Merlin Space Now at Newburgh Armory Unity Center

By Jennifer L. Warren

NEWBURGH – The chants were loud, joyful and bursting with excitement.

“Merlin!” over 100 youth emphatically declared.

Seconds later, a challenge-of who could be louder- was issued, and a host of parents retorted, “Wand!”

Spencer Holt, Chief People and Experience Officer of Merlin Entertainment, was leading that excitement, inside the Newburgh Armory Unity Center, to help celebrate a very special occasion. For the second time in Orange County History, a Merlin’s Magic Space has found a home. Thanks to the collaboration of LEGOLAND New York and the children’s charity: Merlin’s Magic Wind Foundation, building “bricks” of knowledge will help form the new Magic Space at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center; the bright, colorful LEGO-themed room, complete with stimulating and creative LEGOS and other tools as well as teaching curriculum is primed to become the first educational type space of its kind.

“One of the greatest things we do is creating memories, while having children have fun and building communities as well as leaders,” Holt told a standing room only crowd Saturday, following the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the exciting, youth Newburgh space.
Those precious memories-laden with critical learning skills, peppered with joy- will not only be experienced by the youth participating in the programs at the new Merlin Space, but so too by their instructors.

“I’ve always played with LEGOS, so when my boss said they needed a LEGOS teacher in 2022 when I had been teaching coding, I immediately became interested,” called Tommy Giorgianni, a senior at Newburgh Free Academy. “It’s been a lot of fun to be involved with teaching kids; the most important part to me is to see that they are learning.”

It’s that very learning that will now become even more creative, even more diversified, and even more incredibly fun with the ramped up resources and inevitable motivation this latest Merlin’s Magic Space offers.

“We have grown up with these kids here at the Armory, and now having the materials-lesson plans-available is going to help take them to the next level, inspiring them even more,” added another Armory LEGO teacher, Robyn Stipak, a junior at NFA.

The seeds for that inspiration were first planted years back when William Kaplan envisioned the Newburgh Armory Unity Center. The overriding mission was- and remains- to ensure that every child in Newburgh was able to read by the third grade. Since its inception, the Armory has provided a host of educationally stimulating programs, each aimed at that critical mission. The latest LEGOS assisted Merlin Magic Space will continue to provide a platform for that ongoing literacy-minded focus.

Senator Rob Rolison, friends with Mr. Kaplan, was one of several political dignitaries in attendance at the well-attended, much-anticipated ribbon cutting ceremony.

“This is a magic Saturday for me in the City of Newburgh; Mr Kaplan’s vision has always lied in trying to create unity,” said Rolison. “Thank you LEGOLAND for helping create magic; it’s learning, and it’s fun.”

Surveying the extensive rows of children sitting out on the audience’s floor, Rolison added, “Look out onto this floor, right here, right now; we are creating leaders.”

The Magic Space, starting last weekend, will feature 20 kids in each of its four session classes that will span 12 weeks. LEGO-inspired curriculum, led by local volunteers and teachers, will allow participants to embrace play and creativity while sparking lifelong, memorable learning.