Volume 11, Number 45
Thursday, August 20, 2020
cheshirecitizen.com
Students headed to college face new experience
Music schools in tune with pandemic precautions By Jessica Simms Special to the Record-Journal
During the pandemic, music has played a key part in many people’s lives as a source of inspiration, joy and stress relief. As a way to keep music a part of their students’ lives, music schools in the area remained open, teaching lessons in innovative ways.
West Main Music Academy Online lessons instantly became available at West Main Music Academy, 470 W. Main St. in Cheshire. In mid-March, slightly before non-essential businesses were required to shut down, Katie Giampietro, director, along with her staff, decided to shut the school down and develop a plan for virtual lessons.
Ethan Beach, 8, and father, Greg, of Cheshire, read sheet music for the English folk song Hey, Ho, Nobody Home during a guitar lesson at West Main Music Academy in Cheshire on Aug. 12. Area music schools have remained open during the pandemic, teaching lessons in Dave Zajac, Record-Journal innovative ways.
themselves to the most successful music lesson. “We basically developed a virtual lesson program kind of overnight, rolled it out just after we shut things down and the majority of our students who were coming for in-person private lessons or group lessons jumped on to the virtual program and we’ve had amazing feedback,” she said.
See Music, A11
Museums find ways to operate in pandemic Barker Character, Comic & Cartoon Museum
As a way to connect with patrons, area museums have come up with unique ways to continue to operate. Here is a sampling of some local museums that you can visit.
After closing when the pandemic first began, the Barker Character, Comic & Cartoon Museum in Cheshire reopened in mid-July for private tours only.
Whether area students continue their studies at campuses that are less than a day trip away, or hundreds or even thousands of miles away, chances are their campuses are taking different approaches to quarantining and grouping students. Some schools will conduct COVID-19 tests more regularly than others. Fairfield University is about a 45minute trek down Route 15 from Cheshire. Nicole Perugini is looking forward to moving in on Aug. 28.
Effective July 1, West Main Music Academy opened again for in-person lessons. New plans and procedures were put in place, such as “So we basically jumped into action and developed a virtual lesson social distancing, masks, limited program for all instruments. Every capacity and lesson rooms cleaned instrument that we offer was avail- between students. able for a virtual lesson,” Giampi“Once we put those policies in etro said. “We offer a variety of place and rolled that out to our Guitar teacher Mike Johnston platforms so we did a lot of restudent base, people seemed very instructs students Greg Beach search on what technological platand son Ethan, 8, of Cheshire. forms were best and would lend
By Jessica Simms Special to the Record-Journal
By Michael Gagne Record-Journal staff
Along with the history of animation art, the museum has character and comic collectibles. “Some of our greatest pleasures come when grandparents come with their grandchildren and they See Museums, A15
Fairfield plans to reopen with full inperson instruction. Students and faculty will need to wear masks in classrooms. Instruction will be in-person until Thanksgiving break, when students will be dismissed and go remote for the remainder of the semester. Nicole’s father, Cheshire Board of Education Chairman Tony Perugini, noted the move-in days and times will be staggered to minimize congestion. High school didn’t end the way students may have wanted. But students like Nicole Perugini are hoping to turn that page in starting college. She represents the second generation of Peruginis to attend college. “It’s exciting. We’re happy for her,” her father said. Having Nicole attend Fairfield is “a big deal for her family, especially for my parents, who came here from Italy with nothing ... We’re all proud of her. “If COVID wasn’t around, we would See College, A10