Community Corner

Hey Greenwich! Did You Know ... GHS Teacher Tapped for State Award?

Science teacher Andrew Bramante vies for Teacher of the Year Award; Strawberry fields for a day in Old Greenwich.

Today is Thursday, June 14, 2012 and it's National Strawberry Shortcake Day.

And you can get your strawberry fix on Saturday when the holds its annual Strawberry Festival. Besides strawberry shortcake there will be entertainment for the kids and a performance by the Sound Beach Community Band. For details, .

Today's birthdays:

Find out what's happening in Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • 'Glee" star Kevin McHale is 24.
  • German tennis champion Steffi Graf is 43.
  • "Baywatch" star Yasmine Bleeth is 44.
  • Lead singer for the British band Culture Club Boy George is 51.
  • Billionaire (and former Greenwich resident) Donald Trump is  61.
  • Actress Marla Gibbs is 81.

This day in history:

On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.

Find out what's happening in Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In 1985, TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome is hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists who immediately demand to know the identity of ''those with Jewish-sounding names." Two of the Lebanese terrorists, armed with grenades and a 9-mm. pistol, then forced the plane to land in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 2003, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II published the list of those she has chosen to appoint as Officers of the Order of the British Empire as part of the traditional Queen’s Birthday Honours. The list included soccer star David Beckham, the musician Sting, the actor Roger Moore of James Bond fame and the actress Helen Mirren.

 

Things you should know:

Greenwich HS science teacher named CT Teacher of the Year candidate

Andrew Bramante, a veteran Greenwich High School chemistry and
science research teacher, has been selected the Greenwich Public Schools representative for the 2013 Connecticut Teacher of the Year program.

Bramante will be recognized by the Board of Education at its June 21  meeting at Cos Cob School. He was selected from the six Greenwich Distinguished Teachers who were named in April.

In a statement, interim Schools Superintendent Dr. Roger Lulow said,  “Andy Bramante is energetic and enthusiastic in his work with students and as a result his students are motivated and inspired to learn, whether it is in chemistry or pursuing their own individual interests in science research. He challenges them to do their best and the evidence is the number of state, national and international recognitions that his students receive annually. Andy will represent Greenwich very well in the
2013 Connecticut Teacher of the Year Program.”

Bramante has been with the Greenwich Public Schools since 2005.

Greenwich High School Headmaster Chris Winters said, “Andy Bramante is a wonderful choice for the Greenwich Rep to the CT Teacher of the Year competition. With his success in Independent Science Research,
Andy and his students shine a powerfully positive beacon on the excellence that abounds at GHS.”

Following the selection of the district's Distinguished Teacher Awards, the school superintendent reviews the nomination packets, spent time in each of their classrooms, debriefed the observations with each teacher and with their principal, and reviewed essays submitted as part of the selection process.

One former student, Eliza McNitt wrote of Bramante, “Once or twice in a lifetime, if you are lucky, you meet a teacher who changes your life. For me, that teacher was Andy Bramante,” said McNitt, a 2009 GHS grad who's now a drama major. “Mr. B treated me and my ideas with
encouragement and respect. I proved you don't have to be a science genius to win the INTEL International Science Fair. You must, however, be lucky enough to have the support of a teacher like Mr. B.”

He holds final chemistry exam ‘Review Parties” open to students in any section of chemistry, he speaks at local organizations such as for the League of Women Voters and Retired Greenwich Executives, attends his students’ sporting events, and was asked to serve as Chemistry Counselor for the Greenwich Boy Scouts Association by his students.

Before joining the GHS staff, Bramante was a product specialist and design engineer for international instrumentation companies including Hitachi, Perkin Elmer and Foxboro. He has also been an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University since 1989, teaching organic and biochemistry for nursing, and environmental chemistry.

Bramante also will be honored by The Distinguished Teachers Awards Committee and by the Greenwich Kiwanis Club at the Board of Education meeting on June 21st. The Kiwanis Club will present Mr. Bramante
with the Joseph Mitchell Kaye Award. Kaye was a past president of the Greenwich Kiwanis Club, a Lieutenant Governor of the Kiwanis Club for the New England District, and served on the Greenwich Board of
Education.

In 2009, Arch School teacher Tony Mullen was selected as the Connecticut Teacher of the Year and went on to be named as national teacher of the year.

 

Meetings at Greenwich Town Hall today:

08:00 AM  BET Audit Committee Meeting

 

Greenwich Community Television

If you prefer the clicker instead of being there or want to catch up on a Greenwich meeting you missed, there's Greenwich Community Television (GCTV) on either Fios Channel 24 or Cablevision's Channel 79.

5:00 am BET Budget Committee Meeting , May, 2012 3:30 pm Einstein, Franklin, and the Role of Creativity in Today's World 4:35 pm My Hometown Hero: Benedict Arnold 4:45 pm Boss Tweed and Greenwich 5:00 pm The Greenwich Symphony presents The Young People's Concert 6:00 pm The Cos Cob Story 6:30 pm Board of Selectmen Meeting, June 7, 2012 7:40 pm BET - Mill Rate Meeting 9:40 pm Slaves in the Attic: Panel Discussion at Greenwich Historical Society

 

And if you prefer the movies:

Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas at Greenwich Plaza
Showtimes for Thursday, June 14, 2012
Moonrise Kingdom (PG-13)
Bruce Willis, Edward Norton
93 minutes
Trailer 4:45, 7:15
Digital;
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (PG-13)
Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith
118 minutes
Trailer 4:15, 7:00
Digital;
The Untouchables (R)
Kevin Costner, Sean Connery
119 minutes 2:00, 7:00
Digital;

 

 

Sources: history.com; famousbirthdays.com


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