Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Volume 17, Issue 9
Durham chef invited to the White House By Joseph Adinolfi Special to the Town Times
“I did a lot of volunteer work over the years, and its surprising where it can bring you,” said Mark Shadle, co-owner and executive chef of “It’s Only Natural,” a Middletown restaurant specializing in vegan cuisine. Shadle was extremely surprised when he received an email from a friend he met while volunteering with the Share our Strength Program — a national program to end childhood hunger — offering him the opportunity to be one of 10 Connecticut chefs to travel to the White House
Friday, June 11, 2010
For the birds ... in a good way!
as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Chefs Move to Schools” program. “I found out about six days before I left – about two weeks ago,” said Shadle. Shadle left for Washington, DC on Thursday, June 3, and returned to his home in Durham the following day. More than 500 chefs from 37 states attended the meeting with Obama. The program featured several speakers — including White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Obama. See Chef, page 3
‘Honor and Distinction’ in the Class of 2010 By Stephanie Wilcox, Sue VanDerzee and Judy Moeckel
There are 150 members of the Class of 2010 at Coginchaug Regional High School, and 17 of them will be graduating on June 18 with “honor and distinction.” These students have earned their honor and distinction the hard way — through academic success. On a 12-point scale, they have achieved a cumulative average of at least 10.0 over four years. This week, we will start our publication of interviews with these outstanding young people – eight of them this week and the remaining nine next week – in no special order except that readers will have to wait till next week to meet valedictorian Shaina Bradley and salutatorian Danielle Charette. Our towns are also honored this year because the valedictorian of Vinal Vocational Technical High School in Middletown is a student from Rockfall — Lauren Bradley.
You will also meet her next week. Be prepared to be amazed to meet these local academic stars! We would also like to congratulate another distinguished group of graduates — 23 strong — though we have not interviewed them. These are the CRHS graduates who have earned at least a 9.0 cumulative average over four years, and they are graduating with honor. They include, in alphabetical order, Eric Andrews, Shelby Artkop, Amanda Bedding, Randy Bertrand, Sarah Bugai, Derek Cuneo, Heidi Emack, Samuel Frey, Kyle Hassman, Sarah Hopkins, Erica Jones, Robert Ober, Dylan Pedersen, Laura Reimer, Kate Riotte, Caitlin Rogers, Edward Ruddy, Ryan Russell, Michael Sheldon, Benjamin Shoudy, Gregory Smith, Michael Smith and Sarah Wooley. See page 6 for our first H&D interviews.
Top, Stephanie Wilcox snapped the swan family on Lake Beseck, and Deb Huscher caught the kindergarten nature detectives, directly above, on a field trip to Wadsworth Falls. They talked about all kinds of animals, including birds.
Oliver Smith Jr., of Durham, took these photos of hummingbirds at Hill Hollow condos. Even though we can’t use every nature photo we get, we do put them up on our website, and we certainly appreciate the folks who send them along.