Nicole Gerber nominates Steve Kidney of Growing Designs, and his team, as Unsung Heroes. She writes:
Steve Kidney grew up on Tamarac Road in Westport. He raised his family in Fairfield, and now lives in Easton.
He is a true gentleman who genuinely cares about both his clients and the gardens he creates, and he is always willing to help out whenever needed.
Most recently Steve, his foreman Mazuk and the entire Growing Designs team donated their time, talents, labor, and several beautiful perennial plantings to the design and installation of new garden beds at Homes with Hope’s recently renovated Susie’s House on Compo Road North. It’s a few yards from Steve’s boyhood home.
The entire crew was happy to help, and fully embraced the spirit of the project.
Growing Designs, on the job.
Their generosity helped transform the backyard space into a welcoming and restorative environment for the 6 young women living at Susie’s House.
Growing Designs contributed this work in support of an AWARE CT (Assisting Women through Action Resources and Education) event last weekend, celebrating the organization’s 2025–2026 partnership with Susie’s House.
Thanks, Steve and the Growing Designs team, for all you do. You are true Unsung Heroes!
(Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com. “06880” is proud to honor them — and tell many other tales of town too. Please click here to help us do that, by supporting this hyper-local blog.)
The Greens Farms Elementary School 4th grader died in an automobile accident in 2018. He would have joined Philip in graduating from Staples High this month. Philip helped lead an effort to create a scholarship in his cousin’s name.
Perrin’s father, James Delorey, also spoke movingly about Perrin’s life and legacy. James said:
I am so grateful to be here with my wife Dr. Angela Ryan, our 2 beautiful daughters, Perrin’s little sisters, Mireille and Elodie, and our families. Thank you have having us.
To those of you who didn’t know our son, Perrin was a thoughtful young man with a great future ahead of him. Angela and I talk about him all the time, and Mireille and Elodie do too. He truly is present in our family of 5. On our way here, Mireille and Elodie were talking about looking into Perrin’s blue eyes!
Perrin Delorey’s sisters, with a photo of their brother.
You’re all at a huge moment in your lives, and in ours too. We know Perrin should be graduating from Staples right now – or, at least, doing great things in his senior internship.
All of Perrin’s friends are at the end of their high school careers, and many of them are here today, making plans for career, public service, university.
It has both difficult and wonderful to see all of your accomplishments these last eight years – performing in school plays, excelling at athletics, becoming astonishingly good baseball players, hockey players, making the most beautiful music, volunteering in our community and making the life of this community even richer, climbing mountains, becoming Eagle Scouts, becoming adults.
You’re all doing such an amazing job at all of these, and we love to see it happening.
I’m here tonight because Perrin’s classmates, led by his “identical cousin” Philip, have created the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, a Staples Tuition Grant that – because of the generosity of so many at the 3-on-3 basketball tournament, at the Skate for Perrin at Longshore, at the Perrin Delorey Memorial Cup hockey game, or responding to our outreach, or to our generous coverage in “06880” — the award will be given in perpetuity to help students pursue their dreams of higher education.
Perpetuity is a long time, and we are so grateful for every one at Staples Tuition Grants who made this possible: Joan Gillman, Aiko Nose, Kara and Philip Sullivan, everyone who donated.
James Delorey
I was kindly asked for my thoughts about criteria – what do we want this award to represent. I think Jeff Brill of Westport Little League really got it right with the Perrin Ryan Delorey Sportsmanship Award, presented not to the “best” player, but to the player who works the hardest to improve and help their teammates.
We are so inspired by all the recipients of this award. This occasion makes me think forward about the continued adventures of Perrin’s friends and peers as they enter adulthood.
What will you teach us? Where will you take us? What will you teach others? What kind of families will you build? How many people will you help? Who will you love? What kind of lives will you make?
We had all these questions and great expectations for Perrin. Now have them for his little sisters, and, honest, we have them for all of you!
Perrin Delorey, at Yale Bowl.
We love watching his cousins, classmates and friends grow up. We are so proud of you as you accomplish great things, and we exult in you becoming who you are. We can’t help but wonder what kind of person Perrin would be today, what would he be interested in, and what great new things he would be teaching us.
I have a poster here of our last photo of Perrin as a Cub Scout. It’s the most grown up he looks in any photo, and it’s the one that is easiest to imagine him looking like as a high school senior.
It’s a photo from our annual end-of-year pack picnic at Compo Beach, just a week before he died. Mireille is going to this same picnic in a few days.
The last event of the picnic – of the Scouting year – is the great tug of war. All the photos are amazing. Determined smiles on every Cub Scout. Pure joy on the faces of the parents cheering them on.
Perrin is so handsome in this photo. He just looks so strong and confident. I’ve seen the same looks on your faces as we have watched you grow up these last eight years.
In this Cub Scout tug of war photo, it’s clear, Perrin is playing the game right, doing his best, making a difference for his team, pulling as hard as he can. What a bright future that boy had.
What a bright future you all have.
I am so excited for all of you. Have fun at college, learn something from everyone you meet. Be kind and do your best to make their experience an excellent one, too. You have an amazing future, and you’re going to make a difference in other people’s lives.
So now, and as you go on your amazing adventures, we ask you to do this from time to time: Take a deep breath, say your friend Perrin’s name out loud — “Perrin” — and do your best to help someone else’s dreams come true.
I love you. We love you. Thank you.
(For more information on Staples Tuition Grants — including how to donate to the Perry Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, and others — click here.)
Fifty years of Apple history flew by in an hour last night.
David Pogue educated, entertained and intrigued a full house. The writer/TV correspondent/explainer-in-chief returned to the Westport Library — where he often spoke and moderated panels, during his 20 years in town — for an author talk on his new book about the tech behemoth’s first half century.
David Pogue, with a vintage photo of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
Accompanied by a whiz-bang slide show, Pogue romped through the highs (2.5 billion people own an Apple device) and lows (in the 1990s, they were 6 weeks away from bankruptcy).
Apple’s market cap is now $4 trillion dollars. They make $1 million every 90 seconds.
Pogue — who for the first 10 years of his career was a Broadway conductor — used the Library’s grand piano to belt out 3 song parodies. One — a “My Way” takeoff called “I Want an iPhone” — was filmed in Westport.
David Pogue at the piano, singing about an iPhone. (Photo/Susan Garment)
He showed it on the big screen. I’m sure it was filmed, edited and projected using Apple products.
Before the event, David Pogue chatted with Jay Babina. The teenager runs the very cool Westport Tech Museum, filled with early generation Apple successes and failure. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Seventeen members of Staples High School’s premier jazz ensemble, Staples Jazz 1, earned several standing ovations Friday night, from a standing room only crowd at New York’s Birdland Jazz Club.
The group was the opening act for the Birdland Big Band, at one of the jazz world’s most iconic venues.
The high energy performance, directed by Kevin Mazzarella, featured classics including “Moten Swing” and “Big Swing Face.”
It was a full day of music, for the young musicians. Earlier in the day they participated in an educational clinic led by Birdland Big Band director David DeJesus, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Maria Marmarou. The students received personalized coaching, performance feedback, and professional insights.
“For many jazz musicians, performing at Birdland is a dream,” says Mazzarella. “For our students to have the opportunity not only to perform there, but also to learn from world-class musicians and then share the stage with the Birdland Big Band, was truly extraordinary. What made me proudest was not just the quality of the music, but the way these students supported one another, carried themselves professionally, and embraced every moment of the experience.”
Staples Jazz Ensemble, at Birdland.
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Fresh off the 53rd annual Fine Arts Festival, the Westport Downtown Association is gearing up for summer.
The Sidewalk Sale returns June 26-28.
And summer music is back on Church Lane, entertaining diners and strollers. The weekend schedule includes many popular names.
June 5: Owen Daniel
June 6: Moss
June 12: Ethan Walmark
June 13: Dan Tressler
June 19: Owen Daniel
June 20: Eliot Thompson
June 26: Moss
June 27: Vinnie Ferrone
Summer music on Church Lane. (Photo/Jonathan Alloy)
The Westport Farmers’ Market is many things, to many people.
To chef/owner Brian Lewis of The Cottage, it means a special Farmers’ Market Menu.
Available at dinner Tuesday through Sunday all summer long, the $65 3-course menu highlights ingredients sourced from local farms and producers. It’s a seasonal snapshot of food at its peak, while supporting local agriculture.
The menu evolves, as new ingredients become available. Current offerings include:
Fort Hill Farm kohlrabi salad with pea leaf ricotta, chili vinaigrette, and coffee walnut crumble
Hand-rolled garganelli with Double A Ranch chicken sausage, broccoli rabe, and sunflower seeds
Ox Hollow Farm beef sirloin with fermented gooseberries, mustard greens, burnt alliums, and red wine jus.
The Farmers’ Market Menu coincides with the opening of the Cottage patio, for outdoor dining.
Brian Lewis shops at the Farmers’ Market — and shows off a dish.
For Sustainable Westport, the first Monday of each month is special.
That’s the evening for a casual meet-up. It’s a great chance for people to learn more about sustainability, from getting involved with the organization to making an impact at home.
We’ve posted a couple of times about the Whitney Street road reconstruction and sidewalk renovation project. We’ve noted in particularly the huge boulders involved.
Here’s one more photo. It shows the scale of the work — and the great job being done by the workers.
Drummer Greg Burrows is one of Greg (The Jazz Rabbi) Wall’s favorite musicians.
This Thursday (June 4, 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner at 7), Burrows headlines “Jazz at the Post” — the long-running series at VFW Post 399 created by Wall and the Jazz Society of Fairfield County.
Burrows will play the music of noted composer Ed Bonoff, with whom he’s collaborated for decades. He’ll be joined by saxophonists Wall and Frank Basile, trombonist John Fumasoli, pianist David Childs and bassist Rick Zurkowski.
The Staples High School Jazz Ensemble II will play at 7.
And finally … it’s the 3rd of June. Here in Westport, it’s not exactly another sleepy, dusty Delta day.
But … well, you know the rest:
(The 3rd of June — and all other 364 days — are perfect times to show support for “06880.” From here to the Tallahatchie Bridge, it’s where Westport meets the world. Please click here — and thanks!)
All over town, builders and families are buying old (and some young) homes, and tearing them down.
Some were poorly constructed, and go easily. Others are more sturdy. But they too succumb to the wrecking ball.
It will take a lot to topple 50 Sylvan Road North — the 1920 Tudor Revival owned by a host of well-known people, including actor Frank Gorshin and billionaire Marc Lasry.
(Photo courtesy of MLS)
Fortunately, that won’t happen.
And not just because the walls are more than 2 feet thick.
50 Sylvan Road North, today.
The 9-bedroom, 8 1/2-bathroom stone home, on a 3-acre lot, was bought 2 1/2 years ago by attorney Jeffrey Ment and Dr. Mary Murray, Westporters since 2000.
Sturdy construction, from 1920.
They’ve painstakingly renovated the long-neglected property, both inside and out.
Mary Murray, in her back yard.
The interior was in bad shape. The exterior — including gardens, statues and fountains that had disappeared under weeds and algae — was worse.
It’s taken time, energy, creativity and love. But now, 50 Sylvan — beckoning behind an old-style stone wall — looks much as it did when Charles Cutler designed it over 100 years ago.
If it looks a bit like other local landmarks, there’s a reason: Cutler also created the Westport Bank & Trust (Patagonia) building downtown, and Greens Farms Elementary School.
The first owner was Arthur Dare Whiteside, president of Dun & Bradstreet. Subsequent owners included a variety of artists and actors, including Gorshin — The Riddler on “Batman,” among many other notable roles.
But by the time Murray and her husband — who passed it often, on their walks from nearby Marion Road — bought it, it had fallen into disrepair.
It took them a while to figure out what to do, or even where to begin.
As landscape architects Beate Hochman and Emilio Mandujano explored, they found overgrown sculptures, rock gardens, even a pond. “It was like an architectural dig,” Murray recalls.
This sculpture and fountain was rediscovered, and restored.
Gradually, the property has been transformed. The owners have added their own touches too, like a farm building with 10 chickens and 5 ducks, and a nearby koi pond.
The chicken and duck coop, with pond in front.
Inside, Murray and Ment have restored carvings — of Latin sayings, animals and more — in nearly every room. They’ve brought old fireplaces back to life.
Intricate carvings, over one of many fireplaces.
They’ve worked on rooms that were important a century ago but are no longer needed, like the one where Whiteside’s driver could pull in and wait. He was not allowed anywhere else in the house.
It’s been a labor of love — and mystery — for the owner. “This is such a special place in Westport history,” Murray says. “I keep imagining that world, and what it was like, 100 years ago.
“Westport is a place of creativity. It’s nice to remember who we were, and still are.
“I don’t why anyone would need new construction, when they could have this.”
Mary Murray, at the rear of her home.
Another restoration at 50 Sylvan Road North.
Landscape architect Beate Hochman is responsible for much of the work on 50 Sylvan Road North. The detached garage in the back was added by a previous owner, after the home was built. (All photos/Dan Woog unless otherwise noted.)
The Emmert family — owners of Cold Fusion — send this note to the Westport community:
With bittersweet emotions, we announce that Cold Fusion Gelato will close at the end of August. We will focus on the manufacturing side of our business.
As we enter our 6th summer season, we have so much gratitude for our wonderful customers, generations of staff and the community. Whether you’ve come by to satisfy a craving, to celebrate a special occasion or simply for a cup of coffee, it’s been our pleasure to serve you.
We are passionate about creating an all-natural, preservative-free, artisan product. We sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed our gelato and the experience in our store.
A Cold Fusion sampling.
Westport is a special place for families, and that is reflected at Cold Fusion. We consider it a privilege to be a place where many teens experience their first job.
It’s been a such a joy to be a part of our employees’ journey growing into adulthood. Many of our alumni stay in touch; quite a few have since graduated college and started their careers. We couldn’t be prouder.
As 20-year residents of Westport, the store has become our second home downtown. We are thankful for one last season of meeting new customers, family meet-ups, laughter and smiling faces.
Come join us for as much gelato as you can handle for the next few months — and look out for our product at surrounding supermarkets and restaurants.
In the spring of 2010, Staples Players staged a very challenging show: the dark yet comic musical “Little Shop of Horrors.”
It had a little bit of everything — from rock, doo wop and Motown to an enormous talking plant that feeds on human blood and flesh
Media instructor Jim Honeycutt filmed that classic production. Click here or below to see.
A number of cast members went on to careers in creative fields. Among them:
Peter Molesworth (Seymour) is a successful writer, actor and filmmaker. Recent acting credits include “Pear,” “How to Catfish Your Ex” and “Fix.”
Eva Hendricks (Audrey) is a lead singer, and Dan Shure (Mr. Mushnick) plays bass, in Charley Bliss, a successful New York band. Their current release is “Back There Now.”
Michelle Pauker (Audrey) is a singer and actor. She has appeared in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Idaho Shakespeare Festival), “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (Great Lakes Theatre Company), and “Into The Woods (Forestburgh Playhouse).
Max Samuels(Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.) is a is a stage and screen actor known for his roles in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” He also appeared in “George Kaplan,” “Angry Young Man,” “The Winter’s Tale” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”
Matthew Van Gessel (Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.) is an actor, director and writer. He played Isaac Goodenow in the “The Sudbury Devil,” appeared in the film “Bookworm,” was featured as an actor in the project RedDrop, and was cast as Father Rand in “The Vampires of New Orleans.”
Tori Schachne (Shirelle) is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the vocalist for the indie-electronic/synth-pop duo Soft Streak. They played at SXSW as official artists in 2019 and toured the West Coast, opening for Brother Tiger. Their music has been featured in Netflix and cable tv shows.
Clay Singer (Radio Quintet) has extensive theater credits including “Masquerade” (New York), “Fiddler On the Roof” (St. Louis), “Perchik” (Westport), “The Band’s Visit” (North American tour), “Into the Woods” (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), “Next to Normal” (Vero Beach, Florida), “Man of La Mancha” (Westport), “Romeo and Juliet” and “Ragtime” and “The Full Monty” (both Pittsburgh).
Madeline Seidman (Mrs. Luce) is an actor. Her off-Broadway credits include “Garside’s Career,” “Partnership” and “Becomes a Woman.” Regional credits include “Love, Love, Love” (Washington) and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (Chautauqua, New York). She can be seen in the TV shows “Elsbeth” and “A League of Their Own.”
81 students received $420,000 in scholarships, at Staples Tuition Grants’ annual ceremony. The average award — $5,186 per recipient — is a record in STG’s 85-year history.
But the greatest highlights were speeches honoring Perrin Delorey. A 4th grader at Greens Farms Elementary School when he died in an automobile accident, he would have graduated this month with Staples’ Class of 2026.
Philip worked with his uncle and aunt, James and Angela Delorey, his mother Kara Sullivan, and his and Perrin’s classmates, to endow a new Perrin Delorey Do Your Best Award. Philip and James spoke lovingly of the legacy Perrin set, and of the importance of remembering and honoring him.
Their words brought tears to many in the Staples library. They deserve a wider audience too. Philip said:
Thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here tonight. I know this time of the year is pretty crazy.
Standing in front of you right now is an experience that is hard to put into words. I see a room filled with classmates, friends, families, and community members coming together to celebrate something so wonderful. I am so blessed that I was among the many that had a role in making it happen.
Philip Sullivan, at last night’s Staples Tuition Grants ceremony. (Photo/Dan Woog)
I think I speak for all of my graduating classmates when I say that high school is a journey with many challenges and self-discoveries. It is for this reason that graduation is so special to all of us.
Collectively and individually, we have completed tasks and achievements that in some cases were beyond our wildest dreams. And now, the universe of possibilities opens for us as we prepare to take steps toward college, career development, and an endless sea of choices for how we continue following our hopes and dreams. The mere idea of graduating from a school life that we have known since we were little kids, and entering the world as adults is sometimes more exciting than I can fathom.
As a 4th grader in Westport, my cousin Perrin was just like any of us at that age. He was playful, silly, quirky, had countless inside jokes and funny games that he shared with me and his friends — and like the rest of us, he was full of hopes and dreams.
He loved fancy cars and international travel. He played many sports, baseball and hockey being his favorites. Together we endured religion classes, shared holiday traditions and piano recitals and karaoke nights, and produced our own home movies. I am sure that many in the Class of 2026 see a bit of themselves in their memory of who Perrin was as a kid.
Philip Sullivan created these sports cards honoring his cousin, and passed them out to last night’s Tuition Grants recipients.
When Perrin’s life ended, my class faced a new reality that many of us had likely never considered — understanding our own vulnerability and wondering what would happen to our own dreams.
But almost as instantly as he was gone, a tremendous wave of community support swarmed in to aid the blow to our elementary school spirits.
Several good samaritans from Westport Little League organized a way for us to be together as a community. Friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances from near and far showed up. They let me and my family know that we weren’t alone in our grief. The communities of Westport, our schools, our clubs, our friends immediately saw solidarity in being together and there for each other at an otherwise very difficult time.
To my Aunt Angela and Uncle James, and to my grandparents also here tonight: your strength and love continues to inspire us all.
It’s this same spirit of widespread support and love, centralized in Westport and spanning beyond our town borders, that came together this fall and spring, to raise the more than necessary funds to establish the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award.
Perrin Delorey, with a Little League game ball he was awarded.
Just as Perrin represented the young kid in all of us as Westport 4th graders, the Staples graduates represent the best of Westport youth. The recipients of the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award receive not only the gift of a scholarship to help them achieve their dreams, but the reminder that they come from a community that loves and believes in them so much, that hundreds of donors made generous contributions of all sizes, to support them in their dreams, in honor of a life lost too early.
This year’s recipients are near and dear to me because they have been my friends and classmates since I was in kindergarten. Just like Perrin represented all of us when we were in 4th grade, these recipients represent the class of 2026.
They are hard working, kind, unique, strong, and filled with hopes and dreams. If there was ever a way to turn a tragedy into something joyful and hopeful, it is through the awarding of the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award to some of Staples High School’s brightest and most deserving students. I am filled with gratitude to have been able to help facilitate establishing this award.
I am eternally grateful to the community of people that helped us remember Perrin through the students of today and the future. And I especially want to thank my mom, Kara Sullivan, for all of the help and support she has given. This scholarship truly wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Thank you to my Westport community, friends, family members and all who support me and our class by remembering Perrin. And congratulations to Jordan and Dylan.
(For more information on Staples Tuition Grants — including how to donate to the Perry Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, and others — click here.)
Superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice provides this update:
AI Powered, Human-Centered
One of the most important questions facing education today is no longer whether artificial intelligence will shape the future. The more important question is whether we will prepare students to thrive in that future while preserving the wisdom, integrity, adaptability, and humanity that will matter more than ever.
Our response as a school district is embodied in the guiding principle of our strategic plan: “AI Powered, Human-Centered.” We believe our responsibility is neither to resist technological change nor surrender to it, but to lead thoughtfully through it. Doing so requires ongoing learning and dialogue among students, educators, parents, and the broader community. The updates below reflect several ways we are advancing that conversation together.
Strategic Plan Update – June 4 Board of Education Meeting
This Thursday (June 4), the Board of Education will receive a comprehensive update on the first year of implementation of our district’s strategic plan.
Over the past 18 months, Westport Public Schools has engaged in one of the most important conversations in public education: how to prepare students for a world being fundamentally reshaped by artificial intelligence while preserving and strengthening the uniquely human capacities that define an exceptional education. Our belief is simple: AI should not replace human potential, it should help amplify it.
The June 4 presentation will highlight the significant work completed during the first year of implementation, including:
An Academic Integrity Framework for responsible AI use
A K–12 AI Literacy Framework
A student pilot of Google’s NotebookLM platform
AI-powered tools supporting special education services and staff
Growth Mindset and leadership development initiatives
Preserving and elevating the Humanities: efforts to strengthen literacy, critical thinking, communication, and other essential human capacities in an AI-enabled world
AI-powered leadership and decision-making tools
Ongoing research into emerging AI trends and their implications for education engaging student voice and community expertise
We will begin the presentation with the voices that matter most, our students. A group of Staples High School students will share examples of their academic work using AI and discuss the opportunities, challenges, and future direction of AI in our schools.
In addition, the Board will receive the results of our district-wide Screen Time Audit, conducted in response to one of the foundational questions that emerged during strategic planning: How can we leverage the power of AI while minimizing screen time?
The audit establishes a baseline understanding of current technology use, stakeholder perceptions, and instructional practices. It will help guide future decisions to ensure that AI enhances learning, preserves human interaction, and reduces unnecessary or low-value screen time.
Community members are encouraged to attend the meeting or view the presentation online.
Parent Seminar: Raising AI-Ready Students — Learning, College, and Careers in a Changing World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms education, higher education, and the workplace, many parents are asking important questions:
How should my child use AI? What skills will matter most in the future? How can AI support learning without becoming a shortcut around it?
To help families navigate these questions, Westport Public Schools is pleased to host a special parent seminar featuring Casey Cuny, the 2024 California Teacher of the Year, on Monday, June 22 (7 p.m., Westport Library)
“Raising AI-Ready Students: Learning, College, and Careers in a Changing World” will explore how artificial intelligence is already reshaping how students learn, study, and prepare for their futures, and how parents can help guide them toward thoughtful and responsible use of these powerful tools.
During this interactive presentation and Q&A session, Casey will discuss:
How AI can be used to deepen learning rather than replace thinking
Research-backed learning strategies such as retrieval practice, reflection, revision, and productive struggle
Why curiosity, inquiry, and critical thinking are becoming even more important in the age of AI
Practical examples of tools students are already using, including Google NotebookLM, custom GPTs, and other emerging AI applications
What colleges and employers are increasingly expecting from students entering an AI-enabled world
Casey is a nationally recognized educator and speaker who has advised educators, parents, and educational organizations across the country on the intersection of artificial intelligence and teaching and learning. His work is grounded in a simple but powerful belief: AI should strengthen human potential, not replace it.
Whether you are excited about AI, concerned about it, or simply trying to understand it better, this evening will provide practical insights and a framework for helping your child navigate a rapidly changing world with judgment, integrity, and confidence.
We hope you will join us for what promises to be an engaging and informative evening.
Student Voices and Community Conversations About AI
One of the most important aspects of our AI work has been listening to the perspectives of students and engaging in thoughtful dialogue with members of our broader community.
Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a series of conversations for WWPT, Staples High School’s student-run radio station. (A special thank you to the amazing Staples Media teacher Geno Heiter, and his talented team of student producers!)
During the evening, I interviewed 3 groups of students about artificial intelligence. Students shared their experiences using AI, discussed both their excitement and concerns about the technology, and reflected on how they believe AI may influence their future learning, careers, and lives. Their insights were thoughtful, nuanced, and incredibly encouraging.
I also had the opportunity to speak with Dan Bikel, a technology expert and member of our community, about the emerging field of agentic AI and its potential implications for education, work, and society.
These conversations exemplify the type of dialogue we hope to foster throughout our community: thoughtful, balanced, future-focused discussions that place learning, ethics, and human judgment at the center.
A full house listened eagerly last night, as StartUp Westport honored Marc Lasry as its Innovator of the Year at the Westport Library. The event was the 3rd annual for our town’s public/private entrepreneurship/innovation organization.
The financier and philanthropist — chair, CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, a former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, a director of the 92nd Street Y and the Big Apple Circus, and a trustee of Mount Sinai Hospital — chatted with fellow Westporter and ”Today” co-anchor Craig Melvin about entrepreneurship, investing, leadership and philanthropy
Club203 — the non-profit serving adults with disabilities — was honored for their work in areas like employment opportunities, life skills development and community engagement. They received the Community Impact Award.
Dan O’Keefe — the state Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner — highlighted the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to Connecticut’s economic future.
The evening featured meaningful connections with past honorees. Andrea Pecoriello, founder of Sweet P Bakery and recipient of the previous Community Impact Award, introduced Club203 and spoke about the organization’s transformative impact on the community. Mark Shapiro, StartUp Westport’s 2025 Innovator of the Year, introduced Lasry.
Marc Lasry and Craig Melvin, at StartUp Westport’s Innovator of the Year ceremony. (Photo copyright DinkinESH Fotografix)
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Also last night: 81 students — soon-to-be Staples High School graduates, and alums currently in college — were awarded $420,000 in scholarships, at Staples Tuition Grants’ annual ceremony.
The average scholarship — $5,186 per recipient — is a record in STG’s 85-year history.
The evening included powerful speeches by James Delorey and Philip Sullivan, father and cousin respectively of Perrin Delorey.
Perrin was a 4th grader at Greens Farms Elementary School in 2018, when he died in an automobile accident. He would have graduated this month, with Staples’ Class of 2026.
Philip worked with his uncle and aunt, James and Angela Delorey, his mother Kara Sullivan, and his and Perrin’s classmates, to endow the new Perrin Delorey Do Your Best Award. Both spoke lovingly of the legacy Perrin set, and of the importance of remembering and honoring him.
2008 recipient Michael Wolson also spoke. A triplet who could not have attended college without STG’s help — now a managing director at an investment firm — he described the lifelong impact a scholarship can make.
When Frank Pepe Pizzeria opened officially yesterday, the very first customers were Jay Babina, his father and grandfather.
That’s cool.
But it’s only part of the story.
Jay’s father John III and grandfather John Jr. were also the first customers when Pepe’s opened their second location — the first outside of New Haven — in Fairfield in 2006, 20 years ago.
The trio planned to be first in line here, ever since Pepe’s announced they were coming to Post Road West.
Jay’s grandfather started going to Pepe’s on Wooster Street in 1948, when he was 4 years old. Jay’s great-grandparents went too — starting in the early 1930s.
Now the 4th generation is a fan.
Star 99.9 radio interviewed the Babinas. And Pepe’s gave the family the ribbon they cut, at the grand opening.
Jay, John III and John Jr. Babina, at Pepe’s in Westport.
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The rainbow flag has been raised at Jesup Green for 7 years, during the Pride Month of June.
But yesterday marked the first official ceremony.
First Selectman Kevin Christie welcomed the crowd. He thanked Westport Pride — the organizers of the event, and of the June 14 festival, also set for Jesup Green — noting, “Westport is at its best when everyone feels a true sense of belonging and inclusion.”
1st Selectman Kevin Christie and Westport Pride president Brian McGunagle.
Besides Pride members and town residents, the flag-raising drew State Senator Ceci Maher, State Representatives Jonathan Steinberg and Dominique Johnson, state legislature candidates Sam Nestor and Lee Goldstein, and several RTM members.
Attendees at yesterday’s Pride flag ceremony at Jesup Green — including Yogi Bear. (Photos/Dan Woog)
Ten students from Long Lots and Kings Highway Elementary Schools have won Access Awareness Awards. The student video contest is sponsored annually by the Area 9 Cable Council and Optimum of Connecticut.
The contest honors original student video productions broadcast on Optimum’s Educational Access Channel 78. It encourages students to build storytelling and video production skills, through projects connected to school and community life.
In addition, Long Lots earned the John M. Repicky Award for best overall elementary entry for “Girls On The Run,” created by Ella Rossi under the direction of instructor Samantha Hubbard.
Other awards included:
Animation/Stop-Motion, 1st place: “An Average Week of Robots” (Chase Bittinger)
School News Story: “Girls On The Run” (Ella Rossi)
General Interest Story, 1st place: “Space invaders! Look Out!!” (Lucy Apton), 2nd place: “Fall Favorites” (Cora Lask and Layla Perkel)
Narrative Fiction, 1st place: “TOAST” (Hazel Crockett and Charlotte Visconti)
PSA, 1st place: “KHS Goals” (Cameron Kim, Ava Giambanco, and Timothy Sheehy)
Congratulations to all — and instructors Samantha Hubbard, Barbara Eilertsen and Tara Doyle.
From left: Ella Rossi, Layla Perkel, Cora Lask, Chase Bittinger.
Eleish Van Breems celebrates heritage craftsmanship next Monday (June 8), with their annual “Day of Design.”
After 10 a.m. coffee, there’s a conversation on “Keeping Craft Alive.” New England Home editor-in-chief Jenna Talbott will moderate, with Edie Van Breems, Rhonda Eleish and Mary Emery Locoursiers of the Nantucket Historical Society.
At 11:30, guests can meet makers, and other heritage movers and shakers. Other events include demonstrations of heritage crafts, updates on preservation, a presentation on Benjamin Moore’s Heritage Paint Collection, and a chance to meet founders Renata Singh (Artistic Ironworks) and Todd Woodward (Woodward Millworks).
Bites and beverages are provided by Allium and the CupBearer.
Lauri Weiser sends today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo.
She says of this beautiful peony in her garden: “You can almost smell it from here!”
(Photo/Lauri Weiser)
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And finally … welcome to Westport, Frank Pepe Pizzeria!
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In addition, the Board will receive the results of our district-wide Screen Time Audit, conducted in response to one of the foundational questions that emerged during strategic planning: How can we leverage the power of AI while minimizing screen time?
