Volume 18, Number 19
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
www.berlincitizen.com
Thursday, June 12, 2014
High expectations for first Hero Games By Charles Kreutzkamp The Berlin Citizen
A new kind of fundraiser is coming to Berlin in the form of the firstever Hero Games, a grueling competition featuring eight physical challenges, including a giant tire flip, a fire truck pull, an obstacle course, and a 2-mile run. Teams of firefighters, police officers, and civilians will compete against each other in these challenging, boot camp-inspired games. The event will be held Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Berlin fairgrounds. The family-friendly event will also feature a DJ and activities for kids, including a bounce house and mini-Hero challenges. There will be food available for purchase from Kiwanis and Rita’s Ice. The police participating are hoping to draw a crowd to support the event and The American Cancer Society and Relay for Life, the Hero Games’ primary beneficiaries, according to Berlin Police
Officer, D.A.R.E. instructor, and K-9 handler Aimee Krzykowski. A breast cancer survivor, Krzykowski led the Survivors Lap at the Berlin Relay for Life May 17. Hero Games competitors hope a lot of people will come out to support their local police and firefighters, Krzykowski said. It was K rzykowski, along with Officer Brandon Lagueux, who approached Joe Forsyth of Average Joe’s Fitness with the idea for the Hero Games. Forsyth is serving as president of the Hero Games. “Our thought was we should go big or go home,” Forsyth said, pointing out that there are several police and fire teams competing, including officers from the Department of Corrections. The Hero Games is drawing competition from several area towns, including a firefighter team from New Britain. The games will culminate in a trophy-awarding ceremony and check presentation to
Berlin High School held the first Capstone Exposition June 4 and 5 in the gymnasium. | (Charles Kreutzkamp / The Berlin Citizen)
Capstone expo wows principal By Charles Kreutzkamp The Berlin Citizen
The first ever Berlin High School Capstone Exposition was held June 4 and 5 in the gymnasium and featured capstone projects on a wide variety of topics, including speech language pathology, stem cells, poverty’s effects on stress, suicide prevention, See Games / Page 7 and sustainable agriculture in Africa.
Students such as James Moore exhibited and discussed their capstone projects with attendees. Moore studied how chemical engineering can help the environment, highlighting the use of switchgrass to create biofuel. Gabriella Morales used tests and surveys to investigate how important appearance is for job interviews, and polled students from ev-
ery grade, as well as teachers. UpBeat Coordinator Tim Synnott described his use of “Hamilton’s Method,” named after Alexander Hamilton, to divide responsibilities for the pancake breakfast between the 16 UpBeat houses (each one specializes in different things, Synnott said, and share in general projects). Hamilton’s Method was a See Expo / Page 5
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