WHOO'S Our School Committee Members?

Community is such an important part of our lives and it is never too early to learn! At SGES we encourage this through community grade level meetings, all school assemblies, and classroom teachings. This year; we gave students the opportunity to interview our current school committee members so they could learn a bit more about them and for our committee members to get to know some of the kids they help each and every day!

 

A HUGE thank you to the Grafton School Committee for taking the time to come to our school, answer our hard hitting questions and help show our students what it means to be a community. 

Today we had our very own kindergarten student, Vincenzo O start off the interviews. He was a natural interviewer who put Kristy at ease and was dropping jokes left and right. Thank you Vinny!

What is your favorite child’s book?

The monster at the end of the book. (Cut to our interviewer claiming he did not know about Sesame Street so Kristy began to explain). Sesame street is great; and in this book, there’s Grover and Grover is reading a book but he’s scared.  Grover is so afraid to get to the end of the book because he’s so afraid of the monster at the end. And you know what happens at the end of the book? (It was at this moment that Vincenzo smiled and shared ‘he’s the monster!’ showing us that he was pretending not to know this entire time!) 

What made you choose to be on the school committee?

I love being at the schools and helping at the schools, I just wanted to help as much as I could. I used to run a lego club when my own kids went here. After school we would meet in the cafeteria and we’d do all types of stuff. We had to make a lego that would carry an egg all the way down the ramp. 

 

What do you love most about your job on the school committee?

I love coming in and meeting students like you and I love that I get to [go back and forth with] the superintendent sometimes, and that’s fun!

What is a secret talent you have that we don’t know?

So I do stand up comedy at night time; when you get onstage and tell jokes. 

(Vincenzo perked up, ‘Are you on tv’ he asked; taking complete charge of the interview.)

I actually have been on TV! 

If you could have one superpower what would it be and why?

Oh my goodness that’s a hard one! Wow so for me, I’d like to be able to fly; that’d be fun. You’d be able to get places fast; that'd be great.

If you could go on a field trip anywhere, where would you go?

So I’d probably go to Japan because I’ve never been to Asia and I’d love to see Japan. We like to travel a lot and that’s on our bucket list of countries. It’s good to go all over the world and meet all different people and learn a lot of different perspectives. 

 

Today we had the joy of having one of our first graders, Brynn D., interview Liora! She was sure to have plenty of follow up questions and left no stone left unturned. Thank you, Brynn!

What is your favorite child’s book?

I actually have two. One is super silly, Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! by Dr Seuss - it’s just super silly, funny and always makes me smile.  I also love Make Way for Ducklings because it happens in Boston and we know all the places they talk about and it’s a super fun story.

What made you choose your job?

Well first; people chose me because it’s an election! But I chose to run for  the school committee because you all are the future of the school and the world and I want to make sure you have what you need.

What is a secret talent you have that we don’t know?

Because I grew up in a house where we spoke four different languages, I am really good at learning different languages really fast. In my house we spoke English, Spanish, Hebrew (it comes from the middle east, Israel, and that’s where my parents met each other) and we also spoke Romanian. 

If you could have one superpower what would it be and why?

I would like to fly so I could visit lots of cool places that are very far away! (Brynn chimed in with a firm ‘agreed’!)

If you could go on a field trip anywhere, where would you go?

My favorite city that I’ve only been to once and it was a long time ago, was Venice, Italy.. Do you know the cool thing about Venice? There’s no cars, there’s just boats and taxis so you walk or take a boat everywhere! 

What’s the farthest country you ever visited?

The farthest is probably Israel. It’s 11 hours in a plane!

 

What do you love most about your job?

I love coming to see you guys and visit the schools. I also love knowing that I’m helping keep our schools really friendly and kind. It’s important that we’re helping every single learner to learn and access what they need to access. 

What is the best part of being on the school committee?

The best part of being on the school committee is getting to come to the schools and meet the students all of the time! I meet a lot of students.

How  many classes have you visited this year?

This year? About 3 or 4, not enough! I was actually here a few weeks ago in Mrs. Mahoney’s class for community reader day and it was extra special because she used to teach my son!

Before leaving, Brynn had one final question - Did you see Mrs. Wallace’s office? There’s pictures of me cheerleading!

That's so exciting! I will have to go back and check!

Today, we had an extra special treat that Rebecca’s daughter, a first grader Eve, was able to interview her mom! She was the epitome of professionalism and didn’t shy away from asking the difficult questions. Thank you, Eve!

What is your favorite child’s book?

I have been thinking about it and I still don’t know the answer! I really love Little Blue Truck and I also love I Want My Hat Back, that’s one of my favorites - I make weird side noises during that one which is always fun. I guess if I had to choose, Little Blue Truck is my favorite.

What made you choose your job?

I don’t know actually! I think I chose it because I tried a lot of different jobs and I didn’t find that one made me feel like I was making a difference so I chose a veterinarian so I could help animals who were getting sick.

What is a secret talent you have that we don’t know?

I’m a really good painter! I never get to because I have such a busy life with my children, but I love it and I’m pretty good at it. I painted this picture of a spoon and it’s an antique silver spoon and it looks really cool. 

If you could have one superpower what would it be and why?

Teleportation. I think about being able to teleport all the time because I could go wherever I wanted - like right now - I could be in Venice if I wanted to be. Or in Costa Rica I could be somewhere warm for the weekend!

If you could go on a field trip anywhere, where would you go?

I guess, can I teleport there or do I need to take a long plane ride? I think I would like to go to Japan. I’d want to eat all the food and see all the cute stuff like the Hello Kitty store and Totoro World. 

What do you love most about your job?

I love how I can help people feel empowered to help their own pets and feel like they  don’t have to just follow one path of treating their pets. I like giving them lots of options and finding what works best for them. 

What is the best part of being on the school committee?

I like spending my time where I’m not at my regular job doing something that feels impactful and useful. I also like that it’s helping the people I care most about, which is children, who have no vote.

A huge thank you to our first grade student, Dawson who interviewed Stella today! He tackled this interview with so much care, making sure to read all the questions ahead of time, and then stopped and asked multiple ones of his own at the end. Thank you, Dawson!

What is your favorite child’s book?

My favorite children’s book is Goodnight Moon; to this day I still quote it to my kids even though they’ve grown up a bit!

What made you choose your job?

I’m part of the school committee board along with 4 other people so I wanted to be a part of the board so that together, we could help students and teachers navigate through the school system. We want to make sure we can provide you all the services, support and education you need to make you the very, very best.

What is a secret talent you have that we don’t know?

I haven’t used it in a while, but I used to  be a really good roller skater back in the day. 

If you could have one superpower what would it be and why?

I would probably like to read people’s minds to know exactly what they’re thinking. I really value honesty!

If you could go on a field trip anywhere, where would you go?

Hmm what have I never seen before.. I think I’d probably have to say Egypt to see the pyramids. I’ve only seen them in pictures, but I’d like to see them up front and personal. 

What do you love most about your job?

I love that I get to help people every single day.

What is the best part of being on the school committee?

Helping students and teachers to be the most successful you could be.

Have you ever been on another school committee before?

I have not, actually, but I was elected last year, so, I’ve been on this school committee for one year.

Have you ever helped in the classroom?

I was a student teacher and then a substitute teacher when the teacher was out, but never a teacher. I got to go to a conference recently where I got to experience a bit of a full circle experience which was really nice to connect with that time in my life.

What is your favorite subject?

My favorite subject today would be technology because that’s the field I work in now, but when I was your age, my favorite was social studies and geography. 

What is your favorite holiday?

I like Christmas because I like all of the snow and the festivities and preparing leading up to it. I decorate literally the day before Thanksgiving. My husband does the cooking, so I usually get the tree up and decorate on Thanksgiving day. 

What do you like about Christmas?

I would say decorating. Also, as a mom you don’t get a lot of presents, but you do give a lot of presents and I love seeing my family open them and get all excited.

A huge thank you to one of our Kindergarten students, Airah K, who finished up our interviews with the school committee! She shook off her nerves immediately and even started a bit of a concert by the end! Thanks again, Airah!

What is your favorite child’s book?

So many great ones but one of my all time favorites is “Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse” by Kevin Henkes.

What made you choose your job?

So, I have been on the school committee for a long time and many years ago, when my own son was in Kindergarten - he went to North Grafton Elementary School - the principal over there said, “Mrs. Often you should run for school committee”. And I thought no, that is not my original plan. BUT, then I thought about it and I wanted to make sure I had a voice at the table to represent all students and to make sure that they got the resources that they needed to be successful. That principal, Mrs. Plainte, was a big influence on why I chose to run. 

What is a secret talent you have that we don’t know?

A secret talent I have is that I can connect people. I can really make people either be friends or get them in the same room and get something accomplished together and I am good at making everyone feel like they are a part of something. 

I also can tap dance!

If you could have one superpower what would it be and why?

I love this question. I wish I could make people do what I wanted them to do. (Like magic? Asked Airah) Sure! But that would probably backfire on me! (“Try to do that on me! Make my arm move!” Airah then proceeded to move her arm at Laura’s command but quickly shouted APRIL FOOLS).

If you could go on a field trip anywhere, where would you go?

I’d like to go to Italy! I have just never been and I don’t even know where I’d pick to go there! (You should pick California) I do love California! My best friend from kindergarten is from there so I do love going there.

What is the best part of being on the school committee/What do you love most about your job?

The best part is when I get to be with students like you and get to go into the schools and see all of the amazing, wonderful learning that is happening. 

How do you sing? (Airah put her right on the spot!)

I can sing ok, do you want to sing something together? 

Airah sang “Our Universe” for Laura as a special treat to round out this wonderful interview!