Thursday, February 13, 2020
cheshirecitizen.com
Volume 6, Number 18
COLLEGE SPORTS / SIGNING DAY
It’s a sweet 16 for the Rams
From D-I to D-III, Cheshire athletes in 10 sports announce their next ports of call Record-Journal staff
A bumper crop of Cheshire High School seniors going on to play sports in college got bigger Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Considerably bigger. A group of 16 Rams announced commitments or signed National Letters of Intent with their schools of choice in a National Signing Day ceremony in the school cafeteria. That location was fitting as the menu was quite diverse. The 16 commitments were spread out among 10 differ-
ent sports, from football to tennis. The Feb. 5 group joined four classmates who had previously signed with Division I schools: soccer player Caroline Campion (Marist) and swimmers Sam Hanke (South Carolina), Julia Stevens (Lehigh) and twin sister Jillian Stevens (Bryant).
A third swimmer from Cheshire’s Class LL and State Open championship team made her commitment Wednesday. That was senior captain Sarah Chen. She is heading to Division III New York University. Adding to the Division I ranks coming out of Cheshire was distance runner Brendan Mellitt. The reigning Record-Journal
Cross Country Runner of the Year will compete in that sport at Bucknell University. The Cheshire football team, coming off its first state playoff appearance in 10 years, saw two of its All-State players announce on Wednesday. Running back Jake McAlinden has signed on with Division II Southern Connecticut State University, See Signing Day, A2
Health care services shift locales By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
Academy announces new appointments
SOUTHINGTON — While a surgery center housed at Bradley Memorial Hospital is leaving for Cheshire, proponents of the town’s hospital are encouraged by the addition of a home health care service at the Meriden Avenue campus.
At its January meeting, the Cheshire Academy Board of Trustees appointed a new chairperson and two new trustees. Jennifer Freedman P’15 replaced Richard Cerrone ’67 as chair, while William Ampofo II ’92 and Jared Pinsker ’97 joined the board as new trustees.
However, the long-term future of the Hartford HealthCare-owned hospital is unclear. HHC officials said two years ago that razing and replacing the building with a new health campus was one option being considered.
Ampofo
Freedman
Pinsker
See Academy, A3
While he didn’t address the future of Bradley, Hospital of Central Connecticut president Gary Havican said this week that Hartford HealthCare had moved HHC at Home to the Bradley campus.
“This means as many as another 200 additional HHC at Home staff will be on Bradley campus on any given day,” he said. The increase in staff was welcomed by Bonnie Sica, a Southington resident and a founder of the Community Committee to Save Bradley. She and others have petitioned Hartford HealthCare to keep the hospital open
and add services to the facility.
“It’s this massive move of people into that facility,” Sica said of HHC at Home. “That’s great. There’s plenty of space for a hospital and that.” In 2014, hospital officials closed four general operating rooms at Bradley and opened Southington Surgery Center in the vacated space. The center — a joint venture by surgeons and Hartford HealthCare — is moving to a facility proposed on West Johnson Avenue in Cheshire. The Cheshire Town Council re-
Spring Soccer Registration! For children age 4 and up. No prior soccer experience required.
Register Today at CheshireSoccerClub.org
See Bradley, A6
Last Call!