Extra help, enrichment await: Openings remain for Fitchburg after-school programs

     

There are still openings for students who want to participate in the Public School’s 21st Century After School programs that are designed to provide students with additional academic support and enrichment activities that complement their school day.

And it’s a great way for students to try engaging activities that the regular school day may not offer, said FPS 21st Century District Coordinator Sue Tourigny.

“The activities are provided by certified teachers and project specialists that are passionate about sharing their skill or expertise with students,” Tourigny said.

“The groups are usually small, less than 10 students, so students are able to get extra attention and build strong relationships with their peers and adults. Students also have time to work on homework and assignments with support from staff members. Parents love that when students arrive home they have less homework to do and more family time.”

Tourigny said that students in grades 2-8 enjoy that there are so many different activities to choose from. “Drama, art, STEM, cooking, gardening, weaving, LEGO robotics and dance are just a few of the many popular activities,” she said. “Students also have the opportunity to participate in changemaking or service projects, as well.

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Fitchburg middle schoolers taking part in NFL nutrition, activity initiative

     

Memorial Middle School students huddled up briefly Wednesday morning and then went outside to start exercising.

As part of the Fuel Up to Play 60 Kickoff, students walked around the school for 30 minutes as a way to promote staying physically fit and active.

“We try to be about a healthy school,” said Memorial physical education teacher Sue Tourigny, who organized the event. “I thought it was very successful and the kids were very excited. They understand now, by doing this kickoff event, how important it is to fuel up and play for 60 minutes a day and be active. Even though the weather wasn’t great, they were all pretty excited to be able to participate.”

Fuel Up to Play 60 is an in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the National Dairy Council and the National Football League, in collaboration with the USDA, to help encourage today’s youth to lead healthier lives.

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Fitchburg High junior giving back through ‘Karate for Kids’

     

A love for karate movies as a kid got Ethan Chandler interested in training in the martial art.

Now as a junior at Fitchburg High School, he is sharing that passion with at-risk youth in the city through the organization he founded, Karate for Kids.

“It gives them a place to go if they don’t have one,” the 16-year-old said. “It’s about helping kids in the community get through challenges they face.”

Chandler launched Karate for Kids in February 2017. The organization serves children between the ages of 6 and 12 and trains them at the Family Martial Arts Center on Airport Road, which is where Chandler started karate when he was 6 and later earned a black belt.

Chandler hopes karate can help children learn life skills and an activity they can look forward to, like it did for him.

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Reingold wins $175G grant for after-school program

The Fitchburg Public Schools recently learned that Reingold Elementary School was selected for a new 21st Century After-School grant.

Reingold has been awarded $175,000 for the first year of funding.

“We are thrilled to be bringing the 21st Century After-School program back to Reingold,” FPS 21st Century District Coordinator Sue Tourigny said. “After-school programs are so important to the students and families in our community. The 21st Century programs provide students with additional academic support and enrichment activities that compliment the school day.

“Students enjoy the smaller group settings and the variety of engaging new activities the program has to offer. The staff that work in the programs are passionate about the rewarding experiences they offer, but more importantly they value the positive relationships they build with the students.”

FPS applied for the competitive funding to operate 21st Century at Reingold in April. A total of 29 schools across the state submitted proposals and 16 were awarded.

“After-school programs are a wonderful complement to our comprehensive school system,” Superintendent Andre Ravenelle said. “Through the hard work of many staff members and Fitchburg Public Schools’ excellent reputation for quality programs, we have been awarded a $175,000 grant for our fifth 21st Century school.”

FPS now has 21st Century After-School programs at Crocker, Reingold, South Street, Longsjo and Memorial.

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High school football is finally here

Breathe it in, folks. Breathe in the air — it smells like football.

The new season begins tonight, with an intriguing Paper City/Cycle City matchup: new-look Fitchburg making the short, 10-minute drive from Crocker Field to the seaward side of Tar Hill to take on Tom Bingham’s St. Bernard’s Bernardians.

Game time is 7 p.m. at the Bernardian Bowl.

FHS-St. B’s should be a runner’s love, as both teams have massive run games in place: Fitchburg has junior Luis Aldarando, an explosive, shifty back making the jump to varsity, and St. Bernard’s has a plethora of runners that the Red Raiders need to keep in check.

Bingham is high on Townsend’s Xavier Marty, another quick, explosive speedster making his return to the grid.

“We just have to play disciplined football,” Fitchburg coach Tom DiGeronimo said earlier this week. “You have to play disciplined, eliminate the big plays, and just play smart.”

For St. Bernard’s, Bingham acknowledges that just like last year’s meeting at Crocker, Friday night is an “uphill climb.”

“Make no bones about it: we’re swinging uphill, we’re climbing the mountain, they’re four divisions higher than us; they’ll show up with 120 kids, they’ll bring four busses, they’ll bring the band,” Bingham said. “We embrace that. We love it.”

Sweens’ Keys: Who wins in the trench, and who out-runs who?

The game up front will be incredibly important for both Fitchburg and St. Bernard’s.

Which side opens the bigger holes for their respective running backs? And just as important: Can the respective secondaries not stare at the wrong side of the running back’s jersey?

Does Fitchburg bite on the Bernies’ jet sweep? That’s St. B’s bread and butter offensive play, which means the FHS outside linebackers will need to prep for the wingback coming around.

Will the Blue and Gold have to put a few in the box to slow Aldarando down?

Both Fitchburg and St. Bernard’s check off the athleticism boxes, so it leads to this: Which team is better conditioned to handle 44 minutes of speed and endurance?

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New stars will emerge for Fitchburg football team

Forget about last year.

With 36 players turning their tassels at Crocker Field back in June, the Fitchburg High football team is practically brand new in head coach Tom DiGeronimo’s second season at the helm.

But there will be some elements of last year’s team — which missed the postseason by mere percentage points, beat Leominster on Thanksgiving for the first time in nearly a decade, and had a historic rushing season out of Sal Figueroa (1,974 yards rushing, Central Mass-high seven TDs in one game) — still in play when the Red Raiders make the short drive to the foot of Tar Hill Friday night.

Fitchburg will take on inter-city rival St. Bernard’s at the Bernardian Bowl on Friday at 7 p.m.

“People don’t realize, we have five offensive players coming back. Our fullback’s gone, our tailback’s gone. We’re replacing a lot of kids,” DiGeronimo said Tuesday afternoon in the Crocker Field clubhouse. “We have some kids that are coming along who are capable, and we’re pretty happy with what we’re getting out of our running backs up to this point.

“We’re a different team than we were last year.”

Andrew Brooks returns to lead the Red Raiders for his second season in Fitchburg’s Multiple offensive set.

“I think the fact we’ve settled in with what we’ve done offensively, so this will be Year 2 under our system,” DiGeronimo said. “That’s been the biggest improvement for him; it’s not a new offense.

He’s played in Multiple offenses, so the concepts stay the same. He’s really got a grasp of what we want to do.

“Andrew’s a big weight room kid, and he threw a lot in the summer and the spring, so he put in a lot of work on his mechanics and to get stronger.”

DiGeronimo noted that Brooks is only one piece of the puzzle, and that it isn’t on the senior to do it all himself.

“I don’t want him to have the pressure on himself that he has to win every game, where he has to make every throw,” he said. “He has to go out and perform and relax and compete, that’s all. He has to make the correct reads and just manage the game.”

When Brooks drops back to pass, he’ll look for three familiar targets in Devin Deleon, Ozzy Guy and Caleb Smith, all three returning seniors.

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Brick by brick, a path of pride

Luis Alvardo surveyed the grounds at Crocker Field on Thursday.

The groundskeeper eyed the walkway that will greet spectators during the Red Raiders first home game in September, at the historic field that reached its centennial milestone this year.

Where once was poured concrete is now an expanse of commemorative bricks with Fitchburg High School’s Red Raider icon in the center.

“This is going to be a big change,” he said. “Everybody’s going to love coming in and seeing their names.”

Earlier that morning, before the sun came up, a team led by Fitchburg High School alumnus John Cordio laid bricks imprinted with the names of donors.

Donations will go towards the upgrades Crocker Field Restoration Committee wants to make, like purchasing new lights, and eventually, replacing the grass field with turf, said committee Vice President and Athletic Director Ray Cosenza.

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Announcer, teacher, sportswriter – Sullivan did it all

This really isn’t the way I wanted to start the first notebook column of the school year …

We lost the one and only Fred Sullivan last Thursday morning.

To most in the outlying towns of our coverage area, forgive me; it would be an insult not to honor one of the pillars of Fitchburg High athletics with just a few lines instead of long swaths of prose. You may not know who Fred was, but to anyone who has walked the revered halls of 98 Academy St. — especially sitting in room No. 408 — and has attended football games at Historic Crocker Field or watched basketball games in the fabled Brickyard, you most definitely knew Mr. Sullivan, just from his voice alone.

“Sully” was the Voice of the Red Raiders for over 30 years — “Second down and… two and a half yards to go…. Long two, short three” — and he certainly bled Fitchburg Red and Gray.

He was inducted into the FHS Hall of Fame as our contributor in 2009. He was a 1960 Fitchburg High grad, destined to be a Red Raider from birth as his father, Fred Sr., regaled him of tales of Clarence N. Amiott’s great teams from the 1920s and early 1930s. He was a darned good second baseman for the Fitchburg Nine back in the late 1950s, a Fitchburg State soccer goalkeeper in the early 1960s, and his FHS sports historical knowledge was absolutely unparalleled; he wrote the Hall of Fame bios for the first seven inductions before I took them over in 2015.

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Fitchburg looks to build on success under DiGeronimo

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Fitchburg High woke up the football echoes at historic Crocker Field last year. After winning only one game in 2016, the Red Raiders finished 6-5 under new head coach Tom DiGeronimo.

“It was definitely a challenge, getting our numbers up and getting the kids to buy into our vision of a program,” said DiGeronimo, a former assistant coach at Fitchburg, who has been away from the sidelines for seven seasons after being appointed an assistant principal.

From past experience, though, DiGeronimo knew how to build a winning program. He led Narragansett to Super Bowl titles in 1991 and 1996.

The Red Raiders were 2-4 in mid-October a year ago, but raced confidently to the end of the season, winning four of their last five, including a 34-21 victory at Crocker over archrival Leominster, ending an eight-year Thanksgiving losing streak.

“There’s nothing like playing at Crocker Field. It’s an awesome place,” DiGeronimo said. Winning, of course, adds to the excitement.”

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