Spring 2010
WCS ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
(http://www.WillsboroAlumni.com)
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Willsboro Alumni Association is to create, maintain, enhance, and promote Willsboro Central School and its students; and to unite, inform and involve alumni and friends in fellowship and support of education.
ALUMNI OFFICERS AND CHAIRPERSONS
President……….……………Larry Allen 518-963-8912 wilsboro@willex.com
Vice President ………………Jane Lobdell 518-963-4047 gramajane3@peoplepc.com
Treasurer…………………….Shirley Phillips 518-557-3634 sphillips1@willex.com
Secretary…………………….Margaret Beuerlein 518-585-7421 mhtb58@verizon.net
Immediate Past President…...Richard Blanchard 518-963-7055 richmad37@peoplepc.com
Banquet Liaison……………..Bettie Lawrence 817-491-9697 bettie1940@att.net
Ada Hutchins 518-963-8351 reber1876@localnet.com
Historian…………………….Janice Allen 518-963-8912 allens@willex.com
Internet Coordinator………...Bill Morgan 518-963-4386 MorganWJ@gmail.com
Membership…………………Bettie Lawrence 817-491-9697 bettie1940@att.net
Assistant Membership………Laura Marsha 518-963-7065 marhut@willex.com
Memorial Coordinator………Janice Allen 518-963-8912 allens@willex.com
Newsletter…………………...Bettie Lawrence 817-491-9697 bettie1940@att.net
Ada Hutchins 518-963-8351 reber1876@localnet.com
THE PREZ SEZ
Spring is upon us and our officers are stepping up their plans for the busy days ahead. The big events for our organization fall at graduation time when we hold our annual Alumni Banquet. We have a very active board of officers and are pleased to welcome another new member, Darcey Lobdell Ziemer starting this spring.
A report on the projects that our organization has been working on through the winter months include: The completion of the display case placed in the school auditorium is now lighted, attached to the wall and locks are installed. Many thanks to Gerry Spooner for assisting us with the finishing work. Along with the assistance of Superintendent Steven Broadwell and the school staff, this project is now complete and being enjoyed. We are still looking into getting a small plaque to be placed on or near the case noting that the Class of 1951 and the Class of 1955 donated money to be used toward the cost of the cases.
Andrew Lee and Larry Allen have collected all the old trophies and are rotating them selectively as it fits the present sporting season. Current case plans for May & June will feature pictures of students in the present graduating class with their accomplishments over their school career.
We will continue to assist in the Wall of Distinction project. We furnish the funds to have the selected winners framed and a plaque printed. This year there are two winners, Tom Spierto and Harris Young. The plaques are placed on the wall in the hallway near the entrance area.
Bettie Lawrence is working with Bill Morgan to improve the Alumni website. The electronic age has made it one of the best ways to keep people informed at a considerable saving to the group. We encourage you to check it often and use this method to stay in touch with us with timely information and suggestions of how we can better serve our organization. We are looking to find little ways here and there to keep our name out in the community and beyond.
As you will read elsewhere in this letter our annual banquet will be held on Saturday, June 26, at Crickets in Peru. We are hopeful that a member or two of alumni classes will take it upon themselves to encourage fellow classmates to come join us. The 50th reunion class will once again be honored both at the school graduation and at our banquet. This year we welcome former graduates Scott Reithel to serve as our guest speaker and Ron Bruno to serve as our master of ceremony. Let’s really get the effort out and have our best attendance to date.
Another project that is being planned is to have an information table in the entry area on the evening of graduation to showcase our organization and have membership forms available. We would also like to highlight the 50th class reunion members with a current picture and a brief biography of themselves. Please, if this is your class, send this information to me by early June either by email or regular mail.
I am looking forward to meeting you at the reunion.
Larry Allen, President
SUPERINTENDENT BROADWELL’S UPDATES
Willsboro School Cited for Positive Audit
We were again recognized as one of only 39 school districts in New York State that received top marks from the Office of the State Comptroller for financial management based on five years of audits. Willsboro was in a select group of only 5% of the school districts statewide that received this distinction.
2010-11 Budget News
Our community budget committee has been working for over a month in the budget development of next year’s budget. Obviously, New York State’s financial woes will have a negative impact on our school budget. The school district will continue to do its best at balancing the needs of our students with the financial impact on our community members.
Wall of Recognition Honorees
This year’s wall of recognition award winners are Tom Spierto and Harris Young. Both men will be honored for their commitment to the school and community at our graduation ceremony on June 25th.
Mentors
This year in conjunction with the College for Every Student organization, we piloted an adult mentoring program for all our 11th grade students. It was a great success as volunteer adult mentors were partnered with 11th grade students to meet monthly and “talk” about the college plans, organizational skills, and planning for the future. We will be continuing the program next year to include both the incoming 11th graders as well as our 12th grade seniors.
Recent Winter Student Highlights
The boys and girls basketball teams both won their respective divisions in the MVAC this season and earned another banner for the gymnasium. Tara Robare qualified for the State Bowling Championships on the Section 7 All-Star Team. Austin Ferris won the school level geography
contest as well as qualified as one of the finalists for the State level competition in Albany in April. This is Austin’s second time qualifying for in this competition.
Academic News
We are proud to announce that all of our 2010 graduating seniors have received acceptance letters to colleges for the Fall academic year. We are very proud of our seniors and their accomplishments.
During the 2009-10 academic school year, 41 of our students will be receiving 500 college credits. This is through college classes taught by our teachers as adjunct professors through North Country Community College. It truly benefits our students as they enter the college-life by transferring credits into their selected college.
ALUMNI NEWS
The Alumni Board of Directors has been expanded. The current board members are: Larry Allen, Jane Lobdell, Shirley Phillips, Margaret Beuerlein, Richard Blanchard, Bettie Lawrence, Ada Hutchins, Janice Allen, Joyce Sukel, Paula Calkins, Andrew Lee, Jane Carter and Darcy Ziemer. We want to welcome the new members and to thank all of the members for offering their time and service.
The Class of 1959 writes that after waiting 50 years, our class enjoyed a wonderful Alumni Weekend Reunion in June of 2009. Many of us had not seen or contacted each other since our high school graduation. Since we missed all of those years of reunions, we would like to hear from any class mates that would like to meet again for this year’s Alumni weekend. Please contact us if you are interested.
Carolyn Sayward Walker, 518-963-7134, cwalker@westelcom.com
Jane Provost Lobdell, 518-963-4047, grandmajane3@peoplepc.com
Ada Sharrow Hutchins, 518-963-8351, reber1876@localnet.com
Word has been received that Richard Hathaway, a 1966 graduate of Willsboro Central School, is a recipient of the Teacher of the Year award from the Carolinas Chapter of the Council for Learning Disabilities. Richard moved to North Carolina in 1995 and began working with students with learning disabilities and emotional disorders. In 2006 Richard moved to the Myrtle Beach South Carolina school district where he works in a cross-categorical classroom at the elementary level. Richard is the son of Flossie Hathaway and the late Donald Hathaway. Congratulations Richard!
We would really appreciate receiving any news that you have of interest…awards received, promotions, retirements, etc. So far we have relied on newspaper clippings, etc., and those are few and far between! Quite often when an article is being written, you are asked if there is anyone that you would like notified. Please ask that it be forwarded to Bettie Lawrence at Bettie1940@att.net so that we can share that information with WAA. We want to share what is happening in your lives with our whole organization!
WEB SITE UPDATES
We have revised the Class List on the web site. It would be much appreciated if members would check it out and let us know if there are corrections to be made. We would like to know of any deaths that you are certain of so we can update…and hopefully we have not listed someone as deceased that is still alive! Send information to Bettie Lawrence at Bettie1940@att.net with additions/corrections. Thanks so much in advance for taking time to check out your family members. We have also updated the photo on the main page of the website to show the new display cases. Do take a minute and log on and see this!
DUES
We urge all WCS alumni to participate in the Willsboro Alumni Association. The dues money is used to try and bring you updated information by means of a newsletter, for items such as the trophy cases, we contributed to the playground, and we provide the placard for the Wall of Distinction each year. We have also created our own website with the help of Bill Morgan. Even if you cannot attend the banquet, we would really appreciate it if you would take a minute and fill out the membership form and send to our treasurer. Annual dues are $5/year if you wish a printed copy of the newsletter and $3/year if you would like an electronic copy.
Again, we want to thank all of our members who have continued to pay dues and to the many that have sent along additional contributions. We think that we have done some very good things with the money and hopefully you will also.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS/DATABASE CORRECTIONS
Change of address, regular or email, or corrections to the database should be sent to Bettie Lawrence, Bettie1940@att.net, or mailed to her at 14048 Fontana Road, Roanoke, TX 76262. If you received information on the newsletter from someone else, please send me your email address so that we can correct the problem.
NEWSLETTER
Information for the newsletter should be sent to Bettie Lawrence at Bettie1940@att.net or mailed to her at 14048 Fontana Road, Roanoke, TX 76262. And I might add that ANY and ALL alumni news would be great! It’s your N/L so if you have some interesting information you would like to share, we would be happy to include it. Your class may be organizing a reunion, etc., and this
would be good advertising for you. Or perhaps your class has done something you would like others to know about. Anything you could contribute would be good.
2010 BANQUET
Once again our banquet will be held at Cricket’s in Peru. There is a reservation form included as part of this newsletter, or a printable one is available on line at www.willsboroalumni.com. The date of the banquet is Saturday in June 26, 2010. We do ask that you have your reservations in to us not later than June 11 because we have to confirm the number of dinners with Cricket’s. Anyone making reservations after that date cannot be guaranteed their dinner choice and there is always the possibility of exceeding the number of reservations. We really do urge you to help us by sending in your reservations early.
SPECIAL ANNIVERSARIES
Classes celebrating a 5-year anniversary at the 2010 banquet, and this year that would be any class ending in a 5 or a 0, will have reserved seating. There will also be a special table set up for the 25th and 50th classes. As in the past, you may sit anywhere that there is not a reserved name tag. Just place your “reserved for” name tag that is picked up at the registration desk in any blank place and then you are free to mix and mingle and when dinner time comes, you will have a place to sit waiting for you.
CLASS CONTACTS
This list is quite long, so to save space please go to www.willsboroalumni.com to view the list. If you do not have access to a computer and the internet, drop Bettie a line or give her a call and she will be glad to give you the information you need.
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