Walk Just for the Health of It

Volume 13, Number 40

A scene from the 2021 Lights of Hope event. Luminaries light up the Cheshire green. c h e s h i re c i t i z e n . c o m

Lights of Hope to stage its final event on Nov. 12

Citizen staff

Ch e s h i re’s annual Lights of Hope event will call it a night once this year’s luminary lighting is done. The organization provides support for a wide variety of community activities and needs. This year will be the 18th and final year for the local Lights of Hope luminary lighting tradition. The event is set for Saturday, Nov. 12. Organizers are calling it the “Grand Finale” and are seeking community help with the project. In a message from Don Walsh, posted on the organiz at i o n ’s website, the Lights of Hope president wrote about what the tradition has meant to the community and why the LOH board of directors made the decision to end it. He wrote: “The simple act of gathering neighbors and lighting a luminary has had a significant impact on our community. That is why it is with extremely mixed feelings that we have made the difficult decision to announce that this year’s luminary event on November 12, 2022, will be the final one for our organization. “We have met with the Board of Directors and explained that the time commitment is incredible, and we feel that we have given as much as we possibly can to the organization.

See Lights of Hope, A17

More HS graduates entering workforce

By Jessica Simms Record-Journal staff

When it comes to a future after high school, graduates have a variety of options including attending a fouryear university, a two-year university, going straight into the workforce, joining the military or pursuing a trade. Area high school staff have noticed an uptick in students going straight into the workforce, a trade or vocational school or attending a twoyear institution and a slim decline of those pursuing a four-year college or university degree. According to a survey conducted by Intellig ent.com, nationally, “48% of non-enrolled young adults joined the workforce instead of going to colle g e,” with 34% of 18-24 year-olds who aren’t enrolled in an institution saying they cannot afford it. Around 29% of young adults “say it’s a waste of money.” Michelle Catucci, chair of the counseling department at Cheshire High School, said there have been fewer Cheshire graduates going straight into a four-year college than in past yea rs. Last year, 81% of graduates went directly into a four-year university, while the graduating class before them saw 79% go into a four-year universit y. In the past, however, the percentage was in the upper 80s. “Usually it’s because students are either going directly to work, they’ re taking a gap year and then working while they’re in their gap year, things like that, rather than going directly to the four year college,” Catucci said. T h u r s d a y, October 6, 2022

Jodi Dutchyshyn, Cheshire’s Para-Educator of the Year. Submitted

Ve te ra n e ducator honore d

Citizen staff

At its yearly Convocation Ceremony in late-August, Cheshire Public Schools named Jodi Dutchyshyn Para-e ducator of the Year.

A former CCD teacher, Dutchyshyn, is an instructional assistant at Doolittle School, working with 94 firstgraders in five classrooms. She began her career in the public schools as a substitute in 2012, before moving full-time to her IA position at D oolittle.

Dutchyshyn and other instructional assistants help manage and support students with behavorial and academic needs. Dutchyshyn said she draws on her time working at Darcey School, with kindergarteners, to help her current students transition to the elementary s chool.

Also announced at the convocation, Dawn DeMeo, a Cheshire High School English teacher, was named District Teacher of the Year.