Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper
submitted by Kevin O’Malley
The Tractor and Agriculture Show is an exciting feature at the sixth annual Pumpkinpalooza community-wide event. Antique and vintage tractors, horse drawn farm equipment and implements, as well as contemporary machinery, will be on display in Walter A. Wood Park on Saturday, September 27, from 8 am to 3 pm.
Ruck March Is On September 20 From Poestenkill To Grafton And Back
submitted by Gail Smith
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that there are 52,000 Veterans living in Rensselaer County and the surrounding five counties. Members of the military, from World War II to the War on Terror, experience a myriad of challenges, including post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and mental health problems and problems associated with reintegration, such as finding employment and stable housing.
by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls Central School Board presented its State of the Schools report at its August meeting. The District is improving in almost every measurement.
Hoosick Falls moved up in The Capital District Business Review rankings from number 34 to number 26.
The percentage of students earning a Regents diploma remained steady, from 87% last year to 86% this year, but the percentage earning an advanced Regents diploma went from 43% last year to 51% this year.
The graduation rate remained steady, from 93% last year to 92% this year. The number of course failures went down dramatically, from 178 last year to 79 this year. The Regents passing rate was very slightly up from 90% last year to 91% this year, but the Regents Mastery rate was down a bit from 39% last year to 35% this year.
Some Goals Exceeded, Some Not
The District had set goals for student performance for the 2013-2014 year. They exceeded the goal for Regents passing rate but fell short of the goal of 40% Regents mastery rate, achieving a 35% mastery rate.
The District exceeded its goal of 90% graduation rate and exceeded its goal of 50% advanced Regents diploma but missed the goal of 90% Regents diplomas, reaching just 86%. The District set a goal of 20% improvement in proficiency rates on the grades 3-8 Math and English Assessments. They actually improved 1.5% in English and 5.4% in Math on those tests.
Sports And Arts Excel
In addition to progress in academic performance, there was much to celebrate in sports and the arts. The District had multiple teams that were sectional champs and league champs, and nine of the school’s 13 sports teams were scholar-athlete teams. The Drama Department produced two very successful shows, the Choir performed in many prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, and many of the student musicians made the All-County band, and three made the All-State band.
The full State of the School Report is available from the District Office.
by Steve Bradley
Tickets for the Hoosick Falls Panther football team season opener are still available.
by Steve Bradley
The HFCS girls varsity soccer team started the season with a Friday evening under the lights game at Mt. Anthony High School in Bennington. Led by new head coach Brittany Pine, who has been an integral part of the HFCS soccer coaching staff for many years, the girls had their ups and downs throughout the game. With the loss of several key players due to graduation, many players were varsity starters for the first time.
by Steve Bradley
Last Friday, the Panther golfers hosted Stillwater at the Hoosick Falls Country Club. The Panthers scored 3½ points, with Stillwater gathering 1½. Andrew Hoag and Eric Bloomer shared the medalist position, each shooting a 39.
On Tuesday the Panthers traveled up to the Battenkill Country Club to play the Greenwich Witches. The Panthers suffered their first loss of the season, 0 – 5. Greenwich’s Kevin Williamson was medalist.
The Panthers record now stands at 5 – 1.
Next
Over the next week the Panthers will travel to Troy to play Tamarac at Frear Park on Thursday, September 4, at 4 pm. Tuesday, September 9, they play Mechanicville away at 4 pm. On Wednesday, September 10, the Panthers travel to Hoosic Valley for a 4 pm start.
Come and meet Lucy Larcom, nineteenth century textile mill worker, author, poet and teacher, at the Stephentown Historical Society meeting on Monday, September 8, at 7:30 pm. Phyllis Chapman will portray the Massachusetts girl who started working in a Lowell textile mill at age eleven and went on to become a poet, author and teacher. The meeting will be at the Stephentown Heritage Center on Garfield Road (County Route 26), Stephentown. The program is free and open to the public. The building is handicapped accessible. For directions or information, phone 518-733-0010.
Lucy Larcom was the second youngest of eight children whose widowed mother came to Lowell with her children to supervise a boarding house for mill workers. Lucy went to school at first but began working at the textile mill in 1837 to help support the family. Lucy represents the young Yankee women who worked 60 to 75 hours per week for the “highest pay available to women” at that time, from $1.85 to $3 per week. Lucy’s story is also the story of the industrial experiment, in which thousands of Yankee farm girls became skilled, if low paid, factory workers, that transformed the economic and physical landscape of southern New England.
In 1840 a group of female factory operatives, including Lucy and her sister, founded a magazine which carried poems, letters and fiction and was notable nationwide for being published by factory workers. Lucy had a poem in most every issue. In 1846 Lucy left Lowell, taught school, finished her education and eventually left teaching to write full time. Her 1889 book, A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory, is still in print today.
Phyllis Chapman has been portraying historic figures for 16 years, starting at the Bennington Museum. She was an art teacher for 21 years as well. She has a Master’s degree in Museum Education from Skidmore College.
Erik and Lauren Parisi of Stephentown welcome their baby son, Erik Joseph Jr., born August 19, 2014. He weighed 7 lbs., 12 oz. and was 21 inches long at birth.
How much do you know about the ecological systems in your backyard? Did you know we live in one of the largest and most ecologically intact native habitats in New York State? On Friday, September 12, at 7 pm, the Grafton Community Library will provide the chance to learn a whole lot more with a free, informative program featuring local experts David Hunt and Rachel Riemann from the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance. They will be demonstrating their recently completed, multi-year GIS mapping project that provides an in depth look at the ecological communities of Grafton and other towns on the Rensselaer Plateau.
Come learn about Grafton’s ecological features such as stream systems and forest interiors that are home to populations of fisher, bobcat, bear, moose, porcupine, hermit thrush and black throated blue warbler, as well as many rare plants. Hunt and Riemann will present the data and the maps and use them to offer a personalized ecological analysis of the local areas where you live.
For more information contact Grafton Community Library at 279-0580 or graftoncommunitylibrary.org
The fall programs at the Petersburgh Public Library will begin on Tuesday, September 9, with pre-school story hour at 11 am. Pre-schoolers and their caregivers are invited to join us for stories, activities, crafts and snacks. In September will be having stories about transportation. Trains will be featured on the 9th and boats on the 16th. If Tuesday morning is not a good time for you, please contact the library and let us know what time would be good for you. There is a survey being conducted to find out what would be good times for story hour and other programs at the Library.
The book discussion group resumes on Wednesday, September 10, at 7 pm when Bring Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel will be discussed. Copies of the book are available at the Library. New members are welcome to join the group or if you have read the book and would like to join the discussion for the evening you are invited to join us.
