captions: Top: Marcy Dawley of The Last Green Valley was counting nip bottles. Above: The crowd at the bandstand at the Putnam's Rotary Park May 9. Left: The Putnam Elementary School teams heaves bags into a DPW dump truck.

 

 

Pulling 

together 

to beautify

Putnam

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM --- With lots of hard work by lots of local teams the Putnam Business Association's annual Putnam Beautification event turned the streets and parks of Putnam into a sparkling clean gem.

The winner of the Most Spirited award was Ethan Hall. The winner of the Most Unique find was the Green Valley Black Hawks from Putnam Chiropractor with a find of a fender. The Putnam High School team won the "Most Gross" award with a used pair of  boxer shorts and the Purple Unicorn Robots won the Most Nips award with 118 nips picked up by the two team members. Most of the nips were found in the South Main Street area.

The total number of nip bottles found this year was 950, according to Karen Osbrey of the PBA. 

Besides shopping cards, workers also found a 20 dollar bill, tampons, a boom box, a tarp, hub caps, a tire rim, a syringe, a bike tire, a Christmas wreath and a license plate bracket for a Mercedes Benz.

 

 

Stuyniski 

garners ECC

Athlete of the

Month honor

By Ron P. Coderre

Paige Stuyniski, Woodstock Academy’s sensational sophomore gymnast was named the Eastern Connecticut Conference Female Athlete of the Month for March.  The award comes after Stuyniski led her mates through this season’s gymnastics season capturing just about every team title along the way.

The dedicated gymnast helped lead the Centaurs of coach Robin Deary Fillmore to their 5th consecutive CIAC State Class Championship and their 4th straight CIAC State Open Championship.  During these competitions she won three gold medals at each event.  Her score of 9.875 in the Floor Exercise at the Open competition set a new record.  She’s the existing state record holder in the Beam competition, which she set last year.

The two-time All – Eastern Connecticut Conference and All- State performer also led the Centaur gymnasts to their 6th consecutive ECC regular season and tournament titles.  At the New England Championships, where Woodstock finished second, Stuyniski won four gold medals capturing the top spot in the Bars, Beam, Floor Exercise and All Around.

The Brooklyn resident is already drawing considerable interest from numerous NCAA Division I colleges.

The Male Athlete of the Month was Fitch High School swimmer Dakota Williams.  The senior plans on continuing his swimming career in college and has narrowed his choices to Seton Hall and Providence College.

 

Teacher of

year at WA

WOODSTOCK — Woodstock Academy’s Woodworking Teacher, Keith Landin, has been named the Teacher of the Year by the New England Association of Woodworking Teachers.

In his 27 years as a Technology Educator, Landin has taught middle school, high school, and adult woodworking classes at several schools. Since joining the Woodstock Academy faculty in 2006, Landin has developed curriculum for courses in Machine Woodworking, Furniture Design, and Construction Technology among others.

“Woodstock Academy is very lucky to have a teacher like Keith Landin who is able to provide our students with distinctive classes and real-life learning experiences,” Headmaster Sandford stated. “Through our Vocational Technology program, students are able to take advantage of the incredible opportunity of producing work for local businesses, which not only gives them valuable knowledge and skill, but also helps them build relationships for a potential work after graduation.”

Landin’s primary goal as a teacher is to provide his students with real-world Woodworking opportunities. His classes have produced  pieces for the Woodstock Town Hall, the Frederick Law Olmstead Museum in Boston, Our Companions Animal Shelter in Ashford, and many more. Landin’s students have also been honored with local and regional awards such as Best in Show at the Woodstock Fair and recognition at the New England Regional Student Woodworking  Competition.

“It feels good to have my efforts recognized by this honor,” commented Landin. “But my greatest rewardhas always beenthe respect, admiration and accomplishment of my students.”

Landin’s Furniture Design class is currently working  on building two museum-quality reproductions for Old Sturbridge Village, an experience that will push his students to overcome new obstacles as they try to match the quality, look and feel of the antique furniture used in the Village. The project is being sponsored by the Beagary  Trust and is expected  to be completed in June.

For more information on Woodstock Academy’s Vocational Technology department or to learn about how to receive help on your next Construction project, please contact Keith Landin at (860) 928-6575 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..