OneManchester

FALL MEANS FOOTBALL and on Friday night Manchester High plays its season-opener at home against Danbury. The Red Hawks made the state tournament last year for the first time in a generation and Coach Roy Roberts and his team have high hopes again this year. Saturday brings a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Keeney Elementary and Sunday marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month – which honors and celebrates the vibrant histories, cultures, languages, traditions, values, and contributions of people whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

But we start this week with good news from MHS, where more students are taking more AP courses than in the past and an impressively high percentage are scoring 3 or better -- which translates to credit at most colleges.

Last school year, the number of AP test takers grew from 185 to 241, by far the most in the last five years. Those students took 442 tests -- up from 302 the previous year. And 74 percent of students scored 3 or better, back to our pre-pandemic level.

More stats:

• In our new AP Precalculus course, where 48 students took the exam, 32 students scored a 4 or better, and 92 percent scored 3 or better making them eligible for college credit.
• Overall, nearly 50 percent of graduates from MHS leave high school with college credit through one of 41 classes - through AP, UConn, CCSU, MCC, and the National Equity Lab offered at Manchester High School.

Clockwise from top left are the Cheney Building at Bennet, Bowers, Buckley, Keeney, Verplanck and Waddell. All have been renovated in the past decade, which will be mentioned a lot and cause for celebration at Saturday's Keeney ribbon-cutting.

Members of the Board of Directors and Board of Education will be joined by Keeney families, school staff and others for the event, which starts at 9 a.m. and will include the chance to tour the building. Click here or on the flier at right for more.

Monday's Board of Education meeting included an update by Superintendent Matt Geary on the opening of the school year. You can see a replay here. The next meeting is Sept. 23 at Lincoln Center followed on Oct. 10 by a meeting at Keeney Elementary.

Fatherhood Strategies Class:

• Dads and family men are invited to participate in an 8-week Fatherhood Strategies development course, starting Thursday, Sept. 26 at Verplanck Elementary. Dinner will be served, and child care is available. Learn how to engage, support, and raise successful children with expert guidance from Doug Edwards of Real Dads Forever. Click for more.

Also:

• Boys and girls throughout the district are invited to a free day of activities, mentorship, medical exposure, and networking on Saturday, Nov. 9 (8 a.m. - 3 p.m.) in Waterbury. Click here for more information. (Students in grades 3 and up are eligible but this is an especially great opportunity for middle and high schoolers.)

Sweet Frog Fundraiser

• The Bowers PTA will hold a fundraiser at the popular frozen yogurt shop on Tuesday, Sept. 17 and the following Tuesday (Sept. 24), it will the Bennet PTSA's turn to churn for a good cause. Sweet Frog is located at 1500 Pleasant Valley Rd..

• Suicide Prevention: The attached bulletins (in English and in Spanish) were developed through a collaborative effort among the Department of Children and Families, the Department Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Office of Child Advocate, the Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and the Governor's Office. The content includes information on suicide, helpful tips to support people of all ages, and where to go for additional support and resources.
• COVID etc.: Students should stay home until they've been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours and symptoms have been improving for 24 hours. Mask-wearing for 5 days is optional upon their return to school.

Thursday, Sept. 12
9 a.m. -- Cheney Rail Trail NORTH Walk & Pickup, starting from the Hilliard St. parking lot.
12:30 - 5:30 p.m. -- Red Cross Blood Drive at North United Methodist Church, 300 Parker St.
4:30 - 7 p.m. -- MACC Charities: Fill the Freezer Walk & Fundraiser starting at Urban Lodge.
6 p.m. -- DateNight Downtown: Herbal Mocktail & Cocktail Class at WORK_SPACE.
7- 9 p.m. -- The Listening Room / Open Mic at WORK_SPACE, 903 Main St. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.for sign-up).

Friday, Sept. 13
10:30 - 11:15 a.m. -- Michele Urban’s Sing Me a Fairy Tale at Manchester Public Library.
7 p.m. -- Evenings@7: Marian, Or The True Tale of Robin Hood at Cheney Hall.

Saturday, Sept. 14
8 a.m. - noon -- MACC’s Farmers Market at Forest St. parking lot.
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. -- Author Fair at Mary Cheney Library.
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. -- 2nd Saturday Open House at WORK_SPACE, 903 Main St.
1 - 2:45 p.m. -- Porter Street area history hike starting at the corner of Porter St. and Ferguson Rd.
7 p.m. -- The Music of James Taylor at Cheney Hall.

Sunday, Sept. 15
9:30 - 11:30 a.m. -- Source to Sea Charter Oak Park Cleanup at Charter Oak Park.
2 p.m. -- A cabaret saluting Judy Garland at Cheney Hall.

Monday, Sept. 16
6:30 - 7:30 p.m. -- Celebrate ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’ with author K. A. Masterson at Mary Cheney Library.
7 - 8 p.m. -- WWLM is accepting cans, bottles and all donations at the Donation Center, 11 Bissell St. (Donations can also be made M-Th, 10 a.m. - noon and 1 - 3:30 p.m.)

Tuesday, Sept. 17
Noon -- ‘The Wall that Heals’ arrives in Manchester. Click for details

Wednesday, Sept. 18
4 - 7 p.m. -- Northwest Park Farmers Market,448 Tolland Tpke.
6:45 p.m -- BSA Troop 123 open house at Concordia Lutheran Church, 40 Pitkin St.
7 - 8:30 p.m. -- BSA Troop 27 Join Night/Open House at Second Congregational Church, 385 N Main St.

The Manchester Police Department is holding an Open House on Tuesday (Sept. 17) from 6-7 p.m. for parents and candidates interested in joining the Police Explorer program. The meeting will be in the community room at the police department at 239 East Middle Turnpike. The program is for anyone from 13 to 21 years old.

Nathan Hale Park: The town has scheduled a Nathan Hale Park Improvement Engagement Session for Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. at the Eastside Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce Street (across the street from Nathan Hale). This will include a guided tour of the Nathan Hale school grounds and the chance to learn about the community parks improvement plan for that area. Click for more.

Bike Friendly Campaign: Manchester has submitted an application to the League of American Bicyclists to potentially be recognized as a Bike Friendly Community and as part of the process is conducting a survey with results to be shared with town leadership. For more info click here.

• Manchester Land Trust's Giant Tag Sale at 330 Bush Hill Rd. starts tomorrow and runs through Sept. 21.

• The 20th Greater Hartford Disc Golf Open will be held at Wickham Park Friday - Sunday.

• Lots of great shows coming up at Cheney Hall, including tributes to James Taylor on Saturday and Judy Garland on Sunday. Upcoming tributes include Van Morrison (Sept. 20) and Johnny Cash (Sept. 21). Click here for the complete schedule.

• LabWorks for Teens is a no-cost after-school program offered to MHS students at Leisure Labs. Click here for more information.

• The Manchester Early Learning Center has before and after school programs and you can learn more by clicking here.

• Cheney Hall is offering a ‘Headshots for Actors’ fundraiser through Sept. 30. Click here for more info.

• The Elks Club is bringing ‘The Wall that Heals’ back to Manchester Sept. 19-22. Click here for details.

• Volunteers are needed for an Eastside Cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 28. Click here for more details.

• MACC Charities presents ‘The Journey’ - a musical fundraiser on Oct. 4 and 5 at Bailey Auditorium.

• Rotary in Motion, an ‘All Abilities Community Outing’ returns to Charter Oak Park, on Oct. 5. Note that there are special opportunities for children 4-10 from 10:30 a.m. to noon that day and details are here.

• Save the Date: The Sculpture Project’s House Tour will be on Saturday, Oct 26.

The MHS volleyball and boys soccer teams won their respective home openers last Friday by 3-1 margins and football team will open its season at home tomorrow night vs. Danbury. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and here’s the link for tickets.
MHS Quarterback Manny Sampel (below, left) and wide receiver Joe Mugovero connected on 61 passes for 1,055 yards and 13 touchdowns a year ago while helping the Red Hawks reach the playoffs for the first time in 30 years.

Online registration for the 88th Manchester Road Race is under way. The entry fee is $32 for runners who sign up on-line prior to 12 midnight EST on Oct. 1. The entry fee increases thereafter to $37 on Oct. 1 and to $42 on Nov. 23. Click here for registration information.

Soccer Notes:

• The MHS soccer teams are holding an all-day fundraiser at Salsa Fresca Mexican Grill (

  1500D Pleasant Valley Rd.) next Wednesday (Sept. 18) and have a mums fundraiser going on at Woodland Gardens through Oct. 5. Click here for details.

• The teams are also selling tickets to the UCONN Men's soccer game on Sunday, Saturday, Oct. 12. Here is the link to purchase: UCONN Soccer Tickets

Also:

• The Elks Club is sponsoring a basketball hoop shoot Saturday at the Community Y for boys and girls ages 8 -13. Click here to find out more.
• Tylon Smith's fall basketball preseason skill training is happening at Illing Middle School on Mondays and Wednesdays. Click here for info.
• Manchester Travel Basketball will be sponsoring basketball clinics for boys and girls in grades 4 -8 on Fridays at Bennet Academy starting Sept. 20. Click here for more details.
• The Manchester Knights are offering flag football for 4 -5 year-olds at Martin School on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Click here for details.

Last Saturday members of the MHS Marching joined with fellow musicians from high schools throughout the state to perform at halftime of UConn’s game at Rentschler Field.

DON'T FORGET THE ANNEX: This is our spillover space to other newsletters, social media accounts and more, including the 'OneManchester Planner', which has even has more calendar listings for the months ahead. Plus we share a special flashback photo from Paul Ofria each week. To get to The Annex, click here.

• NOTE: OneManchester is compiled by the school district's communications office but is dependent on contributions from people and institutions throughout the town and school district. So if you have something that you think people would want to know about, please let us know. Photos, fliers, links, tips, whatever -- please share with Paul Ofria at pofria@mpspride.org.