Alert — and awed — “06880” reader Greg Boosin lives on Wilton Road. His house backs up to the Saugatuck River.
For the past few weeks, Greg has photographed nature. “I’m amazed every day by the wildlife,” he says.
He shares those shots today. The final one — of an osprey with a fish — might be of particular interest.
“I have no way of knowing if this is the famous Fresh Market osprey,” he says.
“But it definitely comes from, and returns to, that direction.”
(Photos/Greg Boosin)
Right after graduation last year, I posted this story on “06880.” I’ve had requests to run it again — this time a bit earlier. Done!
It’s a big, important — and time-consuming — part of a Staples guidance counselor’s job: writing college recommendations.
With 45 to 55 seniors a year — and each one taking 30 minutes to 2 hours to compose, based on feedback from the student, teachers, coaches, music and drama directors, community members and others — that’s a lot of work.
Because their school days are full, counselors often write recommendations on their own time, at home.
However, writing college recs is not part of a Staples teacher’s (or coach’s, or other staff member’s) job description.
Officially, that is.
But students often ask. And — because their job is helping teenagers succeed — those teachers often oblige.
On their own time.
The most popular teachers are asked to write dozens of recommendations (and other references — for scholarships, summer programs, etc.) — a year.
You’d think that students would show their thanks with a note — or at least a heartfelt email.
You’d also think that students would eagerly share their acceptances — and final college decisions — with the folks who played at least a tiny role in helping them get in.
Some do.
But nowhere near as many as you think.
Victoria Capozzi
Victoria Capozzi — a longtime Staples guidance counselor, who like her colleagues works hard to craft every recommendation to each student’s personality, accomplishments and goals — describes the ins and outs, ups and downs, rewards and disappointments of college rec writing.
“Kids may not realize, but adults are truly invested in them, throughout the entire process,” she said.
“The teenage brain doesn’t see it that way. They just see it as a checklist item on their college application.”
Once a student completes the application, Capozzi explained, “the teenage brain shuts down. It’s done.”
It’s important, she noted, for adults to remind students of the importance of “a gracious thank-you.” Email is “the minimum.” The best option is a handwritten note, delivered in person.
Those are “old school values,” Capozzi admitted. But they exist for a reason.
She showed an example of a great note. It meant so much, she stuck it on her file cabinet.
But a thank-you like that is rare. Capozzi had 48 seniors last year — young men and women she started with as freshmen. Only 8 wrote notes.
“I don’t need accolades,” Capozzi stressed. “I’m their counselor. I know where they’re going. But teachers pour their hearts and souls into their letters. It’s just common courtesy to let them know where you’ve decided to go.”
She added, “I don’t want to sound negative. These are great kids, and great families. I just want to stress the importance of this.”
Staples’ guidance department tries to educate students and parents about the value of this courtesy. It’s in the PowerPoint presentation made during junior and senior years. Counselors also mention it in face-to-face meetings — including the senior “exit interviews.”
“Don’t forget to thank your teachers!” they say.
Sadly, many do.
Posted in Education, People, Staples HS, Teenagers
Tagged Staples High School guidance department, thank-you, Victoria Capozzi
Lazy day by the Levitt Pavilion bridge (Photo/Doris Ghitelman)
Posted in Downtown, Pic of the Day
When Patty Haberstroh heard that Staples High School graduates Dylan Gleicher and Neil Soni teamed up with 2 Yale University classmates to create Prepared, an app that lets educators respond instantly to an active shooting incident — for example, quickly sending a lockdown notification to an entire school, plus local law enforcement — she was impressed.
But the program specialist in Westport’s Human Services Department was not surprised.
She remembered that a while ago Positive Youth Development — another organization she worked with — needed a website designer. They were low on funds. Member Ellen Gleicher said her son could do it, gratis.
Soon, Dylan created and launched PYD’s great site.
He was in 4th grade at the time.
Dylan Gleicher (2nd from left) created the Prepared app with (from left) Michael Chime, Neal Soni and Daniel James. They won the Miller Prize, a $25,000 in Yale University’s entrepreneurship competition. (Photo/Kerry Long)
Sherwood Mill Pond is one of Westport’s most beautiful spots. Teeming with wildlife, it’s loved by photographers, painters, kayakers, fishermen, and anyone who likes to admire nature.
However, the site is not always respected.
Yesterday, an alert — and saddened — “06880” reader sent this disturbing photo:
The egret died after getting tangled in a fishing line that had been cast over an electric line.
Similar lines, the reader says, are also collecting debris and trapping waterfowl.
The bird died very close to the estuary designed expressly for the preservation of wildlife. “Tidal Gates Park” — on the way to Compo Cove — is where 2 hurricane-damaged houses were demolished a couple of years ago.
Someone posted a notice near the dead egret. “This is unacceptable,” it says. “Clean up your lures & lines.”
It’s May. For a substantial population of Westport kids, that means one thing: Camp is around the corner.
Every summer, tweens and teens head to the woodsier parts of New England, New York and (less often) other states. They spend a few weeks doing all the traditional camp stuff, and plenty of modern-day activities that keep kids coming (and coming back).
Camp Laurel, in Maine.
But campfires, counselors — and campers — don’t fall from the sky. Camping is a year-round business.
And for much of the year, some of that business is conducted not in the wilds of Maine, but a pair of 2nd-floor offices on Main Street. Both Camp Manitou and Camp Laurel have space in Brooks Corner.
Jem Sollinger is the director of (and a partner in) Laurel. The 7-week sleepaway camp serves boys and girls ages 7 to 15, with a wide array of programs and experiences.
It’s a great career for the Westport native. An All-New England soccer pick and captain, 4-time All-State skier, and member of the choir in Staples High School’s Class of 1988, he too is a Laurel alum.
His camp experience also includes Mahackeno and the Intercommunity Camp in Westport, and the Soccer Farm at Pomfret School.
Jem first realized he could make camping a career as a senior in high school. The owner of Packer Soccer Camps in New Canaan gave him a job — and plenty of autonomy. He learned personnel management on the fly (including the challenges of bossing 2 of his best friends).
Laurel was his 3rd “real” job. After graduating from Union College he was a teacher and coach, then had a stint with an advertising and event management agency.
Then Laurel hired him as assistant director. He’s been there ever since. Laurel is now a family affair. His wife Debbie also serves as director and partner. Their oldest daughter was a Laurel camper; their youngest 2 still are.
For Jem and Debbie Sollinger, and their 3 girls, summer camp is a family affair.
“Director” is a catch-all title. Jem’s responsibilities include managing logistics, anticipating and solving problems, and setting every camper up for success. “We keep them safe, while encouraging them to take risks, learn new skills, and build a sense of self,” he says. He collaborates and partners with parents too.
Jem is also in charge of counselors, administrators and behind-the-scenes operations staff. He empowers, supervises and coaches all of them.
Much of his autumn-through-spring work in Westport — where he has a full-time staff of 6 — involves staffing. Some come back every year. But many are college students, so he is often in hiring mode.
Jem and his Westport staff recruit at colleges across the country. They use social media. They encourage current and former staffers to tell friends and teammates about their own growth experiences as counselors.
It’s not easy finding “warm, genuine, enthusiastic” college-age counselors — and in today’s market, it can be especially difficult.
“The pressure to get an internship is great,” Jem acknowledges. “There is definitely value to that experience.”
But, he says, “the life skills, relationships and memories gained from a summer working as a camp counselor are incomparable.”
Some of the Camp Laurel staff.
Westport has been fertile ground. Jem has hired a number of Staples grads.
Right now, he’s finalizing his summer staff. He’s talking to people who just graduated from college, or whose internships fell through, or who realize that a couple of months helping kids grow in the woods is a lot more intriguing than commuting to New York.
He’s doing plenty more, of course. Moving the entire operation from Westport to Maine — and getting the 50-acre property ready — is in itself a full-time job.
But if any energetic, self-motivated, hard-working, outdoors-oriented, kid-loving college-age people want to join him, Jem is happy to chat.
Click here for the Camp Laurel website. Email: staff@camplaurel.com.
FUN FACT: Jem Sollinger is not the only Staples High School alum with a full-time job in camping. Corey Frimmer of the Class of ’92 is director of Camp Wicosuta in New Hampshire.
Ducks admire The Duck (Photo/Amy Schneider)
Downtown drivers and pedestrians wonder: What’s up with the sidewalk by the Elm Street construction project?
That’s the new building rising in the Baldwin parking lot, behind Brooks Corner. It’s part of a land swap, in which Villa del Sol was torn down, to create a larger, more manageable parking lot next to Bedford Square.
It will include stores (and perhaps a restaurant), with 4 apartments above.
Elm Street, looking toward Main Street …
Westporters worry about the narrow sidewalk.
David Waldman — developer of the new project — admits it does look close to the edge of the road.
However, he says, when work is done, “proper sidewalks” will be installed on both sides of Elm Street (similar to Main Street), all the way to Church Lane.
Entrances to buildings will be stepped in, providing additional space for pedestrians.
If a restaurant is a tenant, windows and doors would open up like a Nanawall, creating an inside/outside feel.
… and to Church Lane. (Photos/Jen Berniker)
Upon completion, power lines and poles will be removed, and brick sidewalks and street lights installed.
Waldman has been told the sidewalks should be finished by the end of summer or early fall. The project should be ready for occupancy by next spring.
Posted in Downtown, Local business, People, Restaurants
Tagged Baldwin Parking Lot, David Waldman, Elm Street
Last night, the RTM voted unanimously to ban single-use plastic cups, straws, stirrers and Styrofoam materials used in food services.
Westport is believed to be the first municipality on the East Coast with such a ban. More than 10 years ago, we were the first one east of the Mississippi River to enact a plastic bag ban. (Click here for a full report on last night’s action from WestportNow.)
The ordinance was championed by RTM representative Andrew Colabella. Today, he sent this report to “06880”:
Once again, the Minuteman town is monumental in not only tackling, but leading, on a global issue: plastics.
There is plastic everywhere. Meat wrapped in Saran Wrap is placed on Styrofoam. What happened to cut and wrapped in paper? Single use plastic cups — what about paper, cardboard, glass, metal?
Single use to-go containers. What happened to Fold-Pak containers that could be easily disposed of and recycled? What happened to all these products that if disposed of properly, would biodegrade and have little to no adverse effect on the environment? I have no answer.
Plastic straws are everywhere.
While we were sleeping, trucks delivered goods to establishments in plastic packaging one day and we didn’t take notice. If we did, we made a comment about the amount of plastic, and went on with our day.
Our habits have become dangerous. For one week, I saved every piece of plastic that I used from food containers to bottles, even wrappers.
Anxiety settled in. This toxic product that I have become so dependent on had given corporations and manufacturers the upper hand, and control of the leash.
Now we consumers are taking back control. Towns and cities reduce, reuse and refuse.
As some may know, a number of Asian countries once purchased our plastics. That has stopped. They are stockpiled and making their way into rivers, tributaries and oceans. They create large garbage whirlpools, killing the animals we co-exist with.
Coleytown Elementary School’s 5th grade workshop class urged the RTM to enact a Styrofoam ban.
Last night, historically, with the support of co-sponsors, including Senator Will Haskell, Senator Tony Huang, Representative Jonathan Steinberg, Sustainable Westport, Plastic Pollution Project “P3” (Wendy Batteau, Greg Naughton, Liz Milwe and Ashley Moran), selectmen Jim Marpe, Jen Tooker and Melissa Kane, students from across the school district, Alicia Mozian of Conservation Commission, and former RTM members who passed the plastic bag ban 10 years ago, we led the East Coast in banning single use plastics.
It was a tremendous challenge, but rewarding and fun. I made my way through food establishments over the past year, working with individuals like Mark and Lois Backon and Tommy Febbraio of Pearl at Longshore, David Griswold (Mystic Market), Steve Carpentieri (Dunville’s), Matt Storch (March Burger Lobster), Kevin Conte (Parker Mansion), the Mioli brothers (Westport Pizzeria), and many more.
But passing the ordinance is just one step. My next step is to continue visiting establishments and working with our merchants to find alternatives, save and cut costs, reducing and refusing policy, and enticing the public to shop local and preserve Westport.
Andrew Colabella (left) posed with fellow environmental activists after last night’s RTM vote. From left: Alicia Mozian, Samantha Henske, Ashley Moran, Tony McDowell, Liz Milwe, Pippa Bell Ader, Jack Egan.
To my co-sponsors –Ellen Lautenberg, Nicole Klein,, Cathy Talmadge, Carla Rea, Louis Mall, Lois Schine, Wendy Batteau, Mark Friedman, Kristan Hamlin, Catherine Calise Jack Klinge and Jeff Wieser — thank you for supporting and believing in me.
To the Ordinance Committee — Brandi Briggs, Lauren Karpf, Peter Gold, Kristen Schneeman. Christine Meiers Schatz and Lee Arthurs — thank you for professionalism and time to take your intelligence and legal expertise to help craft and edit the ordinance.
To the other RTM representatives who voted in favor of this: You made this possible.
I also thank Ashley Moran for inviting me into her classroom to speak to her students, and observe the school compost.
Also Liz Milwe, for inviting me into her home and helping, working, teaching and being a mom figure outside of my home.
Finally, to my family who stayed up late at night to watch history being made. Love to my mom, dad, sister and Roxy.
It takes a village to clean a village. But it takes a town to lead the rest of the world.
Step one completed!
Posted in Categories
Alert — and grateful — “06880” reader Robin Hellmann nominates her “fairy godboss” for this week’s Unsung Hero award:
If you live in or around Westport, and you work with young children or have a child with special needs, Barbara Greenspan puts a smile on your face. You feel gratitude for what she has taught you, how she cared for your family, how she loved your child and made you a better parent, caregiver or teacher.
For the past 7 years I have had the honor of working with Barbara at her Kidswork occupational therapy practice here. Everyone who knows her attests to her professional skills, and her overall “amazingness” as a human being.
Whenever people learn I am a pediatric occupational therapist, they ask if I know Barbara Greenspan. I am proud to say I do.
I am also humbled that when Barbara retires in June, she is turning her practice over to me. It will be called Spark Pediatric OT.
Barbara Greenspan
With the planning and coordinating nearly complete, I have had time to reflect on our journey together, and the lessons I have learned working with such a special woman.
One of the best lessons Barbara taught me is the importance of being a mentor and leader.
Barbara turned every question I asked, whether existential or mundane, into an opportunity for me to feel respected as a thinker. She left me with the confidence to keep asking questions and be heard.
Rather than answering my questions with her opinions, she urged me to listen to my gut and let that feeling guide me.
Barbara did not micromanage me. She led by having the confidence to allow me to manage myself.
She trusted my judgment to grow at my own pace with a subtle, encouraging push here and there. She never felt her toes were being stepped on, as I took on more responsibility or shared knowledge with her.
In passing her torch, she leads by example. She leads by choosing, at this stage in her life, to “play a little more and work a little less.”
Barbara, thank you for the gift of working by your side for all these years. I will follow my gut, lead by example, continue to ask questions, and care for our community the best that I can.
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