Person of the Week • Published Jul 23, 2024 10 am
By John Lecardo
Grace Lunz not only took on a new leadership office on the lacrosse turf this past spring, but she also stepped outside her comfort zone into a whole new tier of the turf...
Person of the Week • Published Jul 17, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Sidewalks are for hopscotch grids, tic-tac-toe diagrams, and pictures drawn with brightly colored chalk. However, for those who are beyond their hopscotch and sidewalk a...
Person of the Week • Published Jul 16, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Sophia Bonanno originally just had tennis as a secondary sport and hobby when it came to her athletic upbringing. Yet her heart and drive to improve and succeed within th...
Person of the Week • Published Jul 08, 2024 02 pm
By John Lecardo
The switch from underclassmen to upper as a junior is a benchmark moment in the hearts and minds of several high school student-athletes. For Lucy Resinsky, she made all ...
Person of the Week • Published Jul 03, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Leslie Barlow didn’t have her moment last Fourth of July. She and her husband Cotty were slated to be the grand marshals of the Ivoryton Independence Day Parade, except ...
Person of the Week • Published Jun 26, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
The Fourth of July is a day for fireworks, barbecues, and relaxing with family, but for at least 1,000 people, the holiday will be a day of exertion and effort.
The rewa...
Person of the Week • Published Jun 19, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Everybody knows about summer reading. It is generally what students start, and sometimes finish, the week before school starts.
Essex resident Joan Falcigno has a differ...
Person of the Week • Published Jun 18, 2024 12 pm
By John Lecardo
Cameron Costanzo was always drawn to the fast-paced nature of lacrosse, as it drew him from the diamond to the turf. His passion for the game and the need for speed allow...
Person of the Week • Published Jun 11, 2024 12 pm
By John Lecardo
A little more than two years ago, Millie Gardner did not row one stroke of organized crew in her life. Yet in such a short span, she has made a tremendous impact on the V...
Person of the Week • Published Jun 04, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Sullivan Rock was always drawn to contact sports in his younger years. Yet it was one with the most swiftness in lacrosse that drew him deeper into the game–leading to hi...
Person of the Week • Published May 29, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Graduation from high school, freshman year to senior year, is a journey. For Mulanga Drysile Kazadi, who will graduate from Valley Regional High School (VRHS) in June, it...
Person of the Week • Published May 24, 2024 02 am
By John Lecardo
It was evident for quite some time that the baseline was in Tomas Dahl’s bloodline. His heart and passion for the court came coursing throughout the Valley Regional campu...
Person of the Week • Published May 21, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Several sports can often elicit emotional expression from the intensity of competition. Yet for Lilly Jones in the realm of competitive dance, she harnesses the emotions ...
Person of the Week • Published May 15, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Hope, of course, springs eternal. The HOPE Partnership has been around for 20 years, and the non-profit organization has built up an impressive record of accomplishments ...
Person of the Week • Published May 14, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Staying fully committed to the course and blocking out any outside noise or volume between the ears has helped Tyler Ruel become both a skilled golfer and leader, along w...
Person of the Week • Published May 07, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Noah Santangelo has stood tall as a superb stopper for the Valley Regional boys’ lacrosse team. Yet one thing he has certainly not swatted away is the opportunity to step...
Person of the Week • Published May 01, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Author Gertrude Stein said it first in 1913: A rose is a rose is a rose. The Essex Garden Club knows what she was talking about. They will have roses and much more at the...
Person of the Week • Published Apr 30, 2024 01 pm
By John Lecardo
Dancing is a sport that is quite unique when compared to some run-of-the-mill-athletic activities. It permits a plethora of creativity and chances to express yourself. Fo...
Person of the Week • Published Apr 23, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Emma Reilly craves the competition when it comes to gymnastics, but she also enjoys the free flowing and creative elements of the sport. Both of those facets of the mat b...
Person of the Week • Published Apr 10, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
On Janice Atkeson’s bucket list is a trip to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Janice has been to the area before, having visited another Himalayan country, Nepal.
“The ...
Person of the Week • Published Apr 03, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Ever heard of J.D. and the Great Barber Battle? You would if you were an Essex Elementary School (EES) student. The entire school is involved with the book through the On...
Person of the Week • Published Apr 02, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Emi Bisson spent her tenure with Valley Regional being one of the more stronger and decorated players in the girls’ lacrosse program. Utilizing the ultimate asset of conf...
Person of the Week • Published Mar 27, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Talk about pressure! Players have only an hour to decipher the clues, crack codes, and follow the evidence to break free. And free from what? Hogwarts Magical Mayhem, the...
Person of the Week • Published Mar 06, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
When does retired not mean retired? When retirement is not the end of one’s working years, but rather, an opportunity to work differently. This is what retirement means f...
Person of the Week • Published Mar 05, 2024 10 am
By John Lecardo
When it comes to her skill set and acumen with the game of lacrosse, Rowan Pilon takes a slow but steady approach of improving herself every instance of every day. That g...
Person of the Week • Published Feb 28, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
It’s not like herding cats, but nonetheless, Lily Farrell has a lot of small bodies to keep track of these days. Lily is in charge of the mini-munchkins. Let there be no ...
Person of the Week • Published Feb 27, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
The game of baseball often imitates life and instills great lessons from it. It often showcases the idea that when you persist with positivity, you can truly ascend. This...
Person of the Week • Published Feb 21, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
You want to swim, bike, and run? You want to do it competitively? If so, you want to do a triathlon. That is what Bob Merrick does. A triathlon is an outdoor event, but B...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 31, 2024 08 am
What to do about February? The excitement of the holidays is over. Early spring flowers have not yet pushed through the soil to herald the warmer weather. The month can s...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 30, 2024 12 am
By John Lecardo
No matter where the ball lands once he fires it from his hands, whether off the iron or tickling the twine, Noah Dolinsky takes a new piece of information from each strik...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 23, 2024 10 am
By John Lecardo
Basketball is an imperfect game, with many flaws that can occur in a given play. It serves as a great metaphor for life in making the best out of any setbacks or disappoi...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 17, 2024 08 am
There’s an old military truism: never volunteer. That would not do for Tania Crosby. For 25 years, as an accountant, she has been doing the books as treasurer of the Deep...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 16, 2024 11 am
By John Lecardo
Cade Ensinger underwent a maturation process during his time at Valley Regional into a leader and First Team all-league competitor. Yet now as a Warrior of a different il...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 10, 2024 08 am
By Rita Christopher
You don’t need the calendar to know winter is here; you don’t need the weather report or the holiday decorations. How, then, to know winter has arrived? Because it is tim...
Person of the Week • Published Jan 03, 2024 10 am
By John Lecardo
When it comes to Valley Unified Sports, there is not a contest or competition that Allison Connell has not conquered and mastered. Yet more importantly, she has done it w...
Person of the Week • Published Dec 27, 2023 12 pm
By John Lecardo
Dog has been championed as man’s best friend, with a special bond that is shared between both parties. Yet for Ainsley Strecker, she is adding an addendum to that express...
Person of the Week • Published Dec 27, 2023 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Katelyn Ely will participate in an American rite of passage this March: she will go to Disney World.
But Kate’s trip is not just another long-anticipated family excursion...
Person of the Week • Published Dec 20, 2023 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Kathleen Lowe loved being outdoors as a child. Now, as an adult, the Essex resident has founded a group, Friends of the Forest CT to share that love with others.
“Anytime...
Person of the Week • Published Dec 19, 2023 11 am
By John Lecardo
Eli Sahadi always had the passion to play football and the athletic acumen to perform on the field, and he took full advantage of the opportunity to showcase that to the ...
Person of the Week • Published Dec 13, 2023 02 pm
By John Lecardo
Once Clara Shea first grasped a field hockey stick in junior high, she knew it was something she could truly sink her teeth into and advance far within the sport. And bac...
Person of the Week • Published Dec 07, 2023 10 am
By John Lecardo
From starting in dance as soon as she was old enough to do so, and participating in her inaugural solo within competitive dancing from the age of 8, Chloe Alsback’s undyi...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 29, 2023 08 am
By Rita Christopher
Luckily, the Claus family is a big one because its best-known member, Santa, has a very busy schedule at this time of year. To keep everybody happy, younger siblings can ...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 28, 2023 11 am
By John Lecardo
Support has been at the center of Abby Reardon’s relationship with the sport of field hockey. She had tremendous encouragement from peers and coaches to grasp the game ra...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 21, 2023 02 pm
By John Lecardo
In such a short stint, Hallie Moore has not only had a meteoric rise up the varsity ladder for the Valley Regional volleyball team, but she has additionally earned the re...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 15, 2023 10 am
By John Lecardo
From essentially the first time he could walk, Deryck Llivichuzca’s moving feet were always accompanied by a soccer ball. It was that passion and devotion to the game tha...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 15, 2023 08 am
By Rita Christopher
A career choice doesn’t lock you in forever. That is what Kurt Saenger-Heyl realized, and that is why he is the new pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Centerbrook and n...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 07, 2023 01 pm
By Rita Christopher
Once, people believed the Earth was flat. Ivoryton resident Ethan Goller, president of Structural Graphics, has his issues with flatness but in advertising.
Structural Gr...
Person of the Week • Published Nov 01, 2023 09 am
By Rita Christopher
Where’s Tony? You never know where Tony Carrano will appear next.
That’s because of the many different ways he participates in civic affairs in Essex.
He is such an effec...
Person of the Week • Published Oct 24, 2023 11 am
By John Lecardo
The long and winding course that has been Holly Board’s race within athletics has gone down many paths, but it has come full circle by reigniting her passion for running ...
Person of the Week • Published Oct 20, 2023 06 pm
By Rita Christopher
Once, some four decades ago, Jonathan Jacobson made videos that delighted friends and classmates at Chester Elementary School.
Now, those friends are still delighted, sen...