shineman Foundation and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories.

I'm Stephond Brunson.

With spring officially here and the restrictions lifting across Canada, home buyers are gearing up for a busy real estate season, although for many looking to purchase their first home, it could feel like a race against time as prices rise faster than some can save for a down payment.

Niki Anastasakis of Inside The Story CHCH has more.

(soft music) - From 2020 to 2021, we saw appreciation anywhere from 18 to 33%, depending on the neighborhood.

- [Niki] It's a scorching hot housing market breaking records month after month, with homes selling for evermore eye-popping prices, with seemingly every house of every size and shape going for big bucks.

- I saw a condo townhouse sell for over a million dollars this last week, two of them.

- With interest rates on mortgages now drifting higher, help may be on the way to bridge a sprawling affordability gap for many, though GTA real estate broker Lambros Demos says he doesn't expect the Bank of Canada's interest hike of a quarter of a percentage point to affect the home buying frenzy all that much, at least for the spring selling season.

Talk about the Bank of Canada now raising their interest rates.

What does this mean for the housing market and for our economy here in Canada?

- There's a lot of, I'm not gonna say confusion, but a lot of people don't understand exactly what it means.

It affects only the variable rate.

It doesn't affect the fixed rate.

And the variable rate makes up probably about 25% of all mortgages in Canada.

It also affects things like home equity lines of credit and other types of loans, so that's where you'll see a bigger impact for this announcement.

- [Niki] But don't let the sky high housing cost deter you from looking into investing your first property.

According to Demos, the broker says you won't regret it in the long run, especially since more properties are beginning to hit the market.

- I did my own kind of number crunching and I saw that freehold properties, for example, in Toronto, Peel and Halton region almost doubled from January to February, so the amount of supply.

They went up about 85%.

Town homes in particular went up 124%, so there's a ton more properties available for buyers.

- [Niki] Not all housing types are equal when it comes to price and availability though, Demos says.

Many millennials have been priced out of the detached housing market and are forced into settling for a condo or townhouse instead.

According to the real estate platform WOWA.ca, Toronto is now the most expensive housing market in Canada, ending Vancouver's over 30 year run, and the average home price increased 28% to $1.3 million year over year, a figure that surges to $2 million for detached properties, a difference of $700,000.

- So we've basically gone from a detached to a semi detached to a townhouse.

I know there are different types of townhouses.

So it seems like with each day we keep having to reduce either our expectation or our quality.

- [Niki] 31 year old Chineye Iheme, who's currently renting in Etobicoke, says her and her spouse's house search has proven to be much more challenging than they assumed it would be.

- We're a two income household and we consider ourselves to be at least mid to high, like in a mid to high earning range.

But we noticed that the kind of houses that we are seeing in the market that we can afford are not the quality or the size that we had initially assumed.

- [Niki] Iheme feels the government needs to step in to put a cap on how high offers are being accepted and to help encourage more housing on the market.

- Can they list at value so that we can adequately budget and have a realistic figure of what we should expect, but you see the list price and instinctively you think to yourself okay, let me just add 400,000 to this.

- The million dollar question many young Canadians are yearning to find out, is real estate still a good investment or a viable option for young people?

- 100% yeah, I think so.

Despite the prices continuing to go up.

- [Niki] If you're able to, Lambros says, this is your time to jump on a property, any property for that matter, because its value will appreciate almost immediately, as the housing market is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

- You look at over the last 40 years, the market has continued on an upward trend.

Yes, we've had a few dips here and there, but it's never come crashing down.

Even in the financial crisis of 2008, the market didn't crash.

- [Niki] With spring knocking on the door, more supply starting to hit the market and Ontario reopening, Demos predicts the market will begin to balance itself out, though there are many unknowns, like future interest rate increases or the risk of recession.

- If that affects supply chain, that could affect a whole bunch of things and throw us into a twist again, so who knows what's gonna happen?

- [Niki] For Inside The Story, I'm Niki Anastasakis.

- Jefferson Community College, a SUNY junior college right here in Jefferson County, has seen incredible growth over the years, and to think it all started in the early 60s at an elementary school.

WPBS producer Eric Cleary sat down with the school librarian and shares this trip back in time.

(soft music) - [Eric] Many in the area are well aware of Jefferson Community College and its impact on local higher education, but did you know that JCC wasn't always in its current location?

The college actually has roots on the north side of Watertown, on this very corner of Lansing Street.

JCC librarian John Thomas shares the origins of the college.

- JCC was founded November 7th, 1961, And it was interesting.

It was founded through a referendum of the voters of Jefferson County, and it was the second time around.

In 1959 they tried and failed by eight votes, I believe.

And the second time around it passed by a very healthy margin, 2,700 votes, I believe.

- [Eric] At the time of the election, there were already several SUNY colleges in the state.

This played a very big role in swing voters in favor of having their own SUNY college locally.

- Reading through the documents of the founding, there were several around the state at that point, and so that helped, I think.

There was some momentum.

I'm kind of inferring this, but figure late 50s, early 60s, of baby boomers or greatly expanded population in their teens, and the founding documents or the documents created by that committee, they do speak of how the competition to get into private colleges, it sounds like there were more people wanted college than could easily be provided.

Expenses of traveling to distant cities also a concern for frankly losing money.

Young people leaving the Watertown area to go to college elsewhere.

The nearest college was I think 60 miles away.

It's about the same situation as it is now.

And certainly as they were preparing documentation about the need and selling it to the voters, they were tracking the number of high school seniors in the local schools.

They knew how many folks were coming up and they had some mechanism to kind of calculate how many might go to college, so that understanding and trying to attract the young folks is certainly a significant part of it.

I can't quote the figures right now, but the first enrollment stats from fall of '63, I think it's like around 120 in the daytime but over 200 in the evening sessions, which I would assume those folks might be more what we call now the nontraditional or more adult learner groups.

The first president of JCC was James E. McVean, and he was unanimously selected as president in August of 1962, so a very interesting long history with the college and did a great job getting it off the ground.

The college was originally located at 643 Lansing Street in an elementary school building no longer being used by the Watertown school district.

It's interesting.

There were other locations suggested.

The Madison Barracks in Sacket's Harbor was on the table.

They considered having classes at the YMCA.

There was a county hospital that was under consideration as well, and there was quite a bit of reading through the minutes, a lot of discussion, a lot of debate, a lot of concern about the cost of renovation, et cetera.

But in the end, the Lansing Street location won the support of the board of trustees.

There were classes held at the Lansing Street location for a little bit over two years, and the campus was dedicated here in its current location of Coffeen Street in September of '65.

Looking at several of the anecdotes and some interviews from that time, everything was in a relatively small space.

It sounds like there were three floors.

There were lab facilities near or in men's bathroom, women's bathroom.

There was a very small snack bar and it sounds like it might be a machine that was the snack bar, so very small.

All the faculty were all in one big room as their offices, for example.

They made do with what they had and they knew it was a temporary situation.

From what I've read, it sounds like for the most part they all enjoyed it and had quite a little family there, actually.

It's interesting.

There's a course listing in the catalog from '65.

I do a lot of library instructions.

Some of the same course numbers are still in existence, English 101, English 102 still exist.

There've been other changes, but it's interesting.

It's had a lot of longevity, some of them.

- [Eric] Jefferson Community College has been educating students for over 50 years, and while some things have changed, many have not.

And as the campus and student body continues to grow, so do the traditions and influence the college has on the community.

For WPBS Weekly, I'm Eric Cleary.

- Nothing says spring like the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa.

This year, the festival celebrates its 70th year.

It's dubbed the platinum jubilee this season, and newcomers can expect to see thousands of different varieties of tulips.

The Canadian Tulip Festival has been recognizing the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers since 1953.

- What people love most about the tulip festival is the tulips.

With over 4,000 different breeds, you can meet a new tulip every day in the gardens at the National Capital Commission's Commissioners Park.

Newcomers to our festival can expect to learn about the original gift of tulips, which was given to all Canadians from the Dutch royal family and the Dutch people in gratitude for the role we played in the liberation of the Netherlands.

- The festival is still underway at Commissioners Park through May 23rd.

Festival hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Admission is free.

In one minute, how can you better bond with your kids this summer?

Here's how one father chooses quality time with his children in this parenting minute.

(soft music) - Hi, I'm James and I have three boys, Jayden, Jordan and Justin.

The most important part of being a father to me is being present with my kids and watching them grow.

Sometimes these walks, man, I learn so much about you.

I'm always looking for cool ways to hang out with my kids and learn with them.

What's this right here?

- It's a pipe.

- A pipe?

- Yeah.

- I find that there are opportunities everywhere to learn.

Sometimes a simple walk will bring on the best talks with your kids.

If you give them a chance to speak, they will educate you.

They will surprise you.

I don't know, it's a little bit cold, and you taught me that snakes don't really like the cold, right?

Something that I love to do with my kids is to leave an open-ended question.

Instead of giving them a yes or no question, I like to give them questions that they have to actually think about it.

Oh look, what's this?

Sometimes I just don't know the answer to their questions, and that's okay.

We'll go back home and we will research it.

That just gives us another opportunity to bond and to learn together.

- Sunken Rock Lighthouse on Bush Island, New York was converted to solar power in 1988.

Just offshore from Alexandria Bay, the light was constructed in 1847 to mark the entrance of the narrow passage where the shipping channel runs between Wellesley Island and the mainland.

Take a look.

(horn beeping) (soft music) - [Narrator] Located on Bush Island, the Sunken Rock Lighthouse marks the east entrance to the narrows between Wellesley Island and the mainland.

Constructed in 1848 and refitted in 1855, the lighthouse is 40 feet tall.

It was originally built as a brick structure and was 27 feet tall.

Still in active service, it is owned by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, which converted it to solar energy in 1988.

The lighthouse was constructed to warn mariners of a submerged rock that was extremely dangerous to ships.

The lighthouse's foundation built up the submerged rock into a tiny island.

Half of the tiny house was a boathouse.

The other half, one room living quarters.

- I would imagine it had to be kind of tough.

As you can see, it is a very small structure that we're on right now.

Just behind us there was a small light in for the lighthouse keeper, but it wasn't large enough to maintain their family, so the main residence for the lighthouse keeper was over in Alexandria Bay.

So they had to continuously take their motor launch out to the island to maintain the light.

And then after the lighthouse keeper's residence was torn down and in place was a boathouse that was put in because they could not maintain a residence out here.

(soft music) - [Narrator] The narrows immediately upstream from Sunken Rock Lighthouse were the site of one of the most recent and spectacular shipwrecks within the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

On November 20th, 1974, the 640 foot Roy A. Jodrey struck Pullman Shoal off the village of Alexandria Bay.

Laden with more than 20 tons of iron pellets, the ship remained afloat for about four hours.

It was towed to the Coast Guard station on Wellesley Island.

Attempts to keep it afloat failed and the ship capsized and slipped below the surface.

It rests today in approximately 250 feet of water in front of the Coast Guard station.

- Over the past several weeks, we've been sharing talented musicians and artists with you, all thanks to the Legacy Fund left by Dr. Dorothea Susan Badenhausen.

Tonight we introduce you to Margaret Chalker, an educator and opera singer whose talents and career have taken her across the globe.

(drums tapping) - My name is Margaret Chalker, and I am an Assistant Professor of Voice at Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York.

I went to college to be a music educator, coming from a family of music educators, but while there I had a very good teacher, and my voice developed each year so that by my junior year I got a very good role, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, which has been one of the most important operas in my whole life, and really liked the Hollywood stories.

There was an agent in the audience on opening night and he said come to New York, I'll make you a star.

And my parents said you can go for the weekend.

But I got the bug.

I loved being on stage and I was very fortunate.

Everything really fell into place.

I had quite a winding career because I was so expecting to be what a girl from the 50s is supposed to be, married, children, and I was gonna be a teacher.

- [Narrator] After singing in venues across the United States, Margaret decided she needed a more stable life for her family.

- So I went to Europe and was extremely fortunate and got into one of the best companies right off, and in Germany I was able to have my daughter and all the performances were in that city and I could sing and go home, kiss her goodnight.

And it was a very nice life.

And after two years in Germany, I went to Switzerland and I stayed there 25 years.

I was singing opera with the opera house of Zurich.

It was a fabulous, fabulous place to be.

It's one of the top opera houses in the world, and I sang with people who are famous now, Piotr Beczala, who's singing in Rigoletto at The Met, Thomas Hampson, and I stood on stage.

Oh, the experience was heavenly.

I mean, a world class orchestra, world class colleagues, world class chorus.

It's really like being carried on hands, really, because we had coaches and people that make sure the part is ready before the directors arrived.

The directors, the conductors that I got there were world class.

- [Narrator] As an opera singer, Margaret has performed in a variety of different languages.

- The typical ones are German, French, Italian of course, and then I did get to sing in Russian and I've sung in Czech.

I've sung in Hebrew, and so far, that's about all for me.

- [Narrator] At age 62, Margaret retired from the Zurich Opera House.

She moved to the North Country of New York to be closer to her daughter, who teaches first grade in Messina, and to her granddaughters.

- I love the North Country and St. Lawrence River and I live on the Grass River and I stayed in Messina.

The first four years I was just being grandmother.

I drove my granddaughters around to their dance lessons and school, and I was at their concerts.

And then an opening came up here and it's offered me a brand new life.

I was able to take this job, and I'm in my fifth year now.

There's been a lot for me to learn to be in academia, but I wouldn't trade it.

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I feel like my whole life has been a completed circle at this point, because I started out teaching, wanted to perform.

I've always done both, and I'm lucky.

I'm very, very fortunate.

- [Narrator] Margaret is an Assistant Professor at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam, where she teaches voice to approximately 24 students.

- We have to teach the voice because it's very easy for people to sing in a way that after a while may ruin their voice or not allow it to bloom as much as it should.

And of course, the thing about opera singing or classically, people don't like these terms so much anymore, but what we consider classical music for voice is very demanding with louds, with softs, with highs and lows and fast, coloratura, which is fast moving notes or long sustained notes.

Those don't happen without training.

With singing opera, you're on stage with an orchestra of about 100 often in the pit, and you sing without any microphone.

So a lot of the study is to get voice so that it projects freely, equally if you're singing pianissimo or forte, soft or loud, so that it carries to the last seat in the house, and that takes instruction.

You have to know what you really want.

When I was 22 and got married, I remember saying to my husband well, I have to sing.

I made no more instruction on that than that, but I have to sing.

And when I finished my master's I said, I want to be as good a singer as I can be in as good a house with as good an orchestra as possible, and that happened.

So if you can be clear about your goals and know who you are, I think that will get you a long way.

♪ No one here to guide you ♪ ♪ Now you're on your own ♪ ♪ Only me beside you ♪ ♪ Still, you're not alone ♪ ♪ No one is alone, truly ♪ ♪ No one is alone ♪ ♪ Sometimes people leave you ♪ ♪ Halfway through the wood ♪ ♪ Others may deceive you ♪ ♪ You decide what's good ♪ ♪ You decide alone ♪ ♪ But no one is alone ♪ ♪ People make mistakes ♪ ♪ Fathers, mothers ♪ ♪ People make mistakes ♪ ♪ Holding to their own ♪ ♪ Thinking they're alone ♪ ♪ Honor their mistakes ♪ ♪ Everybody makes ♪ ♪ One another's terrible mistakes ♪ ♪ Witches can be right, giants can be good ♪ ♪ You decide what's right, you decide what's good ♪ ♪ Just remember someone is on your side ♪ ♪ Someone else is not ♪ ♪ While you're seeing your side ♪ ♪ Maybe you forgot ♪ ♪ They are not alone ♪ ♪ No one is alone ♪ ♪ Hard to see the light now ♪ ♪ Just don't let it go ♪ ♪ Things will come up right now ♪ ♪ We can make it so ♪ ♪ Someone is on your side ♪ ♪ No one is alone ♪ - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Join us next week for a fresh look inside the stories.

Various towns across the North Country celebrate their hometown heroes as Memorial Day approaches.

We'll take you to two and share how they prepare, and ticks in Canada have flourished and Lyme disease is very real.

Beware and stay diligent as the season unfolds.

Also meet an artist who specializes in stained glass design, boat restoration and creation using modern methods.

It's all part of the Dorothea Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like to see us explore or you're a poet or a musician and would like to be featured, email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org.

We'll see you next week, everyone.

- [Announcer] WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories is brought to you by The Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of communities by helping disadvantaged children and families.

Online at dmjf.org.

The Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business.

Serving Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego Counties since 1986.

Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

Carthage Savings has been here for generations, donating time and resources to this community.

They're proud to support WPBS TV.

Online at CarthageSavings.com.

Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

Additional funding provided by CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

♪ Witches can be right, giants can be good ♪ ♪ You decide what's right, you decide what's good ♪ ♪ Just remember ♪ ♪ Someone is on your side ♪ ♪ Someone else is not ♪ (soft music)