cheshirecitizen.com
Volume 14, Number 46
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Fencing club makes its point at the BOE By Peter Prohaska Herald Staff
At the Cheshire Board of Education on Oct. 19, supporters of the Cheshire Fencing Club came out to support the group and issue a plea to make fencing an official varsity sport at Cheshire High School. Supporters testified for over an hour during the BOE’s public comment section, after Ben Palladino, a parent volunteer, kicked things off with a passionate speech. “It is embarrassing when I enter another school in our league and I see an entire trophy case dedicated to the sport of fencing and we have none,” he insisted. “(By) recognizing fencing as a varsity sport, you will not only affect the fencers in our program, but you’ll also validate athletes and their sacrifices from the past and ensure that future fencers are not marginalized.”
A group shot of the Cheshire High School Fencing Club.
Palladino also came to the BOE’s Open Forum session on Oct. 5 to start the process. Heather vonFischer founded the Cheshire Fencing Club back in 2003 along with her
husband, Scott. She traced that club’s journey from “a bunch of fifth-graders” who found support from the Parks & Recreation Department and the Cheshire YMCA to finally gaining recog-
Submitted photo
nition as a club at CHS. “Those kids advocated for themselves, they wanted the club to exist,” she said. vonFischer pointed out that the fencers must arrange their
own transportation and have their practices in the school cafeteria, all while not being recognized at sports banquets. See Fencing, A10
Lions Club eye screenings lead to positive results By William Manthey Cheshire Lions Club
From Oct. 5 through Nov. 2, the Cheshire Lions per-
formed eye screenings in all Cheshire Public Schools and YMCA. Connecticut law requires that school districts conduct vision screenings
for students in kindergarten 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. This was the second year Cheshire Lions performed these screenings.
Traditionally students have been screened using a Snellen chart and the screening is done by the school nurse in each build-
ing. The Snellen chart only screens for difficulty with nearsightedness (myopia) See Screenings, A7
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