The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/columns/suffields-pride/)
Although fathers have traditionally passed on their companies to their sons, in the case of the Demko clan, middle child and only daughter, Cheryl, was the one who desired to carry on the family business.
In her 42 years teaching music at Suffield Middle School, Linda Seabury knows a good prospect when she sees one and she saw one in Jenny Sansom: “At 10 years old I knew she had it as a musician; she had beautiful pitch and an incredible dedication to becoming better.”
If what Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle said is true that, “Music is well said to be the speech of angels”, then Suffield native/ coloratura soprano Brynn Scozzari is talking in good company. Brynn, a 2007 SHS graduate, attended Roanoke College in Virginia, took voice lessons and majored in vocal performance, graduating with a BFA in music and voice. Shortly after, she was accepted into the recently formed apprentice program at Opera Roanoke, a regional opera company where she had the opportunity to work with professional guest artists, sing in main stage productions, perform in outreach programs, and learn about stage managing, choreography, and opera production. She made her opera debut singing in the chorus of the Flying Dutchman and followed it up with chorus parts in the Pirates of Penzance, The Magic Flute, and Julius Caesar. She made her solo debut singing in The Masques of Orpheus.
When Jack Patterson was shagging flies for his First Church team in the Suffield Little League, his dream was like that of young boys everywhere – to be a baseball player when he grew up. Fast forward to June 2018 and Jack’s dream is coming true as he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 32nd round of the MLB draft. While he still has a long way to go before playing in the Major League, Jack has already beaten the odds. According to NCAA statistics for the year 2016/17, only 7% or 34,198 of the 486,567 playing high school baseball play it in college. Of that 34,198, just over 2% or 735 are drafted by professional teams.
While it was a dream, it didn’t really occur to Jack that he could play baseball for a living until late in his college career.
Not many folks can say that they have thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT). Since its completion in 1936, only about 15,000 have completed the roughly 2,200-mile trail, which stretches through 14 states and runs from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia.
Brains, beauty, and a fearless desire to be of service, Sandra Bixler has it all. The daughter of Richard and Linda Bixler was raised in Suffield along with her twin brother Steven, and is now a Principal Investigator at the Therapeutic Development Center, Molecular and Translational Sciences Division, at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). What does that mouthful of words mean you may rightly ask? Basically, Sandra, who has a Ph.D. in Emerging Infectious Diseases works trying to find vaccines or antidotes to the most deadly viruses on the planet such as Ebola, Lassa, and other hemorrhagic fever viruses. USAMRIID, located in Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the Army’s main facility for research into countermeasures against biological warfare and the Department of Defense’s only laboratory equipped to study BSL4 (biosafety level) viruses.
Brian Claughsey has always been good at defense. As a high school varsity hockey goalie for four years, he was used to protecting the goal and fighting off slapshots. In September 2015 however, he was fighting off something far more deadly serious than slapshots. In the process he was awarded a Silver Star, the highest medal for combat valor not unique to any specific service branch and the third highest military award exclusively for combat valor. Brian graduated from Suffield High School in 2002 and from Western New England College in 2006 with a degree in business management.