Harvest Arts Festival brings in poets
District announces new preschool director
Lisa Freedman started her career at the Westwood Public Schools 20 years ago. This fall, she takes over as director of the Integrated Preschool, replacing longtime director Aprile Albertelli, who retired at the end of the last school year. Freedman came to Westwood High School in 1999, and for the past two years, has been...
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Kids learn soccer skills through play
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
With youth sports participation plummeting nationwide, and travel sports growing more competitive and more costly every day, the idea of a soccer skills clinic for a bunch of kindergarteners sounds like it could be an over-competitive nightmare.
Instead, the kids of Westwood spent their Sunday morning laughing, smiling...
Petting zoo lets patrons try robots
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
While a “robot petting zoo” sounds like an attraction from Disney World’s Tomorrowland, it was actually Westwood Library's way of letting members of the community explore coding toys for their children.
On Thursday night, August 15, the library brought out their Mini Spheros, Dash Robots and the Kano Harry Potter...
St. Mark’s Greek Fest coming soon
St. Mark of Ephesus Orthodox Cathedral of Westwood will host its fifth annual Greek Fest on Saturday, September 14, and Sunday, September 15, on the church grounds at 340 Clapboardtree Street.
St. Mark’s Greek Fest will run on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The festival celebrates...
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IAM Strong advocates for mental health
By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
Sometimes, we all need help from our friends.
That is the simple lesson the IAM Strong Foundation has been trying to teach students and their families since its establishment. The organization is making a big difference when it comes to mental health and making sure people receive the help they need.
IAM...
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Westwood DPW helps with tornado cleanup
By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
The people of Massachusetts face relatively predictable weather. The biggest snowstorms typically take place between mid-January to March. Evening thunderstorms and torrential downpours are a usual part of the summer months. Hurricanes occasionally crawl their way up to the Northeast but meteorologists know weeks in advance. But tornadoes tend to...
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Robotics team prepares for new season
This year, Westwood High School Robotics, team 1757, competed in the quarterfinals in the UNH district FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). Its robot, Rampothy, made history with teams 3597 (Robo-Rangers) and 5962 (perSERVERE) by executing a double-ramp climb, which was never seen in the FIRST Robotics Competition.
FRC combines the excitement of building robots and sports by...
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NepRWA claims pollution driving water woes
Volunteers with the Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA), a local environmental non-profit, have been monitoring water quality in Westwood’s rivers and streams for more than 20 years. In their most recently published report, the watershed association claims that stormwater pollution is driving much of the bacteria problems observed in the town’s waterbodies.
Chris Hirsch, the Association’s...
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Minuteman Library Crawl lets libraries strut
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On August 1, various libraries that make up the Minuteman Library Network - including those of Wellesley, Dover, Sherborn, Westwood and Medfield - hosted a library crawl, designed to introduce people to what makes each and every one of the network’s libraries unique. Community members were tasked with...
WestwoodWinds celebrate ‘Milestones’
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Monday night, August 5, WestwoodWinds presented “Milestones,” a celebration of the music they’ve played over the course of their ten years as a community band, to those in attendance in the Westwood High School cafeteria courtyard.
To celebrate the momentous occasion, the band opted to play one piece...
Betsey Baker, straw hat maker
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By Shelly Santaniello
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
Betsey Metcalf Baker (1786-1867) was an inventor and entrepreneur long before it was socially acceptable for women to be independent thinkers and/or wage-earners.
At age twelve, the native Rhode Islander devised a method to make her own straw bonnets. She couldn’t afford the expensive ones imported from England at...
Hylander revisits Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
With younger generations of Americans both learning about socialism and filming themselves tampering with food by doing things like licking cartons of ice cream and putting them back on the shelves, what better time for Dr. Gary Hylander to address the Westwood Senior Center about Upton Sinclair’s “The...
Messy Mondays let kids play clean
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
As anyone with kids, grandkids, or nieces and nephews will tell you, there are two indisputable facts about sand and water tables: kids love them, and whoever has to clean up afterward hates them.
Luckily, if you have no desire to vacuum sand out of your rug or...
The voices of Christine Grudinskas
By Linda Thomas
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
Singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” was Christine Grudinskas’ way of handling cancer.
But the story isn’t about a woman with cancer.
It’s about a woman living her life with a glad heart.
And whenever life presents a challenge for this Westwood woman, singing and praying bring her solace.
Grudinskas’ voice can be heard most Sunday mornings inside St....
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Dr. Salinas elected to ABCUSA Board
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The Rev. Dr. Stephanie Salinas, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Westwood, has recently been elected to the Board of General Ministries of the American Baptist Churches in the USA. The Board is the governing body of the denomination, and Dr. Salinas will be the director representing the American Baptist churches in...
Senior Center holds summer beach party
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Tables were decorated with pineapples and palm trees, beach balls rested on bookshelves, there were flamingoes painted on the windows and everyone was wearing leis at the Westwood Senior Center’s fourth annual summer beach party.
But it was the steel drumming of Toby Tobas and the fresh food...
Mass Hort hosting summer family programs
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society (Mass Hort) is set to offer several family summer programs at Weezie’s Garden for Children at The Gardens at Elm Bank. Mass Hort offers many programs designed to delight and teach visitors about the natural world.
This June through August, each Wednesday starting at 11 a.m., visitors will explore the wildlife and...
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Westwood kids play in foam oasis
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By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
Every parent is trying to find a way to beat the heat this summer. From trips to pools, ponds, lakes, and the ocean to a sprinkler in the backyard, it seems impossible. Last week was especially rough, with temperatures reaching into the 90s.
Luckily for kids (and their parents),...
Westwood Rovers are state champs
The Westwood Rovers 7/8th grade girls youth soccer team recently won their age bracket and were named state champions in the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions. The Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) is a season-ending tournament that brings together age/gender group champions from participating town-based travel leagues from across the state.
This is the first time...
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