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NCHS Post Prom 2024: Q&A

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One of New Canaan High School’s most celebrated events, the Post Prom at Waveny House, is marking a major milestone this year with its 65th anniversary. We put some questions about the widely anticipated party to Susan Gelvin (NCHS ‘92), fundraising co-chair for Post Prom 2024. Here’s our exchange. New Canaanite: Tell us a little bit about the history of the New Canaan High School Post Prom? 

Susan Gelvin: This time honored New Canaan tradition–and the highlight of most NCHS students’ experience–is celebrating its 65th anniversary. The Post Prom provides a safe, fun and memorable night for the entire graduating class, while delivering nonstop entertainment, games, food and raffles from midnight until 4am.

Andrew Armstrong

‘So Many Families Are Hungering for More Real-World Interactions’: New Canaan Chamber Music Plans May 22 Outdoor Concert

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Andrew Armstrong, an acclaimed concert pianist who graduated from New Canaan High School in 1992, was days into planning a new chamber concert series in his hometown last March when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. A Worcester, Mass. resident, Armstrong had gained confidence in directing the series after doing so successfully for two years in Columbia, S.C. He re-connected with friends and found a handful of locals willing to help get a New Canaan chamber music series off the ground—then in mid-March, schools went remote, theaters and parks were closed, restaurants were pick-up only and face masks were mandated anywhere outside the home. “I felt a combination of, Well, was I this foolish or is it just bad luck?” Armstrong recalled. “And there were several months of real indecision on my part: Am I leaving people twisting in the wind who had expressed a real interest in doing something together, by not doing anything?

New Canine-ites

Full Disclosure: ‘New Canine,’ Next Station to Pet Heaven

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When you have a husband, two kids and a mother on the same block, you may assume there is no significant void to fill in your personal life. Me too. I never realized how the unconditional love of a dog could wiggle its way into the deep, dark crevices of my jaded heart and make things whole. ***

The rumors are true: Years ago, I convinced my truly wonderful husband to purchase a home on the same street as my mother. If you’re conjuring up images of Everyone Loves Raymond, you’re on the right track.

News

Full Disclosure: Hello Darkness, My New Friend

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[Editor’s Note: If you don’t know her, Susan Gelvin is a wry, keen observer of herself and her hometown and she writes extremely well, so I asked her recently to consider penning a regular column for NewCanaanite.com. Our editorial board is very pleased and proud today to introduce Susan as the news site’s first columnist. Here’s the debut installment of “Full Disclosure.”]

 

Through the years I have jogged up and down South Avenue countless times. At a certain point, it was exhilarating getting an encouraging honk from a driver-by. Even a whistle or two wasn’t terrible.

News

Board of Ed Member Calls for More Input from Parents Regarding Computer Use at Middle School

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Parents should have a say in some curriculum decisions regarding the use of computers in the classroom, rather than mere access to the trusted New Canaan Public Schools educators now making them, according to one member of the Board of Education. Some parents closely monitor their children’s “screen time” at home and the study of how computer use affects young people is a rapidly developing area, Maria Naughton said during the school board’s regular meeting last week. “We don’t have a district curriculum committee in the district, which I think we should,” Naughton said during the group’s meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “And I would like to know: How will this impact the curriculum for fifth and sixth grade?” said Naughton, who has called for greater parent collaboration in the past. “I have had parents contact me.