manchester · volume 7 edition 1summer 2017 better manchester magazine is an official publi- cation...

TAKE ME TO THE PARKBetter

manchester

The Transformative Power of Our ParksA Note on Charter OakPage 5-8

On the Up and UpMHS Grad Rates Steadily RisePage 9-13

Volume 7 Edition 1 Summer 2017Better Manchester Magazine is an official publi-cation of the Manchester Public Schools Office ofFamily and Community Partnership & the Town ofManchester Department of Leisure, Family andRecreation dedicated to bridging communicationamong Manchester policy makers, serviceproviders, and the public.

SUBSCRIPTIONMailed to all Town of Manchester residents and available at townofmanchester.org and mpspride.org

PUBLISHED BY:Town of ManchesterOffice of Family and Community Partnership & the Department of Leisure, Family and Recreation

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFChristopher J. Silver

EDITORIALRosaleen TorreyJim FarrellScott RatchfordMichael CottonSamantha Bell

COPY EDITJames CostaSamantha Bell

ILLUSTRATORMeghan Williams

CONTENT DESIGN & LAYOUTNicolas S. Arias

CONTACT INFORMATIONManchester Public Schools45 North School StreetManchester, CT 06040(860) 649-5041

Town Hall Customer Service 41 Center StreetManchester, CT 06045(860) 647-5235

ADVERTISE IN THIS PUBLICATIONJournal Inquirer, AdvertisingRoseAnn Read, Account Executive(860) 646-0500 Ext. [email protected]

G rowing up in a household of ten, Ididn’t just “go” to the park—Iwould jump down the steps and

dash to the park. It was a place to run, to bephysical, and to play with friends. When I wasa child, my neighborhood was my world andmy neighborhood park was my happy place.Even to this day, the smells, the sounds, theshadows, the light—they trigger such powerfulmemories—and they are part of the reason Iam proud to call Manchester my home.

In this issue of Better Manchester Magazine,we are celebrating the parks that make Man-chester a great place to live, work, and play (see“A Note on Charter Oak,” page 7). We are also

introducing the OUR PARKS awareness campaign (see “The Transformative Power of Our Parks,”page 5) that will encourage residents—both existing and potential—to discover the value our updatedparks offer the newest generation of Manchester families. The OUR PARKs tagline—”Take me tothe Park”—encourages us all, whatever our age, to explore these places through eyes (and with thewonder) of a child.

By committing to acquiring, developing, and maintaining green spaces, Manchester is making an in-vestment in providing opportunities for all children to play, grow, and connect. This investment ispart of a broader, community-wide goal of providing all children with the social, emotional, andcognitive skills they need to be successful in school and throughout their lives. It’s part of the samestrategy that Manchester Public Schools are seeing the rewards of in the form of rising graduationrates and a narrowing achievement gap (see “On the Up and Up,” page 9).

Manchester has chosen to invest in its people and in its community, with the belief that—if we takethe long view and if we are patient and stay the course—good things will come. As this issue shows,good things have come and they will continue—whether it's in our parks or in our schools.

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Christopher J. SilverEditor-In-Chief, Better Manchester MagazineDirector, Department of Leisure, Family & RecreationTown of Manchester

TAKE ME TO THE PARKBettermanchester

townofmanchester.org Better Manchester 3

CONTENTSManchester CounTryClub Rings in CentennialPage 4

The TransformativePower of Our ParksPage 5

MHS Graduation RatesAre On the Up and UpPage 9

Department of Leisure, Family &Recreation Program CatalogPage 14

Manchester Country Club Rings in Centennial with

Prestigious AwardBy Michael Cotton & Samantha Bell

T his year ManchesterCountry Club (MCC) celebrates its onehundredth anniversary. Manchester Coun-

try Club is known not only for its course design butfor its beautiful venues that have served thousandsin both formal functions and community events overthe years.

Designed by famous golf architects Tom Bendelowand Deveroux Emmet at the start of the 20th cen-tury, Manchester Country Club officially opened itsdoors on March 3, 1917. e golf course’s 6167yards are suitable for players of all different skill lev-els. Manchester Country Club is not only recognizedfor its great course design but also for the use of thearea’s natural landscape that creates a challenging yetrewarding experience for all.

In December 2016, Manchester Country Club re-ceived the “Distinguished Club of the Year” awardfrom the Connecticut State Golf Association(CGSA). Every August, this town-run course cele-brates the officially-designated “Golf Week in Man-chester.” e club hosts both state levelchampionships and local leagues, including the Townof Manchester Senior Golf League, the Town ofManchester Recreation League, the ManchesterHigh School Girls and Boys Teams, and the CheneyTechnical School Golf Team.

MCC Director of Golf John Cook introduced (andfunds) the SNAG (Start at New Golf ) Program forjunior high students. MCC also provides awards afree annual membership to a student from each localyouth league. ere is also a free member-fundedjunior golf camp.

For more information about Manchester CountryClub, go to mancc.com, call (860) 646-0103 or visitthe business office at 305 South Main Street Man-chester.

4 Better Manchester townofmanchester.org

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

I n times like these, when we’re facingunprecedented economic and social in-stability, the way we look at things is

more important than ever. It’s so temptingto get caught up in looking at what we don’thave—but it’s more essential than ever thatwe focus on what we already do.at’s why, despite our awareness and concern forthe pressing issues facing Manchester families, weat the Department of Leisure, Family and Recre-ation maintain: ere’s never been a better time topromote our parks.According to department director Chris Silver, thisstrategy is part of an overall economic developmentobjective aimed to position Manchester as a health

and wellness oriented community—not just in theeyes of existing residents but also in the eyes of po-tential investors.

“We are rich in recreational assets—the goal now isjust leveraging the wealth we already have,” says Sil-ver.

LEVERAGING OUR EXISTING ASSETSA 2015 survey of 16,000 residents statewide foundthat, compared to the average resident in theGreater Hartford region, Manchester residents aremore likely to rate their town as “good” to “excel-lent” in terms of the number of low cost, recre-ational opportunities available to them. However,when asked specifically about the condition of thesefacilities, Manchester residents had a less favorableview; just 17% of Manchester residents rate their

facilities as Excellent, compared to 30% for GreaterHartford. Since this survey was taken, Manchester has lever-aged state, federal, and private funding to upgradeits existing facilities to meet the needs of the nextgeneration of Manchester families.

Continued on page 6.

By Rosaleen Torrey

TAKE ME TO THE PARK


Continued from page 5.

Here are just a few improvements recently com-pleted or planned for completion in the near fu-ture:

Northwest Park Early Childhood Center;•Center Springs disc golf course, Broad•street pedestrian gateway and extension ofthe upper pond trail to Edgerton Street;Cheney Rail Trail and pedestrian bridge;•Manchester Creative Green Trail art instal-•lations at parks and public buildings;Case Mountain restoration project;•Acquisition of open space at 160 Spruce•Street;Charter Oak Greenway Trail extension•connecting Manchester to Bolton and Ver-non;and Charter Oak renovations including•new playground and Rotary Music Garden(see story, page 7).

With the help of variety of existing assets—the tal-ent of our local artists, the generosity of our com-munity, and strong interdepartmentalcooperation—the Town has launched an awarenesscampaign to highlight these improvements. OURPARKS kicked off in March with a permanent artinstallation in Lincoln Center. Plans for the futureinclude the creation of an updated parks guide; aceremonial reopening of Charter Oak Park (seemore, page 7); and the OUR PARKS Ambassadorpilot program at Charter Oak.

“OUR PARKS is really about celebrating our parksfor everything they provide Manchester families—a place to play, room to run, liberation from small

spaces, and opportunities to connect with the com-munity,” says Silver. “From Case Mountain to Cen-ter Springs, we have some really unique spaces inManchester. We shouldn’t be afraid to shout fromthe rooftops how proud we are of them.”

According to Gary Anderson, Director of Commu-nity and Economic Development, parks really dohave the power to transform neighborhoods. “Bothfamilies and businesses count well-maintainedrecreational spaces as one of their primary ‘must-haves’ when considering relocation,” says Andersen.“When we create, preserve and promote high qual-ity recreational spaces, we make our community adesirable place to live, work, and play. Our invest-ments in these spaces see returns in the form ofsafer neighborhoods, healthier residents, and risingproperty values.”

Unfortunately, Manchester has lost more green-space to retail and recreational development thanall but eight other towns in Connecticut and nowis in the unenviable position of having portions ofthis developed land succumbing to vacancy andblight.

Imagine, though, the potential rewards of this un-tapped potential—if only we were to take the un-conventional step of unpaving a bit of paradise.

e city of Meriden was recently recognized at the

Connecticut Main Street Center 2017 Awards ofExcellence for the Meriden Green, floodcontrol/economic development project that trans-formed an abandoned shopping mall into a 14-acrepark featuring pedestrian pathways and an am-phitheater. e CT Main Street Catalyst Award isawarded to projects serving as catalysts to economicgrowth.

e project also received high praise from EPANew England’s administrator Curt Spalding forboth its optimism and its realism. “I am proud thatduring my time leading EPA New England, citizenslike those in Meriden have embraced the possibilityof change, and put their energy towards building abetter future rather than lamenting the past,” wroteSpalding in a July 2017 column for the RJ MediaGroup. He goes on, ”By transforming a wastelandinto an economically vital area and a motivated,thriving community, they are helping to ensure abetter life for the generations to come.”

Times are tough and across the country towns likeManchester are starting to see the results of depop-ulation in the form of abandoned malls and vacantschools. We have a choice—we can close our eyesand hope things change for the better—or we canget moving and making and building on what we’vegot.

Only one way will move us forward.


O n July 26, 2017, Charter Oak Park will re-open with a publicceremony commemorating the parks renovation. Over thecourse of the past twelve months, the park has been updated

with new restrooms; reconstructed basketball and tennis courts; im-proved parking; and a new, 21st century playground. e most uniquefeature of the park will be the new Rotary Music Garden: a nine-instru-ment recreational site designed to encourage children and families to ex-perience the musical arts through play.

Designed by Colorado Harmony Parks, the nine musical instruments will bearranged just to the north of the park’s recessed field, between the tennis courtsand the softball field. e garden will be landscaped with walking paths andbenches. e core of the garden will be laid with memorial sandstone bricksfanning out into six “spokes.” [See design online at recreation.townofman-chester.org]. A central patio will connect the music garden with the new play-ground, providing a space where caregivers can rest with eyes on both playareas; this area will be paved by the Andrew Ansaldi Company.


Cadence: This fiberglass 13 tone tenormarimba plays deep vibrant tones with thesound of a wooden instrument.

Manta Ray: This design consists of 36aluminum chimes & four mallets, makingit a great instrument for cooperative play.


Imbarimba: This instrument combines theelements of two African instruments—themarimba & the kalimba.

By Rosaleen Torrey


According to Rotary Secretary and project champion Bob Rodner, one of themost exciting features of the Music Garden is that its instruments are open toall. In his presentation at the Manchester Arts Commission’s 2017 State of theArts gathering, Rodner emphasized the openness of these instruments in termsof both location—outdoors, just off of Charter Oak Street, in Manchester’ssoutheast quadrant—and design.

“ere is literally no way you can play these wrong,” said Rodner. Accordingto the Harmony Parks guide, the instruments are designed so there are “nowrong notes,” making the instruments ideal for both young players and thosewith special needs.

According to Chris Silver, Director of the town’s Department of Leisure, Fam-ily and Recreation, the garden provide all children the opportunity to developthe early childhood audiation skills critical to the development of musical in-telligence. He also points out that the space makes for a more inclusive parks

experience.

“ere is a history of developing parks exclusively around sporting activities.Unfortunately, active recreational sites were not always welcoming to the seg-ment of young people who excelled in creative, rather than athletic, pursuits,”said Silver. “It’s crucial for us to design our facilities in ways that are inclusiveof the diverse talents of the young people in our community.”

e Rotary Club of Manchester is part of an international network of indi-viduals dedicated to “service above self.” Internationally, the organization isinvolved in providing community solutions that provide access to clean water,grow local economies, and provide educational opportunities.

e Rotary Club of Manchester welcomes contributions to the project in theform of sponsorships of individual instruments, benches, and engraved patiobricks. A fundraising gala featuring Wild Heart, a Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mactribute band, will take place on May 6, 2017. For more information, visitmanchesterctrotary.org.

Pegasus: A resonated metallophone with A minor and C major keys.

Swirl: This sculpture-inspired de-sign consists of aluminum chimesranging from soprano to alto.


The Rotary Music Garden will feature nine full-sized, harmonically-scaled musicalinstruments designed to withstand any kind of weather and frequent hard play.

Yantzee: These low toned barscreate a rich canvas of sound.

Aria: This sleek non-resonant ariaplays nine crisp notes in the key ofC major.

9 Better Manchester mpspride .org

Dave omas, the founder of theWendy’s fast food chain, supposedlynever graduated from high school.

Nor did movie director Quentin Tarantino orbroadcaster Peter Jennings or Tumblr founderDavid Karp or billionaire entrepreneur RichardBranson or boxer George Foreman.So, yes, you can be successful without earning ahigh school diploma—but the odds are not in yourfavor. In fact, if you don’t graduate from highschool you are not going to college, or even intothe military, and you will likely earn far less money(hundreds of thousands of dollars in your lifetime)than those who do—and, gulp, you are even farmore likely to end up in prison.

For these reasons and many more, officials in Man-chester are quietly celebrating an encouragingtrend: During the past six years, the graduation rateat Manchester High has climbed steadily, from 74percent up to 90 percent.

“We are clearly pleased by this progress,” said Su-perintendent Matt Geary, who was principal atMHS from 2012-1014, “but we’d like to see therate rise even more and then stay high, as we striveto ensure that all students leave us prepared to belifelong learners and contributing members of so-ciety.”

What’s behind the increased rate? ere are lots offactors, including changes at MHS that have cre-ated smaller ‘learning communities’ within thebuilding, leading tocloser relationshipsamong students andstaff.

“So much of thiscomes down to hav-ing healthy, produc-tive relationships,”said David Stetson,guidance director atthe high school.

“School counselors are part of a complex equation.It takes a team effort that involves administrators,teachers, support staff, parents and guardians, evencommunity members.”

Like Geary, Stetson said he hopes to see the gradu-ation rate continue to rise and for gains to be sus-tained, but he noted that there are variables andfactors that leave staffers with no time for restingon laurels.


On the Up and UpMHS Graduation Rate Has Been Steadily RisingBy Jim Farrell

“So much of this comesdown to having healthy, productive relationships.”

-David Stetson, Guidance Director at MHS

mpspride .org Better Manchester 10


For starters, the state-mandated formula usedto determine a high school’s graduation rate isfickle, largely because of issues related to stu-dents who move between districts. For exam-ple, the 2017 rate for MHS will essentiallyreveal the percentage of students at the schoolcome this June who started high school in Fall2013 and are graduating on time—without re-gard for where they spent the past four years.

at is, a student who might have entered an-other high school four years ago (and spentthree years there) but transferred to MHS forsenior year would hurt the MHS graduationrate if he or she doesn’t graduate on time—buthelp it if he or she did. Likewise, students whostarted at MHS as freshmen in Fall 2013 buthave transferred elsewhere will help, or hurt,the graduation rate of the school that they now attend.

To put this in real numbers—there were 422 students who started high schoolas freshmen at MHS in Fall 2013, and 295 of them were (as of late March)still at the school. In the meantime, there are currently 372 seniors at MHS,meaning 77 students who started high school somewhere else in Fall 2013have since transferred to MHS and are currently considered seniors. (Not allof these transfer students were or are on schedule to graduate on time and

there are other students who entered highschool in Fall 2013 at a school other thanManchester High, then transferred toMHS and have since transferred outagain.)

Put simply, the 2017 MHS graduationrate will indicate what percentage of stu-dents now enrolled at MHS—who startedhigh school in Fall 2013—graduated ‘ontime’ regardless of where they spent theirfour high school years.

(To personalize all this and illustrate thedifferent paths students take and chal-lenges they face, we have brief snapshotsof six students who started at MHS fouryears ago, are still here, and are scheduledto graduate in June.)

Incidentally, if a student drops out orleaves for an adult ed program, they count ‘against’ the high school they lastattended, and there are various other contingencies like that, all of which leaveStetson saying: “It can be frustrating, because there are things that are out ofyour control, but we just try to do the best with what we can control.”


A solid student,Aidan actually hadamassed 22 creditsby the end of junioryear. at’s howmany total creditsyou need to gradu-

ate, but because you need—for example—four years ofEnglish, senior year is still important but not provingto be especially stressful. Aidan instead is thinking a lot

about his impending military career. His grandfatherwas a master sergeant in the Air Force and his olderbrother a member of the Army Reserve (and a statecop), and for Aidan the question wasn’t whether to gointo the military, but what branch. As it so happens,Aidan was for two years a runner on the MHS trackteam but he broke his hip and then, to stay in shape,switched to strength training. “I fell in love with it,” hesaid, adding that he’s always lifting at Cardio Express inthe Parkade (convenient, because he works part time at

Shady Glen). All of which factored into his decision tochoose the Coast Guard, because he’s sold on the chal-lenge of being a rescue swimmer for a tactical helicopterteam—a job that’s considered to be among the mostphysically demanding, frequently dangerous, consis-tently exciting jobs in the Armed Services. As for MHS,Aidan will miss it: “People have misconceptions aboutit,” he said. “I don’t think they appreciate the supportyou get as you go through here.”

T he photo on the left was taken on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, during an assembly in Bailey Auditorium for ninth-graders newto Manchester High School on what we call “Freshman First Day.” I was the assistant principal assigned to the class, andspent 30 minutes or so greeting our 422 new students, introducing other staff, explaining ground rules, encouraging the kids

sitting in front of me to take full advantage of the four years in front of them. “It will go quickly,” I said, and to playfully dramatizethat fact we held a brief ‘mock’ graduation. I asked for volunteers who would be willing to walk across the stage and accept a fauxdiploma as their classmates cheered. “You’ll be doing this for real before you know it.” One of those who stepped up was Aidan Vio-lette, shown waving his diploma, and, well, here we are: Four fast years later, on ursday, June 15, Aidan will walk across the stageof the Connecticut Convention Center and receive a real diploma—and from there head to Cape May, N.J. where on July 11 he will

enter boot camp and spend the next eight years in the Coast Guard. We have more on Aidan below, and the stories of five otherstudents who came to MHS in Fall 2013 and will graduate in June:

Commencement means new beginnings

Aidan Violette, Class of 2017

GRADUATION RATES BY GENDER

Figure 1: Mirroring a national trend, girls at MHS graduate at a slightlyhigher rate than do boys.



Here’s another factor to consider: e state dictatesthe minimum number of credits needed to graduatehigh school (further specifying what subjects mustbe passed)—and while current MHS seniors (andjuniors) need just 22 credits, future classes will needmore.

“Raising the number of credits and requiring thatadditional courses have to be included will definitelymake it more difficult for some students to graduateon time,” Stetson said.

However, Manchester officials say that as the stan-dards rise, the high school itself is changing to ensurethat students have the support they need.

Stetson, who has been at MHS for 25 years, saidthings have changed quite a bit since 2010-11, whenthe high school was saddled with “warning status”by a regional accreditation service (the New EnglandAssociation of Schools and Colleges) and the gradu-ation rate was 74 percent.

In 2012, the high school installed an automated,real-time attendance tracking system called “Swipe”that has made it easier to ensure that students are inclass.

e following year every student was given aChromebook computer—which has led to muchgreater student engagement and given teachers a bet-ter way to ‘differentiate’ lessons so that students can

work at their ownpace and shore uptheir own weak-nesses.

e school also hasbeen reorganizedinto five differentacademies for stu-dents in grade 10-12 (for example,Medical Careers isone, PerformingArts and Commu-nication another).is has allowedstudents to divedeeper into areas ofpersonal interest.

“We are doing a greatdeal so students can have a much more personalizedlearning experience,” Principal Jill Krieger said,adding that teachers are also spending a lot of timeworking together (in what are called ‘ProfessionalLearning Communities) to develop high-quality les-sons by sharing ideas, collaboratively analyzing stu-dent work and so on.

Along with the creation of academies and emphasison personalized learning came a reorganization ofsupport staff. Each academy is served by staff mem-bers who work alongside one another in an officesuite—typically, an assistant principal, a dean, andappropriate, dedicated representation from theschool’s counselors, social workers and psychologists.

(is compares to years before, when an assistantprincipal was assigned to each grade but the schoolcounselors worked with students at multiple gradelevels—for example, a counselor would work withstudents whose last names started with the letters Gand H.)

e new approach makes it much easier for theschool to respond in a coordinated way when a stu-dent is, say, struggling academically, which is leadingto poor behavior, all of which seems to be exacer-bated by problems at home.


Katyland Facas

Class of 2017

Early in sophomore year she learned thatshe was atop the ‘class rank’ list for theClass of 2017—and while Katy didn’tobsess about it, she shared the news withher mom and was quietly and stubbornlydetermined to preserve the position. Andshe did—as Katy has been named vale-dictorian, which means she’ll be frontand center giving a speech at graduationin June. Class rank reflects grades, ofcourse, but also how hard your classesare—and Katy took seven at the AP level(World History in grade 10, Calc AB,Comp and US History in grade 11, andPsychology, Lang and Comp, and CalcBC this year) while also taking electives(like Concert Band all four years as wellas a business and marketing class) as ‘notfor rank’ (because otherwise your rankcan suffer even if you get an A). As forher grades—all were either A or A+ withjust one A- (in AP Calc last year) and anACT score of 34 (out of a possible 36).Katy has been accepted at Northeastern,UConn and RPI and is waiting to hearfrom other schools including the Univer-sity of North Carolina. She’s not sureabout a major or about a career direction,but says MHS has prepared her well. “Itcan be a lot more challenging than peoplemight think.”

Figure 2: The graduation rate of black and Hispanic students has risen dramatically in the past sixyears.

GRADUATION RATES BY ETHNICITY/RACE


“Students fall behind or drop out for many differentreasons, often because of circumstances away fromschool, ” Krieger said, noting it’s not usually becauseof only academic issues. “As a staff, we have workedvery hard to communicate and work together insupport of students.”

Geary said he is pleased by the work at the highschool, in particular because the achievement gap—as measured by graduation rate—has been closed,with black and Latino students now graduating atthe same rate as their white classmates.

He also said he is excited because changes takingplace at lower grade levels mean that students are—and will continue to be—arriving at the high schoolmore prepared for academic rigor.

“ere are so many factors that affect the quality ofeducation—which itself is measured in many, manyways, one of them being the high school graduationrate,” Geary said, adding that as the quality of in-struction improves at all grade levels, and as the dis-trict develops stronger family and communitypartnerships, and as a host of other things happen,all sorts of measures (including the graduation rate)will improve.

In fact, the district last year created a ‘Data Dash-board’ (which is on the website at

www.MPSPride.org) that’s used to “measureprogress toward our goal that all students will be pre-pared for learning and work beyond school.” Datais tracked and displayed in nine areas including at-tendance, K-5 literacy, PSAT scores and graduationrate.

“Programs and initiatives at the Manchester Pre-school Center are no less important than those atthe high school,” Geary said, noting that the DistrictImprovement Plan has identified four specific areasof emphasis—Talent, Academics, Climate and Cul-ture and Systems. “We have an ambitious but co-herent plan that’s grounded in research and data.”

Stetson said that graduation rate data is importantbut not something he or others at the school thinkabout much of the time. “We’re too busy,” he said,explaining that MHS staff has wide ranging respon-sibilities, everything from ensuring that studentshave the opportunity to face academic rigor so theycan build an impressive portfolio and compete foradmission into top-flight four-year colleges … tomaking sure that students who in some cases arereading well-below grade level and have an abysmalattendance history get the support they need and arepushed to be successful and reach their potential ...and everything in between. He added: “It’s challeng-ing but fulfilling work.”

mpspride .org Better Manchester 12

Eric Goicochea

CLass of 2017

Eric loves to play football, but at 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds, he knows he willnever be paid to do so on Sunday after-noons. Still, he’s excited that WesternNew England University recruited him toplay and is looking forward to suiting upwith the Golden Bears next fall for theirDiv. 3 season. “I’m in it for the love of thesport,” said Eric, who played football (asa wide receiver and cornerback) all fouryears at MHS (he was all-conference sen-ior year) and also ran track, both indoorsand out. Born and raised in Brooklyn, hisfamily moved to Hartford when Eric wasyoung and then to Manchester when hewas in eighth grade (at Two Rivers). Asolid ‘B’ student, he is in the STEM-De-sign Academy, loves art (“it allows me tofind myself ”) and thinks he might wantto be mechanical engineer. Eric said he’senjoyed his time at the high school inlarge part because of the staff members.“Mr. Tedesco, Ms. Favat, Mrs. Flicker,Coach Rob … I’ve built some great rela-tionships,” he said, referring to mathteachers John Tedesco and Jeana Favat,English teacher Terri Flicker, and RoyRoberts, who is the football coach andthe grade 9 assistant principal. Eric alsoenjoys being at a school with a diversestudent body: “I’ve been able to meet avariety of people and learn to accept theirdifferences.”

Genesis McIlwaineWilliams

Class of 2017“ere were times I just wanted to give up,” saidGenesis, whose journey was especially challeng-ing. Her first year went pretty well academicallyand she played on the freshman basketball teambut in February of 2014 Genesis got pregnant—and when she told her mother, Genesis learnedthat her mother was pregnant, too. Genesis’mother had a boy in September, then Genesishad daughter Jazlyn in November, and havingtwo infants (he’s her uncle, she’s his niece) in ahousehold of eight was stressful, and Genesis es-sentially stopped attending school for much ofthe next two years. She says the district triedeverything—tutoring and summer classes andhome visits and online classes—and that finally,last fall, she made a decision: “I knew I was smartenough and that I had to do it, I had to gradu-ate.” She dedicated herself to e-credit classes inthe fall and was placed in the Bentley AlternativeSchool (which is an isolated wing at MHS) inJanuary and she is making up ground, passing allher classes and doing extra (mentoring middleschool students, helping with the Unified Sportsprogram) to patch gaps in the enrichment partof her transcript, and is on track to graduate inJune. After that? She hopes to go to CapitalCommunity College and eventually become aregistered nurse or a medical assistant.

Raven LukeClass of 2017

Raven moved with her family to Manchesterright before she started high school, but remem-bers life in Bridgeport. “It was a completely dif-ferent environment there,” she said, noting thatkids in Manchester enjoy far more resources andsupport, both in school and out. Raven said sheadjusted well to MHS at first, struggled a bitsophomore year as classes got harder and timemanagement became more of an issue, but saidshe is pleased with her overall experience. Amember of the Performing Arts Academy, she’sbeen captain of the drill team for three years andalso a peer mediator and LINK Leader—that is,she is among the dozens of upperclassmen whoorchestrate Freshman First Day and serve asemissaries/role models to incoming students. Asfor next year? Well, she’s been accepted at John-son & Wales and Southern Connecticut StateUniversity, and will likely study counseling, psy-chology or social work. She said her motivationcomes in part from her memories of Bridgeportand the difference she could make in a commu-nity like that. “I want to work with kids.”

Kyle BilodeauClass of 2017

“I was chunky back then,” he says, reflecting onhis appearance when he entered MHS, and Kyle(5-foot-11, 240 pounds then, 6-2, 215 now) hasclearly grown up since then, and not just physi-cally. After struggling academically as a freshman(“I had lousy grades and skipped a lot”), Kylesays that sophomore year he began getting extrareading support from teacher Leah Lourie, whichmade a big difference—and his gradually increas-ing dedication finally paid off as he actually madehonor roll for the first quarter of senior year(something he had never done before, even inmiddle school). “My maturity level has changedcompletely,” he said, explaining the difference. “Ijust realized, time is passing too fast—it’s time togrow up and act like a responsible person.” Awell-rounded athlete, Kyle was backup goalie onthe hockey team (MHS is in a co-op with New-ington) and plays baseball in the summer (notfor the school) and he hopes to go to a tradeschool next year—possibly Universal TechnicalInstitute in Norwood, Mass. (near Boston) tostudy diesel mechanics.


Commencement means new beginnings

manchester · volume 7 edition 1summer 2017 better manchester magazine is an official publi- cation...

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