When a Boxcar is a 'Teacher'
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The gift of learning and history went full circle — and it all revolved around favorite daughter, author Gertrude Chandler Warner.
More than 100 third graders packed the Putnam Elementary School Library April 1 as the Aspinock Historical Society presented a set of Warner’s Boxcar Children books in a special boxcar holder.
Pat Hedenberg, boxcar museum director, presented the special gift saying the students can now borrow and read all the Boxcar Children adventures “and then you can write your own adventures.”
In the near future, the third graders will be taking their annual adventure (um, trip) to the Putnam library, the Aspinock Historical Society and the boxcar museum. They’ll be learning about Warner and the times she lived in through programs, crafts and games.
Aspinock Historical Society President John Miller told the students: “Here’s what I want you to remember. History teaches us about the past, so we can understand the present — and build.”
Putnam Municipal Historian Bill Pearsall asked the students if they knew how old Warner was when she wrote her first book. Nine. He challenged them to sit down and start writing.
Three residents who had Miss Warner as their third grade teacher, Gerry Tetreault, Sandra Ames and Ilene Bourgue, were on hand for the presentation. Ames, holding up an apple, talked about Warner having an apple sitting on her desk for the longest time. Finally the students asked why she didn’t eat the apple and she said there would be a lesson in the apple. A few days later she told students there was a star in the apple. “How could that be?,” Ames said. Warner finally cut through the circumference of the apple and the seed layout resembles a star. Ames passed around the “star” apple. Modern students learned something new — now Warner is “extending her teaching through a new group of children.”
For his part, Mayor Barney Seney urged the students to remember history and read, read, read. “The more you read, the more you know and you can explain yourself,” he said.
Following all the speeches and presentations the students had presentations of their own. STEM teacher Cassondra LaVallee said they created their own versions of the boxcar and Warner’s world — thoroughly and in great detail. The students scattered to their creations and proudly answered questions from the guests.
LaVallee said back in August the United Arts team was thinking about ways to incorporate play and project-based learning and build relationships with the local community. Librarian Kathy Dunton helped think of the project — they came up learning about Warner and creating projects that represented her world. The project included engineering and design processes. Bill and Terri Pearsall came to talk about Warner and the students went on a bus tour. LaVallee said she knew after that the project needed to be expanded. “I wanted students to understand that places change over time and give them an opportunity to create an important part of Putnam’s history.” Students went around in teams and discussed how they might recreate these places, she said.
Each team worked through the design process. Once a final design was chosen, they had to order materials necessary to complete their design and explored safety, for example hot glue guns and some cutting tools.
For the most part, LaVallee said, this was the first three-dimensional structure some students had created. She said sometimes the STEM room looked like a natural disaster had swept through but all the students helped clean up. They discussed what worked and what didn’t. “All of this work has brought us here today.”
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caption, page 1: Some 115 Putnam Elementary School third graders were immersed in Warner history, gifts and projects. Expanded photo array Wed. night on our FB page. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.
captions, page 4
clockwise from top left:
Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children Museum Director Pat Hedenberg shows the students the gift, a set of Boxcar books with a boxcar holder.
Mayor Barney Seney speaks to the third graders.
Sandra Ames, who was a student of Miss Warner's, tells the students Warner's story about the "star in the apple."
The students' models were on display.
Roundup
Prep soccer team nabs Jefferson Cup
The Woodstock Academy Prep soccer teams had to travel a little bit to accomplish it but the Centaurs made the voyage to Richmond, Vir., worth it.
The U-19 group of Centaurs won the championship bracket of the Jefferson Cup with three consecutive wins in the championship bracket recently.
“The Jefferson Cup has been around for over 40 years. It has a great reputation in terms of level of play and competitiveness of teams. It’s also a huge draw from around the country,” said coach Owen Finberg.
How large? How about 600 teams in the boys showcase weekend which is comprised of four levels, U-15, U-16, U-17 and U-19.
“It’s a really good selection of teams to play. A lot of college coaches are there and it’s the premiere tournament of its kind on the East Coast,” Finberg said.
Teams are not allowed to choose what bracket they will play in.
The programs are placed based on their competitiveness and previous experience at the Jefferson Cup.
“I’ve been fortunate to have won it before and our team has performed well so the U-19 was in the championship bracket this year after winning their bracket last year. Our U-17 team was probably under-seeded a bit but with their performance, they should move up next year,” Finberg said. “You have to hope for the best. There are a lot of good brackets and being in the championship one is ideal but there is good competition throughout the tournament.”
The Centaurs finished 3-0 with a 3-1 win over Charlotte SA in their final match of the tournament.
Woodstock finished tied atop the bracket with 27 out of a possible 30 points.
“Finishing at the top of the top bracket in the top age group is an awesome achievement for our guys,” Finberg said.
Nicolae Velicico had a goal and two assists while Jonathan Moumboko and Daion Swan-Desilva added tallies.
The Centaurs had to rally for the clinching win as they trailed 1-0 at the break.
It wasn’t easy in the opener either.
The Centaurs found themselves locked up in a 1-1 tie against NVA ECNL in their opener on March 28.
But Tommy Broderick, who scored the first goal, slammed the door on the Centaurs’ opponents with two unanswered goals for the hat trick.
Jasper Cox assisted on one of the goals and Romeo Corino on another.
Cox got one of the tallies for the Centaurs March 29, when Woodstock blanked the NCFC Youth, 2-0.
Xahvi DeRoza assisted on Cox’s goal while Swan-Desilva added the other goal off an assist from Velicico.
“Whenever you are transporting 45 people across six states over four days, plus travel to and from the hotel and we played at different field locations on Friday and Saturday, the whole staff did a great job of just putting the guys in the best position to win. There are a lot of moving parts and a very busy weekend. Everything went well and we even had good weather,” Finberg said.
The U-17 team made it look easy in its final contest as it downed Next Level Soccer SE, 16-0. Penrose Ayeyei scored five times in the win for the Centaurs who finished second in their bracket with 29 out of a possible 30 points.
The Centaurs outscored their opponents 24-2 in the three-match tournament and recorded a pair of shutouts.
That included a 5-2 victory over the Virginia Reign in the opener on Friday. Giovanni Farina scored two of the goals while Obama Ngarambe, Derek Rodriguez (1 assist) and Fabian Crespo had the others. Oscar Pearman had two assists in the win and Hae Sung Kim aided in a goal as well.
The Centaurs delivered a shutout on Saturday when they downed Penn Fusion, 4-0.
Nico Ochoa, Ngarambe , Richard Sarpong and Jaehee Kim scored the goals.
“It was the highlight of the spring, the showpiece event for us. We’ve played a lot of good teams through the winter. The Best of the East was a big-time event but it was just a couple of games amongst the snow piles in Philadelphia. That was competitive and good exposure but the Jefferson Cup was a big-time tournament and has the attention of the national media,” Finberg said.
The remainder of the spring features a couple of matches before a Memorial Day weekend tournament in Boston.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The weather wasn’t so nice but the results were as the first Saturday of the spring season got off to a wet start.
The girls’ lacrosse team opened with a win on the road as it escaped from Killingly with a 10-8 victory. Junior Kaylee Saucier put the ball into the net seven times for the Centaurs while Clara Dowdle added two goals and assisted on five others. Junior Baylee Rosinski had the other goal in the win.
The boys’ volleyball team also had a short trip to make for its opener as it posted a 3-1 win over the Clippers in Putnam. Brayden Bottone had 11 kills and 10 points for the Centaurs while Owen Budd added eight kills, Christian Hart had 12 digs and Weston Mission had 21 assists.
And the boys’ lacrosse team prevailed easily over Norwich Tech, 19-2. Dylan Phillips led the Centaurs attack with five goals and an assist while Patrick Griswold added three goals and helped on two others. Corey Lafond, Keegan Covello, Camden Marshall and Xander Miller all had two goals apiece in the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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‘One if by land, two if by sea’
By Bill Pearsall
Putnam Municipal Historian
As America is celebrating its 250th Anniversary of Independence, there is a nationwide effort to commemorate its founding. So let’s take a look back at events that happened before our independence took place.
To set the scene, we need to remember that America was a British colony at the time. The colonies were occupied by British authorities and the colonists were organizing to end the rule of the British. Local “Patriots” gained wind of a planned crackdown on the Massachusetts Provincial Congress by the British army.
According to Wikipedia, on April 7, 1775, British Army activity suggested the possibility of troop movement. Joseph Warren, a Founding Father of the U.S., sent Paul Revere, a Sons of Liberty member, to warn the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, then sitting in Concord, of what was happening. Concord was the site of one of the larger caches of Patriot military supplies. After receiving the warning, Concord residents began moving the military supplies away from the town.
One week later on April 14, British General Gage received instruction from the Secretary of State William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, to disarm the rebels who were known to have hidden weapons in Concord and to imprison the rebellious leaders (Samuel Adams and John Hancock). Gage was given instruction not to plunder the inhabitants or hurt private property fearing that doing so might spark and uprising.
Meanwhile in the days before April 18, Paul Revere had devised a plan with the sexton of the North Church, Robert Newman. The plan was to send a signal by lantern to alert colonists in Charlestown when he learned the British troop movement was beginning. It was decided that a lantern would be hung in the steeple of the church. One lantern was to be hung if the troops were moving overland and two lanterns if they were moving over water.
In the end the British chose the water route so two lanterns were hung in the steeple. Paul Revere first gave instructions to send the signal to Charleston. He then crossed the Charles River by rowboat, slipping past the Royal Navy warship HMS Somerset at anchor. He then rode from Charleston to Lexington avoiding a British patrol and warned almost every house along the route. The towns he rode through also sent out messengers to warn the colonists of the army’s advance. By the end of that night, as many as 40 riders were sounding the alarm. The results of the preparedness, the “British Regulars” were defeated at Lexington and Concord.
40 years after Revere’s death Henry Wadsworth Longfellow popularized Revere with a portion of his 1861 poem:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear / of the midnight ride of Paul Revere / On the Eighteenth of April in Seventy-five; / Hardly a man is now alive / Who remembers that famous day and year
Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.
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caption:
The Aspinock Historical Society will be placing two battery-operated candles in the windows of the Museum in the Town Hall on School Street on April 18 and 19. Please join us in celebrating by doing the same at home.
PUTNAM — Putnam Police last week arrested Norwich resident Juan R. Vargas, 45, on charges of first-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.
Putnam Police Chief Christopher D. Ferace said the arrest stems from an investigation initiated in 2023.
Currently Vargas is housed on an unrelated offense in the Corrigan Correctional Institution in Uncasville and the warrant was served in Danielson Superior Court. All accused are presumed innocent.
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