Around Town

‘Committed and Compassionate’: Diane Murphy-Kivell To Retire After 39 Years as NCHS Athletic Trainer

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New Canaan High School senior Callum Wood, co-captain of the varsity boys’ lacrosse team, had already dislocated his knee once when the injury re-occurred the day before a game versus St. Joe’s during his sophomore year, in 2019. After Wood popped the knee back into place, NCHS Athletic Trainer Diane Murphy-Kivell helped him ice it and “deal with everything, gave me pointers on what to do and where to go for physical therapy,” he recalled. “Every single day she would let me go in, even though she technically didn’t have to help me,” Wood told NewCanaanite.com. “There are a lot of other kids with other injuries that would be playing, so she kind of has to take care of them, too.”

Wood is one of thousands of NCHS athletes that Murphy-Kivell has helped through nearly four decades of service in a job that demands skill, care, commitment and passion.

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Nine NCHS Student-Athletes Sign Letters of Intent To Play Sports in College

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Nine New Canaan High School seniors on Monday signed early Letters of Intent to play sports in college starting next year. The photos below are from socially distanced signing ceremonies overseen by NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, held throughout the morning and early afternoon at Waveny House. 

“When I attend these ceremonies I am always struck by how emotional this moment in time is for our athletes and their families,” Egan said. “In many instances these college commitments represent the  culmination of many years of sacrifice and dedication. It is very gratifying to watch our athletes realize their lifelong dreams.”

We asked the student-athletes why they chose their future schools, and put their responses next to photos where provided. 

Henry Benton

University of Wisconsin
Crew (coxswain)
NCHS coach: Sharon Kriz
Also recruited by: Bucknell, Cornell
“I chose Wisconsin because of the academic prestige of the university, partnered with the supportive alumni community, it provides a great launch pad for a career. In addition the university provides extensive resources and support for its student athletes.

News

NCHS, Area Schools Plan Fall 7-on-7 Football League

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New Canaan High School’s athletic director is working with counterparts through the FCIAC to develop a 7-on-7 football league that’s in line with state health recommendations, the superintendent of schools said Monday night. The non-contact intramural league could include “linemen’s challenge type activities and even linemen 7-on-7 kinds of things,” Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS and broadcast on YouTube. “That is aligned with DPH recommendations, because the 7-on-7 that is non-contact brings it from a ‘high risk’ activity to a ‘moderate risk’ activity,” he said. “Which is the same as some of the other sports we are playing now, with the mitigation strategies—like volleyball with the masks, for instance. So the league would use our district coaches, have teams of approximately 15 players and they would play against each other in the beginning, and even against other schools.

Dionna Carlson

District: Proposed New School Start Times Schedule Wouldn’t Require Kids To Wait in the Dark for the Bus

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Though New Canaan’s youngest students would start school first—instead of last, as they do now—under a new schedule that district officials are considering, those kids wouldn’t need to be picked up by buses until after it’s light outside, officials said last week. Because buses could head out in the morning from each of the three geographically distributed elementary schools—that is, closer to students’ homes than they do now, in picking up New Canaan High School kids—a 7:45 a.m. start time at East, South and West would mean the very first student wouldn’t need to be picked up until 7:06 a.m., according to new estimates from the district. Though such a system would require additional buses and brings with it several practical challenges (see below), it also would allow NCHS to start at a sufficiently late morning time with respect to adolescent health, officials said Friday during a special Board of Education meeting. Under the proposed system, seventh- and eighth-graders at Saxe Middle School would start with NCHS at 8:30 a.m., while the fifth and sixth grades at Saxe would start together at 9:15 a.m. 

The schedule would see elementary schools run through 2:15 p.m., while the high school and seventh and eighth grades finished at 3 p.m. and fifth and sixth grades at 3:45 p.m., meaning all levels would have a 6.5-hour school day, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said at the meaning, held in a conference room at the district’s administrative offices. The potential new start time schedule—what Luizzi called a “prototype,” developed much work from Roy Walder, transportation coordinator for New Canaan Public Schools—follows multiple surveys and workshops involving the schools and wider community, and is built around an anchor assumption that grades seven-and-up start at 8:30 a.m., as recommended by pediatricians.

Jay Egan

Athletic Director: ‘Home of the Rams’ To Be Painted on NCHS, Facing Dunning Stadium

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New Canaan High School’s premier athletic facility stands to get a boost of hometown pride. According to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, workers this weekend will begin the project of painting a New Canaan Rams-specific message across the top of the south end of the high school, facing Dunning Stadium. The words ‘Home of the Rams’ will be painted in white on top of red paint that’s already in place, Egan told members of the Board of Education at their regular meeting, held Monday night in the Wagner Room at NCHS. “We had an exceptional year athletically,” he said during a presentation that touched on many topics. “It was quite a year for us even by New Canaan standards.”

The idea to decorate a visible structure with a positive message about New Canaan had come up in 2016 when then-Utilities Commissioner Dan Welch suggested painting “New Canaan, Home of the Rams” on the Waveny water towers overlooking the sports fields.