The week started with the arrival to Greenwich Free Press of two GHS senior interns, Matt Pignataro and Courtney Oarr.
In fact hundreds of GHS interns fanned out across Town on Monday, including Kurt Vogt and Evan Tesei who are interning at Town Hall (Look for Matt and Courtney’s upcoming interview of Kurt and Evan on GFP.)
Kurt Vogt and Evan Tesei were introduced during the May 22 Board of Selectmen meeting. The pair are interning at Town Hall for six weeks. Credit: Leslie Yager
Each year, when seniors are finished AP exams and college admission decisions are mostly finalized, Randi Green and a host of staff at GHS coordinate all manner of off-campus work experiences and independent projects. The idea makes sense. Juniors are still in the thick of it, and having hundreds of “checked-out” seniors in their midst is a distraction.
On their first day at GFP, the pair attended a police briefing in New Canaan, followed by a visit to the Maritime Aquarium at the invitation of Dave Sigworth to get the first reporters’ look at the Lorikeets exhibit.
Matt and Courtney had a hit with their e-cigarettes article. They noted they were not asked for ID when purchasing the e-cigs at a local gas station. From there they interviewed Health teacher Kathy Steiner at GHS about the pros and cons of the battery powered devices used to stimulate the smoking of tobacco through vapor.
“Upon noticing the increase in popularity of E-cigarettes throughout Greenwich High School, we decided to explore the industry from the perspective of the consumer,” said the reporters in their first feature.
On Sunday longtime head of school at PIFS – Putnam Indian Field School — Marianne Riess was feted at the Greenwich Water Club as she counts down the days until her retirement.
Riess was an English teacher at “Central Junior High” before moving to PIFS, where she stayed for 36 years. Over that time she has been a key figure in the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of children’s educations.
The cake, a sugary scale model of the PIFS campus was hard to miss in the lobby of the Water Club. Congratulations Marianne!
On Tuesday GFP accompanied Pignataro to be fingerprinted at Greenwich Police HQ. A couple times a week the court officers wheel out the inking station. Matt has lined up a summer job in finance and it is routine for financial workers to be fingerprinted. Not Busted Busted. Just Fingerprinted at Greenwich Police tells the story. The only surprise in the process was that it takes some elbow grease to remove the ink after the process is complete.
At Thursday’s Board of Ed meeting, which was held at Parkway School, outgoing Student Government Executive Committee president Guillermo Perez, who attended New Lebanon School, Western Middle School before GHS, thanked his mom for enrolling him in Greenwich Public Schools 14 years ago and for “everything she does day in and day out,” he said. “Like Kevin Durant, mom, you are the MVP,” he added. ” thanked the headmaster specifically.
Perez continued, “Thank you, Dr. Winters for being the coolest headmaster in the world! Miles above Dumbledore! Doc! You make the high school the best it can be.”
Mid-week Courtney and Matt had a Mexican adventure in Riverside when they sampled the delicacies of El Charrito, a restaurant tucked away in a residential neighborhood just off Rte 1. The story is still drawing readers this weekend. I can’t wait to go check this restaurant out. I admit I hadn’t heard of it before and I usually go to Port Chester to Coyoto Flaco for authentic Mexican take-out.
At Thursday’s Selectmen meeting Drew Marzullo admitted he was upset over a communication received by the Board regarding a personal attack on Gary Dell’Abate, who is a candidate for the Board of the Parks & Rec Department. “Volunteers should never be subject to ridicule. Period. Period,” Selectman Marzullo said emphatically. “I’m fair game. Peter and David are fair game because we are elected officials.”
State Rep. Fred Camillo and Rudy, Ken Borsuk from Greenwich Post, Justin Pottle of Greenwich Time and Greenwich Selectman, Dave Theis
On Friday, 20 jumbo American flags were positioned along both sides of the Mianus Bridge on Rte 1, a sure sign of summer and patriotic nod to Memorial Day weekend in Town. The effort is a collaboration by Dave Theis and Cos Cob Volunteer Fire Dept. The flags are glorious, especially when the wind picks up.
During the stop at the bridge, Greenwich Free Press stumbled on a great photo opportunity, that is getting a lot of love on Facebook this Memorial Day weekend.
The most clicked story of the week was about the senior prank.
Scratch that.
The most clicked on story since Greenwich Free Press moved from wordpress to an independent host in April, was BYOD: GHS Senior Prank Goes to the Dogs!, about how the main senior prank for 2014 was for as many people as possible to bring their dogs to school.
We’ve since learned there were a barrage of pranks, including throwing hoi paint, which has just a small amount of pigment. Also, our sources tell us the dog visits required some messy clean-up.