The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/2019/03/page/4/)
We have television personalities in our midst! Both Suffield High School and Suffield Academy participate in multiple “quiz bowls” every year, but only one of them – “As Schools Match Wits” – is televised; it can be viewed on WGBY most Saturdays at 7 p.m.
Congratulations to Hannah Stack, who was chosen as the Rotary Student of the Month for January. Hannah is a senior at Suffield High School and is an Honors student. Hannah was chosen to be a student representative to our Board of Education. She has been a volunteer coach at the Special Olympics, where she met with students and encouraged children with developmental delays. Hannah was also responsible for teaching golf to children with disabilities.
Both Katherine Davis and Savannah Price have earned the February award for World Language Student of the Month. Katherine and Savannah are juniors at Suffield High School and classmates currently enrolled in Spanish V Honors. As classmates, Savannah and Katherine have demonstrated a commitment to communicating in the Spanish language from the beginning of the year. Together they engage in spontaneous conversation, take risks and create opportunities for growth. Individually, each has consistently demonstrated dedication to furthering their proficiency by extensively examining the language, exploring the content and making cultural connections.
An unusual sight – a Great Blue Heron perches on a snowy rock in the Farmington River in Simsbury.
For the last year, Emily Sweeney, age 25, who grew up in Suffield, has been slowly recovering from injuries sustained at the last Olympic Games during her last run on the Pyeongchang, South Korea, luge track. It has been a long road to recovery, but an impressive one.
For the first six months after her accident, she was unable to do much more than light walking as exercise, and then it took another six months for the ligaments to heal around a broken bone in her back and one in her neck. Emily is still in the Army with the rank of Sergeant and is part of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP). According to the Army’s website, WCAP allows top-ranked soldier-athletes to perform at the international level while also serving their nation in the military. WCAP Soldiers come from the Active, Reserve and National Guard components and are selected for their ability to perform at the highest level of their sports.
Her training began in earnest in October, 2018.
Are You Grieving the Loss of a Loved One? Suffield Community Aid’s Bereavement Support Group Can Help. The group will meet at SCA located at 450 South Street, Suffield on Friday mornings from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning March 22 and ending on May 17. (There is no class on April 19.)
The program is offered at no cost and a light lunch will be provided. The Suffield Mini-Bus will be available to assist with transport, but residents must call and reserve in advance.
Registration is required and space is limited – please call Linda Huff at 860-290-6771 to register.
For more details, call SCA at 860-668-1986. Are Meals-on-Wheels an Option for You?
As Martin Copenhaver DIV ’80 steps down as president of Andover Newton Seminary — an affiliate of the Yale Divinity School — Sarah Birmingham Drummond ’93 will take the helm, the first major leadership transition since the seminary formally joined the Divinity School in 2017. Drummond is a graduate of Suffield High School and daughter of Jackie and Ron Birmingham. Drummond — the Divinity School’s assistant dean and a current visiting professor of ministerial leadership — will assume her duties as the seminary’s president following Copenhaver’s retirement. She will also take the position of founding dean of Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School simultaneously. Drummond will be the first woman to lead the seminary in its two-century-long history.
Suffield’s new Valentine King and Queen smile to their subjects. Bill Brennan and Margaret Matuck won the draw and held their royal audience on February 9 following a generous mid-day dinner presented at the Senior Center by the Friends of Suffield and served by student volunteers to approximately 80 celebrants.
On Sunday, February 10, the Second Baptist Church received a “Green House of Worship” award from the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network (IREJN) as a Level Two Green Congregation. Second Baptist has been encouraging its members and others to be more consciously aware of our life choices and the positive and negative effects these have on the human and other-than-human world. The church has been advocating practices and life-style choices that will be mutually enhancing to people and planet, such as, eliminating the use of bottled water, Styrofoam, plastics (in whatever way is possible); eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in our lawn-care; replacing all lighting with LED bulbs; making our building and one’s home more energy efficient while conducting an energy audit on our building; putting in a water bottle re-fill drinking fountain in the church building, and advocating for state and federal policies that put the health of humans and the planet as a top priority. We are always looking for ways to live more consistently with our faith for the health and well-being of all people and all creation. On Sunday, March 3 at 3 p.m., Second Baptist will join with The Friends of the Farm at Hilltop and the Suffield Land Conservancy to host a workshop about the importance of bees.
