Here are six former local high school softball stars to watch at Central Mass. colleges

As the Central Mass. college softball teams settle into their schedules in New England, here’s a look as six of the area’s shining stars:

Audrey Johnson

Fitchburg State/Fitchburg

Senior, Infielder

Johnson, Fitchburg State’s first baseman, is a two-time All-MASCAC first-team selection, and, through the first few games of 2022, she appears to be on her way to more postseason accolades.

Johnson had six hits in her first eight at-bats, and entering the week, ranked as one of the top hitters in the MASCAC with a .435 average. She has a home run and five RBIs.

“Audrey has been an impact player for us on the field and at the plate since her freshman year,” Fitchburg State coach Merry McDonald said. “She is the anchor to our infield at first base and provides both experience and leadership to a relatively young team. She had a good showing over our spring trip to Myrtle Beach, and I look forward to watching her lead this team and enjoy her final season of softball.”

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High school students support Fitchburg Stands With Ukraine, don blue and yellow

Hundreds of interested students stopped by a Fitchburg Stands With Ukraine awareness table set up last week in the high school cafeteria by “concerned citizen” Sally Cragin.

“ I wanted to make sure the students are aware of the catastrophe unfolding,” Cragin said. “As the descendant of Armenian genocide survivors — grandfather and great grandparents — I cannot stand by when genocide happens. I have to find a way, or many ways, to help.”

Many of the students signed a petition in favor of working with and urging the U. S. government, NATO member states, and Ukraine- friendly countries to close the airspace over Ukraine and deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, provide military assistance and support the Ukraine people.

“ I think it’s important for the kids to know that children their age are being murdered,” said retired educator Bill McSheehy, who joined Cragin in her efforts at the high school. “ I’m impressed by how aware the students are — they actually have context. No one has said ‘ What is this for?’” McSheehy, who serves on the Fitchburg Art Museum Board of Trustees, was a member of the Fitchburg City Hall Building Committee and works at Fitchburg State University supervising student teachers. He said he wants to do “ anything I can to help Sally with the situation.”

Cragin, a City Councilor and former School Committee member, explained the meaning behind the table to the students who stopped by and asked them to sign the petition.

“ I want to make sure my community understands the danger to everyone everywhere, when genocide happens anywhere,” she said. “ We must keep this crisis front and center and help our students see how they can help and make a difference.”

Cragin and McSheehy, along with the students, created dozens of pins featuring yellow and blue ribbon and yarn, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, with supplies donated by Mc-Sheehy’s wife, Maureen McSheehy.

Cragin said a group of students promoting the annual Best Buddies raffle calendar fundraiser at a table near hers in the cafeteria were the “ first customers” to come by and sign the petition. Jordyn Butler, 18, signed the petition along with some friends and made a pin to wear.

“ I think it’s pretty sad,” Butler said when asked what she thinks of the situation in war- torn Ukraine. “ You see on social media families getting ripped apart and people having to leave other people behind.”

Fitchburg High School teacher Ann Taft arranged a virtual event on March 14 with FHS alumnus Tanya Tretyak, who was born in Ukraine and has friends and family overseas, including in Russia. Tretyak spoke with high school students in the SPECTRUM club, as well as teachers after school via Zoom, about the war in Ukraine “ with an insiders’ perspective that was eloquent and humbling,” Cragin said.

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Kitchin excited to lead Fitchburg

The Fitchburg High softball program didn’t have to look far to find its guy.

Fitchburg resident and former St. Bernard’s softball head coach Chris Kitchin will take the reins of the program on Arn- How Farm Road when the season officially begins on Monday.

Kitchin replaces Fitchburg High athletic director Craig Antocci, who held the head coaching position for three years after replacing retiring Mike Pelland prior to the 2019 season.

Kitchin, who coached one season at St. Bernard’s, didn’t have to look far to find a new position. Fitchburg High is just five miles away from St. Bernard’s, at the other end of John Fitch Highway.

“ I’m very excited for this opportunity. I took the job at St. Bernard’s prior to COVID-19 and the girls and the support from ( athletic director) Ryan Walsh were great over there,” said Kitchin on Friday afternoon. “ This was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.”

Kitchin is a 1999 graduate of what was then known as Ayer Junior/ Senior High School. His season at St. Bernard’s was his first varsity head coaching experience.

“ Last season was a challenge with COVID. We had a very young but talented team. Working with Ryan, he was awesome and we made the best of a challenging situation. We struggled to find wins but the girls never stopped working hard and I appreciated that,” said Kitchin. “As my first varsity head coaching position, one of the things I learned is that it doesn’t matter what level you’re coaching, you have to stress hard work and developing the fundamental skills every day.”

In addition to his year at St. Bernard’s, the new Red Raiders skipper has coached in the Fitchburg Youth Softball League. He has also coached at the travel ball level.

“A lot of the girls I’ve had the chance to coach at the youth and rec levels, I will have the chance to work with and coach again at Fitchburg High School,” said Kitchin. “ That familiarity between the players and myself should make the transition pretty smooth.”

One of the selling points for Kitchin to taking the Fitchburg job was the opportunity to coach his daughter Ella, who is an eighth student at the Sizer School. According to Kitchin, the Fitchburg softball program will be joining forces with their Fitchburg neighbors as the Red Raiders will be co- op program with Sizer this spring.

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Ocean pollution is not good for ecosystem

Letter to the Sentinel & Enterprise Editor

– Michael Jones, Fifth grader at McKay Arts Academy Fitchburg

Once when I was on a boat in the ocean I saw lots of plastic floating in the water and thought of what all the plastic in the ocean was doing to the wildlife. I believe ocean pollution is not good for the ocean ecosystem because it is killing ocean animals. I also thought it might affect ocean life in a very terrible way, and I also thought of what it might do to our food and water. Thinking of that just makes me sad.

According to a story published on The Pew Charitable Trust website, ocean animals are dying because of plastic in the ocean. In the website it says that sea turtles sometimes eat plastic bags thinking that they are Jellyfish.

It also says that some sea birds are often found dead from starvation with plastic in their stomachs. One last thing the website says is “ Unless action is taken soon to address this urgent problem, scientists predict the weight of ocean plastics will exceed the combined weight of all of the fish in the seas by 2050.” That is really sad to hear..

Another reason ocean pollution is not good is it can affect ocean life in a very bad way. According to www. plasticsoupfoundation. org, plastic has entered the aquatic food chain. According to the website, if a small fish consumes plastic and a bigger fish eats the smaller fish the big fish is now carrying the plastic the smaller fish ate. Then it keeps on going until the fish that last ate that micro plastic is on our plate. If I am eating micro plastic every time I’m eating fish, I will never eat fish again. Ocean pollution can also pollute our food and water too. According to How Ocean Pollution Affects Humans – Planet Aid, Inc. ocean pollution can’t only affect ocean life but can affect human life, too. In the article it says that chemicals such as oil, mercury, lead, pesticides, and other metals can be found within ocean food that we eat. Also it says in the website called Medical News Today that the water we drink can be a birthplace for bacteria. After hearing that I might think twice before getting a snack or drink after a long day at school. Now that you know about ocean pollution and why it is bad, you might want to know how to stop it. According to How Can You Help Our Ocean? There are a few ways that you can help stop ocean pollution. A Few of them are: Use less water, Reduce pollutants, Reduce waste, Shop wisely, and Reduce vehicle pollution. If you follow these ways, maybe in the future someday ocean pollution will be a thing of the past.

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Fitchburg alumnus recognized as Black Excellence on the Hill honoree

Longtime city resident Theodore Demosthenes was honored at the 2022 Black Excellence on the Hill virtual event in February, hosted by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus to commemorate Black community leaders who have made an outstanding commitment to their communities.

“ It was a very pleasant surprise,” Demosthenes said.

Demosthenes, 30, who goes by Theo and has lived in Fitchburg since 2003, was being recognized for his instrumental role as a GEAR UP Recruitment Counselor for Mount Wachusett Community College, encouraging high school students and giving them resources they need to prepare for success in secondary education and beyond.

City residents who are members of the Fitchburg High School class of 2024 and 2025 will receive services through GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, throughout the academic year. GEAR UP is a sevenyear initiative funded by the U. S.

Department of Education administered by MWCC in collaboration with several community partners, including Fitchburg Public Schools. The team currently has nine members.

Demosthenes said they provide in- class and after- school tutoring, workshops focusing on college readiness, inspirational speaker events, and take students on field trips to colleges and museums.

“ There is so much more I feel like I can do but it is a good reminder that the work we are doing matters,” the FHS Class of 2010 graduate said. “ People take notice.”

State Rep. Michael Kushmerek, D- Fitchburg, nominated Demosthenes for the honor and presented him with a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Monday at FHS, highlighting his dedication to improving the community and providing support to youth.

“ We are beyond lucky to have individuals like Theo Demosthenes willing to make an impact in the Fitchburg community,” Kushmerek said in a press release. “ Theo is a prime example of dedication and commitment, and we cannot thank him, or recognize him, enough for the work that he does to make a difference in the City of Fitchburg!”

Demosthenes was a Fitchburg Public Schools district substitute teacher and a 21st Century Paraprofessional at Reingold Elementary prior to taking the fulltime GEAR UP role in 2019.

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Student Kennisa Rotasayne can easily spell ‘win’

McKay Arts Academy’s Kennisa Rotasayne remembers struggling in the Spelling Bee as a fourth- grade student.

“ I got really nervous and didn’t win there,” she said. “ I always get really nervous before the big test.”

But what a difference three years makes.

Now, as a more confident seventh grader, Rotasayne fended off the nerves and was recently crowned a Spelling Bee School Champion. She advanced to the online school champion round of the Spelling Bee, scoring 33 points. That score was good enough for a top-10 finish overall, and qualified her to advance to the Final Regional Spelling Bee today at Lynn City Hall.

Lynnfield Middle School seventh grader Prabhsimar Pabla scored a 47 for the top overall qualifying spot.

“ I was really excited and proud of myself,” Rotasayne said. “ I felt like I was redeeming my fourthgrade self. I practiced really hard and I’m glad it helped me win.”

Of course, Rotasayne still remembers the word she stumbled on three years ago.

The word was chloroform. “I know how to spell it, too, but I just choked on stage,” she said.

Preparation and rigorous study habits have helped Rotasayne in her recent Spelling Bee success.

“ I usually practice every day for it,” Rotasayne said, adding she studies for roughly three or four hours a day after school. “ The words are divided into three sections for how hard they are. They call it 1B, 2B, 3B. There are a lot more 2B and 3B words than 1B words.

“ I usually split them up into multiple days and I try to get a section a day, but there are a lot of words. I take like five days to study the whole list.”

Practice, practice, practice. That is Rotasayne’s driving force, heading into the regional round in Lynn.

“All the work I put in definitely benefited me on the online test and school one, so I’m hoping it will help me in this one, too,” she said.

Yes, she does still manage to find the right amount of sleep after a long day at school and at home studying.

“ I get about my eight hours,” Rotasayne said.

Her hobbies include drawing and painting, while also playing two instruments — the trumpet and ukulele.

Rotasayne says she’s really excited to meet the other contestants and compete in the Regional Spelling Bee in Lynn.

“ I’d like to meet everyone else that is going there because I think they are pretty good spellers, too,” she said. “ It will be fun meeting other people that are around the same age as me. I think I have a pretty good chance, but I don’t know if I’ll win.

“ I’m glad to represent McKay and Fitchburg.”

Read more here.

Polito pays a visit to celebrate Innovations Pathways, STEM Teacher of the Year

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, state Sen. John Cronin and Mayor Stephen L. DiNatale visited Fitchburg High School on Thursday to celebrate the school’s Advanced Manufacturing Pathway program and recognize 2021’s STEM Teacher of the Year, Becky Colo.

The group toured classrooms specific to FHS’s program. Part of Massachusetts’ Innovation Pathways program, it is designed to provide students with an alternative career path beyond the traditional high school experience.

“ One of the key features our administration has pursued is the investment in our classrooms,” Polito said. “ We need programs like this — and teachers like Becky — to teach the kind of skills employers need for work that is, obviously, so important.”

“ It’s changed the way we are educating kids in our commonwealth. … We’re here because ( students and faculty) have adopted and adapted to that change and we wanted to celebrate that — and celebrate our STEM Teacher of the Year,” Polito said.

Through the program, students are given coursework tailored toward advanced manufacturing and experiential learning. Later, through internships — the school hosts an internship fair with eight local industry partners — students are given real- world experience.

A four- year pathway, most students graduate with certifications and competencies that either create career opportunities directly after graduation or serve as credit that could go toward the pursuit of an associate or bachelor’s degree in their field.

“ We’ve changed the mindset,” Polito said. “ It used to be ‘ manufacturing was my grandfather’s business, it’s old and dusty and I don’t want to go into that,’ but that’s not what people think or what manufacturing looks like today.”

“ Some kids go on to college and incur debt and then graduate without a specific place to go work or start their career. ( The Advanced Manufacturing Pathway) changes that whole dynamic — you’re starting to plan your future as freshmen or, maybe, even in middle school.”

Both during and after the tour, Polito had the opportunity to speak with students and teachers in- volved in the program. Not only was she impressed, but their experiences reaffirmed her belief in the program.

“I was so impressed with these kids and one of the things I take away is that this program works, experiential learning works,” she said. “ It creates a level of excitement and enthusiasm around concepts that wouldn’t ordinarily be there in standard coursework.”

Read more here.

Student-made ‘ The Unlikeables’ premieres at Cinema World

Longtime city residents and friends Owen Cosgrove and Frank Gallo screened their feature- length action movie, “ The Unlikeables,” at Cinema World last month, the culmination of two years of hard work and determination for the high school students.

“ It was an absolutely exhilarating experience to premiere the movie to my friends and family,” Gallo said. “ Honestly, it is one of the highlights of my life so far. It was very refreshing to have worked on this for so long and finally have finished.”

The movie plot is centered around the president’s daughter, played by Gallo’s younger sister, Georgianna Gallo, who is kidnapped by a Russian billionaire, played by Frank Gallo, that wants to release an evil cloud-based artificial intelligence. She is eventually rescued by two secret agents who call themselves The Unlikeables, played by brothers Owen and Patrick Cosgrove.

“The movie project came about while my friend Owen was on vacation in Newport and saw the beach mansions,” Gallo said. “He called me up on the phone and I thought it was a good idea and we were off. We both have a passion for action movies.”

Owen Cosgrove, 18, and 16-year-old Frank Gallo, a junior in the High School Honors Program, each had their own roles when it came to making the film.

“Owen was the principal creative force behind this movie, the director and the lead actor,” Frank Gallo said. “I was in charge of editing effects and distribution.”

Fellow classmates Seth LeBlanc and Michael Martinez rounded out the cast as the agents’ dispatcher and old partner, respectively. The 123-minute action- packed movie features chase and fight scenes, thrilling plot twists and more to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

“Filming took over a year and involved many difficulties, both in organization and technicalities, however it was a fun experience and we loved joking around on set,” Frank Gallo said.

He said he hopes to remain on the movie making path and that Owen Cosgrove plans to major in film at Fitchburg State University.

Read more here.

Middle schoolers work on advanced math skills

There’s no substitute for hard work, dedication and commitment.

At Memorial Middle School, that hard work in the classroom extends well beyond the class day.

Memorial formed a math team, dubbed “ Mathletes” and practiced math skills after school every Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for the virtual chapter competition held in mid- February.

“After working all day in school, they come into my classroom where I present them with some pretty tough math concepts and problems,” said Memorial teacher and coach Liz Youtt, who co- teaches the team with Mary Lively.

“A good example is the practice where we worked on special right triangles ( 30- 60- 90 and 45- 45- 90). We talked about triangles and then I introduced them to why these triangles are special and how to calculate side lengths. This might seem easy but it required that they learned about Pythagorean theorem and all about radicals. It was a lot of information over the course of two hours, but they are so eager to learn, that they worked through all of the questions and went home and practiced some more. The level of dedication is so clear and commendable.”

Memorial’s nine- member team consists of Clarice Assis Monteiro Ribeiro, Kyle Barreira, Rory Cannon, Elijah Decene, Elizabeth Fey, Medjynn Jean, Jackson Leider, Rowen McGuane and Cristian Ramirez.

To get ready for this competition, students worked with advanced math concepts that challenged them to work at the high school level as middle schoolers.

Mathletes had two rounds of individual competition; the sprint round and the target round. There was also a team component where the topfour placing students are a team and competed with other chapter teams. The students were able to divide out the 10 questions however they wanted and have a time limit to get as much done as possible.

“ The competition went well, although nobody placed for the state levels — the kids did a great job though and I am proud to say that they all placed in the top two- thirds. There were a total of 72 competitors in our chapter and our kids scored around 40th out of 72,” Youtt said.

“ I think that we at Memorial are honored to have these students on our team, willing to compete on Fitchburg’s behalf with these other schools,” Youtt said. “ The unfortunate part was that this chapter- level competition is virtual, so the mathletes did not have the opportunity to network with other students. That being said, being part of a national competitive platform was impressive, and they take this process very seriously and put many hours into preparing.”

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Students venturing forth

The hearts of the students at South Street and Reingold elementary school are gigantic.

As part of a United Way Youth Ventures initiative, changemaking students at Reingold recently helped raise money for animals, while at South Street students focused fundraising efforts on purchasing board games for fellow students to promote friendship.

“ The fact that these students felt so passionate about helping hurt and neglected animals shows a level of empathy that children are not given enough credit for,” said Reingold teacher and Youth Venture Champion Greg Wironen. “ These students told me, with a level of excitement and passion rarely seen, that they were going to donate their own money to the cause that they had been saving.”

Added South Street teacher and Youth Venture Champion Jenna Roberts: “ These children truly do have huge hearts. My dream is that we have planted the seed that will grow into their adulthood of people that are changemakers and innovators.”

Both venture teams targeted a schoolwide Penny Wars to raise money for each initiative.

The fundraising was a smashing success, as South Street raised over $ 2,000, while Reingold exceeded expectations with over $ 1,000.

“ Third grade won the Penny Drive,” Wironen said.

“It was close and we could not determine a clear winner until the final day of the Penny War. This will be a positive experience that these children will reflect upon for years to come,” Wironen said.

Of course, a motivation for the fundraising drive was that the winning class earned the right to throw a pie in the face of both Wironen and Reingold Principal Justin Sparks.

“ First and foremost, the students wanted to help the Fitchburg/ Leominster Animal Control,” Wironen said.

“ Second, they desperately wanted Mr. Sparks and myself to get pied in the face. I had students coming up to me in the hallway for a week and a half straight telling me how excited they were to see me get a pie to the face,” he said.

South Street Principal Sue Tingas also agreed that the winning class got the throw shaving cream in her face.

Read more here.