Oliver Ellsworth School End-of-Year Celebration

Oliver Ellsworth School is sending out the “call” to all former and current students, staff and families! On Wednesday, May 30 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., an end-of-year celebration will be held at the elementary school. All activities are free and refreshments will be served, but advance reservations are requested.

“Everyone will be invited to sign our special Remembrance Wall in the front hallway,” explains Kurt Stanco, Principal of Oliver Ellsworth School. “They can watch a slideshow of photographs of Ellsworth School students and classrooms over the years – including related images from the Windsor Historical Society – and view student artwork throughout the building. Of course, much of the fun at open house celebrations is to simply walk downs the halls and reunite with old friends, and fellow students and teachers.”

Guests will be welcomed into the building by group of current and former Oliver Ellsworth musicians, including 4th grade pianist Jasmine He. There, they can add their autographs to the new Remembrance Wall that bears the words, “Cherishing our past, looking towards our future”’. Created by Sage Park Middle School art teacher Jonathan Schneider, it will be signed by all of the school’s students prior to the May 30 event. After the celebration, the wall will be coated with clear paint and become a permanent display.

At 5:30 p.m., a ceremony will be held in the Cafeteria, hosted by Oliver Ellsworth Principal Stanco and former Principal Patricia Phelan. It will feature comments and remembrances from a number of “honored guests” including:

• Windsor High School student Ben Osowiecki, who attended Oliver Ellsworth School;
• College students and Windsor High graduates Amber Flagg, Priya Kumar, and Ashley Malloy, who attended Oliver Ellsworth School;
• Tony Simeone, who has spent his entire teaching career at Oliver Ellsworth School, starting as a student teacher in the early 1970s. Simeone will retire from teaching in June;
• John Proctor, the first principal of Oliver Ellsworth School;
• Jeff Skwiot, a retired Oliver Ellsworth School teacher, whose wife, Joyce, also retired from teaching at the school; and
• Bob Choiniere, a former Oliver Ellsworth School teacher, now retired.

Expected to attend the celebration are: former Oliver Ellsworth Principal Warren Logee; Joann Smith, wife of the late Principal Maurice (Terry) Smith; and Ramona Beckius, wife of the late Principal Art Beckius.