The Windsor Journal

The newly formed Windsor High School Athletic Hall of Fame has announced its inaugural class which will be inducted at a ceremony to be held May 19, 2012 at LaRenaissance in East Windsor. Five individual athletes, a coach and a special contributor will be honored. The athletes are Dick Teed (Class of 1944), Jim Burton (Class of 1975), Mary Ellen Champlin (Class of 1977), Gerald Joseph (Class of 1983), and Judy Urban (1981, posthumously). Coach Barry Chasen, special contributor Randy Lee and the 1979 Baseball team will also be honored.    For more information on purchasing tickets for the Induction Ceremony on May 19th or to take part in the Golf Tournament on May 5th to benefit the Hall of Fame, please call Kerry Curry at 860-688-1822 or email JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING . 

Meteorologist Joe Furey (left) visited Sage Park Middle School in Windsor, Conn. to speak with 6th grade students studying a weather unit in their classrooms.

Furey is the Director of New England Weather Service and Chief Meteorologist for WTIC News/Talk 1080 and the FOX Connecticut Morning News. He presented visual images and weather data and talked about a range of topics including weather technology, forecasting, types of precipitation, high and lows fronts, clouds, and thunderstorms.

Furey came to Sage Park Middle School because student Kristina Varholak (right) emailed him and invited him to come to meet with students, and he said, “Yes!”

Aces High, a local high school robotics team consisting of students from Windsor Locks and Suffield high schools, is hosting their annual FIRST robotics scrimmage for over thirty
local robotics teams from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire,.  The Suffield Shakedown will be held on February 18, 2012 at Suffield High School, 1060 Sheldon Street in Suffield, CT beginning at 9 AM with qualification rounds.  Opening ceremonies and elimination rounds will begin about 12:00 PM.  This event is free to the public. This is the eleventh year Aces High will be hosting the pre-competition scrimmage for FIRST teams.

*This event is free and open to the public.*

The large numbers of teams attending the scrimmage demonstrate the interest that high school students have not only in robotics, but in science and engineering as well. The scrimmage allows teams to practice on the official FIRST playing field right before they have to ship their robots to competition sites. In addition, the event will host the FIRST Lego League demonstrations, which will be run by teams with members between the ages of 9 to 13 years old.  The Dream FIRST program for elementary school students will also be showcased by the Explorers team from Farmington.  A live webcast of this event will be provided by the Shelton Gaelhawks robotics team and can be accessed through www.shsrobotics.org.

The 2012 “Rebound Rumble” robotics game is played between two alliances of three teams each. Each Alliance competes by trying to score as many of the basketballs in the hoops as possible during the two minute and15-second match. Balls scored in higher hoops score teams more points. Team alliances are awarded bonus points if they are balanced on bridges at the end of the match.

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and more than $14 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) for 9 to 14-yearolds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S., Canada, and Mexico) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL®) for 6 to9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

“I don’t think any great innovator or technologist got up in the morning trying to do something really big, really innovative, because they wanted a job,” said Dean Kamen, FIRST founder and president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation. “If we create a generation of passionate, smart, well-educated, informed kids willing to take educated risks as they try new things. If we create a passionate generation that understands the power of technology and how to apply it, trust me—they’ll have jobs. That’s a consequence of what they’ll have. If FIRST succeeds, we’ll have a rebirth of a society that believes in a future that can and has to be better than the past. We’re going to make sure we build a 21st century, a future that’s way more exciting than the 20th century.”

The Aces High program is currently in its 17th season and is comprised of students from Windsor Locks High School and Suffield High School.  The team won the national championship in 1999 as well as numerous other awards. It is supported by the Hamilton Sundstrand company, based out of Windsor Locks, Connecticut.  Aces High participates in local area events to inform people about the FIRST robotics program and to give demonstrations.  Aces High won the 2006 Hartford UTC FIRST robotics regional competition and were the top seed in the Newton Division at the 2006 national competition. Aces High has completed demonstrations on the Better Connecticut show, at the Hartford Wolfpack hockey games, Suffield on the Green, Fantasy Flight, and other community events.

 For additional information about the Aces High FIRST robotics program,please contact Bill Pease by email at JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING or by visiting Aces High's website at www.aceshigh176.org.  Additional information about the FIRST robotics program can be found by visiting www.usfirst.org.

Anticipated Team List:

176     AcesHigh,  Suffield/Windsor Locks CT
177     BobcatRobotics, South Windsor CT
88        TJ²,     Bridgewater MA
839      RosieRobotics ,    Agawam MA
228      GUSRobotics,  Meriden CT
2168    AluminumFalcons,     Groton CT
3634    HardBotties,    Bridgeport CT
3464    Sim-City,  Simsbury CT
1124     Uberbots,     Avon CT
716      Who'sCTEKS,   Canaan CT
1071    MAX,    Wolcott CT
3461     OperationPEACCE,     Torrington CT
1735     GreenReapers,  Worcester MA
125        Nu-Trons,  NE-Boston MA
181       Birds ofPrey,  Hartford CT
1699     TheRobocats,   Colchester CT
1991      TheDragons,     Hartford CT
558         Elm City RoboSquad,   New Haven CT
2170      TitaniumTomahawks,   Glastonbury CT
175         BuzzRobotics,   Enfield CT
3718      JunkyardBattalion,   New Britain CT
1784       Litchbots,  Litchfield CT
134         Team Discovery,  Pembroke NH
263         SachemAFTERSHOCK,   Lake Ronkonkoma NY
4055*     NRG  Winsted CT
178        2nd LawEnforcers   Farmington CT
2785      Prometheus,  Kent CT
3654      TechTigers ,Middletown CT
230        Gaelhawks,  Shelton CT
3146     GranbyGrunts,     Granby CT
3927*     RAWR,    Weymouth MA

     Teams on theWait List

2067     Apple Pi, Guilford CT
195        CyberKnights,  Southington CT
2836     TeamBeta,  Woodbury CT
1099     DiscoTechs,  Brookfield CT
3780     Robot UnicornAttack,  Providence RI
173       Rage ,  EastHartford CT
270       Falcons ,Deer Park NY
1027    Mechatronic Maniacs,  WestSpringfield MA
2064     PantherProject, Southbury/Middlebury CT
571        TeamParagon,  Windsor CT
3525     The Nuts& Bolts of Fury,  Waterbury  CT
155        Technonuts,  Berlin CT
999        Crash,  Cheshire CT

Photo: A Team Paragon member works on the team's robot last year. Photo courtesy Team Paragon

State Representative David Baram (D-Bloomfield, Windsor) applauded Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal for reforming education in Connecticut from early childhood through college and giving an additional $50 million in education funding to Connecticut public schools.

Under Malloy’s proposal, Windsor would receive an additional $306,985, an increase of 2.66 percent, bringing its total grant to $11,854,648 for 2012-13.

In his State of the State address Wednesday at the State Capitol, Malloy outlined his education reform agenda, including:

• increasing the access to and quality of early childhood education slots
• allocating new funding and implementing new approaches that will improve low performing schools
• expanding slots for public schools of choice including charter schools
• removing red tape and other barriers that stand in the way of local school districts
• repositioning our vo-tech schools to promote job readiness and job linkages
• improving teacher preparation so professionals have the skills they need to excel when they enter the classroom
• revamping teacher tenure

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Lori Foote, new Coordinator of Guidance for Sage Park Middle School and Windsor High School knows exactly what makes Windsor schools different. It's the sense of pride the student have, she said recently, during an interview at her WHS office.

“We had a pep rally, and everybody was really into it, and it was great,” she said. “There is a great sense of community here. The diversity in the school is a wonderful thing. I think the students really appreciate the diversity, and I feel the staff appreciate the diversity. And there is great pride for their school.”

It was the same pride for Windsor High and the same love for her community that led Foot back to her alma matter last July. Foote, a Windsor native and a 1991 WHS alumna, was working last year at Hall High School in West Hartford when she heard that the position of Guidance Coordinator of the Windsor school system was opening. With a Master's in Psychology from Springfield College a solid experience in West Hartford and Bloomfield in school counseling, and her Six-Year degree, she definitely had the credentials. On the other hand, she had been an Assistant Principal for summer school for only a year and a half before the opening in Windsor beckoned.

“I had contemplated whether or not I wanted to go into a director position,” she confided. “And I knew that if I was going to look for one, it would be a very specific place.”

“Windsor had always had my heart,” she said beaming.

Windsor must have also have been waiting for someone exactly like her, because when she called to find out more about the position, she was told that the posting had been closed without someone landing the job.

“And so I asked if I should still apply, and they said 'yes,' because they were reconsidering opening up the position again after the initial search. So I applied, and they reopened the position, and here I am.”

How does she find her old school? The Windsor Journal asked.

“I feel there's been a lot of change since I've been in school, when the diversity switched,” she responded. “But I do feel that the school offers a lot of opportunities for students in the business, whether it be culinary, or it be graphics, art. There are a lot of different programs that students can participate in a lot of clubs, activities, sports. It's an amazing school.”

There is a change, however, that Foote is not happy about.

“I think there's a lot of students who don't live up to their potential,” she laments. “I think it's a cultural thing, I think it's a youth generation thing, and by 'cultural' I mean specific to the youth culture of 'it's okay for me to not do as well as I can.'”

Part of that is the adults' fault, she believes.

“We all want to raise our kids to have more than what we had, and at some point where does that end?” she asks. “So the kids don't feel they need to work as hard. ... And technology has made it so that, literally, you have access to anything at any time, very quickly.”

Still it's a recipe for failure Foote says, and the only response is instilling in the kids the sense that they can do anything that they want to do, and they can achieve at high levels, and to make sure that they have the resources to help them do that. Windsor High School with is large list of course offerings and network of support is exactly such a place she says.

The same network of supports offers students an advantage that students in many surrounding communities don't have, Foote points out: a safe environment.

“I feel very safe and comfortable, and I think the kids feel safe and comfortable in general,” she observed.

It's something that she has worked hard to sustain over the few months she is in WHS, says Sergeant Chris McKee, of the Windsor Police Department.

“Since her start at Windsor High School at the beginning of this school year, the working relationship between the Police Department and the School Counseling Department has taken off by leaps and bounds,” he noted. “The School Resource Officers have collaborated with Ms Foote and her counselors on everything from students in crisis, and truancy issues, to working together to find the best possible community resource for parents and families requiring assistance. We work so closely together now, due in large part of Ms. Foote's guidance and supportive nature, that police officers and school counselors have attended off-site training together on several occasions, and we collaborate almost daily on issues to find the best possible solution for students and their parents.”

Foote's main concern, however, is how to help students expand their horizons, Foote says. That was clear last week, when WHS hosted College Goal Sunday, during which low income parents were advised on how to complete the various financial forms for College.

“It's great event because it's for first generation students and families, low income, people who just have no clue about financial aid,” Foote explained.

So, what is her plan for the future? we asked the new guidance coordinator.

“One of the things that the state is asking us to do, is come up with a Student Success Plan for grades 6 through 12,” she responded. “Starting in July, every student has to have one, and basically it's a way for the students to set goals for themselves, to put in place different academic, social and emotional plans, so that we can make sure we're developing the students appropriately. It is a lot of work, but it's pretty much everything that we've been doing already and maybe a few extra things. And what we'll have to do is document everything that we're doing for each student. We have a program that's called Naviance that we'll be using to make sure that's all is documented, and then we'll go from there.”

For now, though, Foote is savoring the moment.

“I am ecstatically happy to be back in the town,” she said. “I am happy to be a home owner in the town, I'm happy to be an employee of the town, and I'm excited for what the future has to hold.”