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| Dean College to Host 5th Annual Dean Dash 5K on Saturday, April 21 |
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| 3rd Annual Empty Bowls Dinner - May 1 |
Franklin High School is participating in an international charity project called Empty Bowls, which supports hungry people in local communities. The objective of the Empty Bowls Club is to teach students of all ages that they can make a difference in their local community. Club members, along with FHS faculty, district K-12 art teachers, and the Franklin community, make ceramic bowls throughout the year. Then, the Empty Bowls Club and the Franklin Food Pantry work together to co-host a community meal of soup and bread. All funds raised at this event are donated to the Franklin Food Pantry. The Empty Bowls Club has been sponsored by the Franklin Cultural Council.
The Franklin Food Pantry offers supplemental food assistance and household necessities to nearly 1,000 individuals. Clients have access to bread and fresh produce daily during Pantry hours. As a nonprofit organization, the Pantry depends entirely on donations, and receives no town or state funding. Other programs include a Mobile Pantry, Cooking Matters classes, a Healthy Futures Market, emergency food bags and holiday meal packages. The Pantry is located at 43 W. Central St. in Franklin on Route 140 across from the Franklin Fire Station. Visit www.franklinfoodpantry.org for more information.
"Robotics are indeed the way of the future, and to get there, it’s wise to start at a young age.
But that doesn’t mean the present is limited to children.
At Saturday’s inaugural robotics expo at Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, first-graders paired with older students in a display of previous work.
Angela Batt, an engineering teacher at Tri-County and the event’s coordinator, runs a Daisy Girl Scout troop out of Plainville, where she has 13 first-graders who are passionate about Lego robotics. She broke her troop into three junior Lego-league teams, and with the younger leagues being non-competitive, they always end the year with an expo. This year, they combined their expo with area middle schools and the Tri-County high robotics team."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
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| “I think this inspired all age levels” |
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| Peter Ballou was sworn in by Town Clerk Teresa Burr |
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| FPAC - Culinary Cabaret - April 6 |
"Franklin returns one of the best rotations in the league and the centerpiece for that staff is senior Jake Noviello, who is back after an outstanding season for the Kelley-Rex champions. The Fairfield University-commit threw 55.1 innings last season, second most in the league, and led the Hockomock with 61 strikeouts. One of the hardest throwers in the league, Noviello finished the season with a 6-2 record and also picked up the win in the Panthers’ playoff opener. Noviello and the rest of Franklin’s arms will be hoping for another league title and to put together a longer state tournament run this spring."
"Focusing on pitching and defense, the Panthers will be looking to get better each and every day as they try to replicate the success from a season ago.
Franklin won the Kelley-Rex division last year, its first league title since 2012. And the mix of pitching and offense put the Panthers in some conversations for Super 8, but the Panthers ended up in the D1 South and bowed out in the quarterfinals after being forced to play on back to back days.
The arms that helped the Panthers have so much success last year as almost all back, starting with staff ace senior Jake Noviello. The Fairfield-commit struck out a Hockomock-best 61 batters a year ago, going 6-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 55.1 innings of work. Noviello is complemented by lefty Jason Ulrickson (7-0, 0.80 ERA, 35 K), Bryan Woelfel (3-2, 0.91 ERA, 4 SV, 31 K) and senior James Leofanti.
The defense will be anchored by a pair of returning starters in junior shortstop Alex Haba (0.360, 12 runs) and junior catcher Jake Macchi.
“While we are returning a number of experienced arms we are also turning over a number of positions last season,” said Franklin head coach Zach Brown. “So, we will be young or inexperienced at a number of positions. Offensively, my hope is that as the season progressing we will be able to develop an identity and find a way to manufacture runs.”
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| FHS Panthers |
"Joseph Chillo has a luxurious office in a beautiful building with a view of a leafy neighborhood in this wealthy town. But while his perch may look idyllic, his job is not.
As the leader of Newbury College, a small, struggling, liberal arts college where enrollment has declined 86 percent over the past 20 years, he has a lot of sleepless nights.
Chillo worries about a lot of things: Will next fall’s crop of students materialize, will there be enough financial aid, which majors should be cut, how much will the school get for a building it is selling, and will that be enough to close a 10 percent budget deficit."
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| Dean College, Franklin |
"As an exhibition title, “Nicholas Nixon: Persistence of Vision” is almost self-explanatory. The show runs at the Institute of Contemporary Art through April 22.
Nixon needs no introduction around here. For many years, he’s been one of the starriest names in what has long been a very starry photography faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. And since his inclusion in the ground-breaking 1975 exhibition “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape,” Nixon has had a national, and eventually international, reputation for decades.
So the Nicholas Nixon part of the title is clear enough. Ditto “persistence.” Nixon turned 70 in October, and the show’s 112 black-and-white images start in 1974 and extend to this year. In fact, there are two or three photographs for each year. The sole exception is 2017, which has just one image: the latest iteration of Nixon’s most famous body of work, “The Brown Sisters.” The series consists of an annual group portrait of Nixon’s wife and three sisters-in-law."
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| April vacation destination in our backyard: The Brown Sisters photos |
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| FY18 and FY19 budget totals appropriated and revolving account use |
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| Franklin boy scouts from Troop 99 reviewed the school budget book during the School Committee meeting Tuesday, Mar 27 |
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| FHS Panthers |
[Girls Sprg Varsity Lacrosse] Cohasset Middle-HS defeats Franklin HS, 9 to 8.— FranklinAthletics (@FHSSports) March 31, 2018
Half time and its 5-5. After Franklins defense held the first 15 minutes of the game they are finally settling in on offense and getting some shots— FHSGLAX Boosters (@FHSGLAXboosters) March 31, 2018
— Marshall Wolff (@mwolffMWphoto) March 31, 2018
Great first victory over Cohassett 12-2. Game ball to Kaleigh 6 g 1 a. Happy Easter and back to work Monday.— John Leighton (@FHSJVGLAX) March 31, 2018
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| At the Charter School, former St Mary's school grounds. |
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| Along King St near Peck St |
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| Tyler Hanes |
"One group of Franklin High School girls is a leading youth voice in state government’s decision to raise the tobacco age to 21.
The pending Tobacco21 bill would raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21, an issue that a group of Franklin students has been lobbying for since last year. Currently, about 180 municipalities across Massachusetts have already made this change. The legislation will force all 351 cities and towns on board.
The students returned to the Statehouse again on Wednesday, but with a much more active role. They filmed and showed a video of their testimonies, before a formal ceremony in front of a large audience at the bottom of the grand staircase in the Statehouse.
Advocates, legislators, senators, and others gathered to hear the Franklin High Students plead their case for this bill."
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| FHS students with Rep Jeff Roy at the State House (Facebook photo via Catherine Moran) |
"Trouble is brewing for coffee lovers in California, where a judge ruled that sellers must post scary warnings about cancer risks. But how frightened should we be of a daily cup of joe? Not very, some scientists and available evidence seem to suggest.
Scientific concerns about coffee have eased in recent years, and many studies even suggest it can help health.
“At the minimum, coffee is neutral. If anything, there is fairly good evidence of the benefit of coffee on cancer,” said Dr. Edward Giovannucci, a nutrition expert at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The World Health Organization’s cancer agency moved coffee off the “possible carcinogen” list two years ago, though it says evidence is insufficient to rule out any possible role."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)