The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en
Volume 14, Number 18
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Citizen photo by Olivia L. Lawrence
The Out & About Club of Berlin serves pancakes and poses with state Sen. Donald DeFronzo (center of back row) during a breakfast fundraiser May 2.
Out & About breakfast puts social connections on the front burner Matthew and Karen Pac Dory of Coventry announce the birth of their daughter Addison Rose on Feb. 5, 2010 at Hartford Hospital. She joins her sister, Katia, 1 ½ years old. Addison is the granddaughter of Anna Pac of Kensington and Russ and Shirley Dory of Coventry. May 9 is a special day to honor moms, grandmothers, aunts and the many other women in our lives who have supported us — no matter what. The youngsters pictured here are new to the concept, but we thought seeing their happy faces on page one was a great way to wish the best to their mom and all the wonderful mothers in our lives.
By Olivia L. Lawrence The Berlin Citizen It’s hard to beat a pancake breakfast on a Sunday morning, but if you’re supporting a good cause, then it makes that maple syrup taste all the sweeter. That was the case May 2 when folks in Berlin joined in the fun at the Berlin VFW when the Out & About Club of Berlin/Kensington hosted a fundraiser breakfast.
“Good morning, thank you for coming to our breakfast and supporting us,” said club greeters cheerfully welcoming visitors at the door. The club is for young adults with disabilities and the purpose is to provide social outings that encourage friendships and foster social skills. The local club is under the umbrella of Futures School, a special education school that provides one-toone instruction for students
14 to 21 years of age in their own school district. The Berlin/Kensington club got off the ground about two years ago when a group of families saw the need to provide more social and recreational opportunities for their young adult children with disabilities once those young people left high school. There are now more than
See Breakfast, page 6
New classroom space at Griswold makes the grade By Susan Kondracki Special to The Citizen
With six new spaces added on to Griswold Elementary School, during a $1 million relocatable classroom project completed in December, Griswold can now provide a better learning environment for students. “Teachers and students are thrilled with their new spaces,” said Laurie Gjerpen, principal of Griswold for the past eight years. “It is
a great opportunity for the teachers and students to spread out.” As the first construction project in nearly 15 years, there were concerns in the beginning, and construction caused some difficulties during the first half of the year. “The parents’ biggest concern was whether or not their child would have to go outside to get to their classroom. And the biggest challenge was the weather, of course,” Gjerpen said. “Also,
Citizen photo by Olivia L. Lawrence
New relocatable classrooms at Griswold Elementary school blend well with the existing structure.
the machines were a bit distracting, but the teacher’s did a great job of explaining
everything to the kids.” Gjerpen also believes that the cooperation of the con-
struction company they worked with, teachers and parents helped ease the project along. “The company we worked with often worked
See Griswold, page 12