Marshall Miles Interviews Maura Wolf, 21st Century Fund for H.V.R.H.S, 25th Anniversary Celebration Oct 2nd

The 21^st Century Fund for Housatonic Valley Regional High School invites community members to join them on October 2, 2019 for their Twenty Fifth Anniversary Celebration.  The event will be held at the Interlaken Inn from 5 till 7 PM. The reception is an opportunity for the public to see and hear students and STEM teams presenting projects the Fund has funded, while enjoying refreshments and conversation with teachers, community leaders, Board members, and students.  

The 21^st Century Fund’s mission is to inspire HVRHS students and teachers to seek knowledge and educational experiences “beyond the classroom.”  The Fund encourages all within the HVRHS community to take a broader view of education and students’ aspirations, and strives to engage the community in this endeavor with their financial gifts, time, and talents.  Student displays and their “stories” will be living proof of the benefit of the community’s support as well as a testament to the power of our community.

Attendees will also hear from three outstanding guest speakers: U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes, Dr. Richard A. Gustafson, and Peter Vermilyea.  Rep. Hayes, who was the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, is the first African-American woman to represent Connecticut in the U.S. Congress; Dr. Gustafson, President Emeritus of Southern New Hampshire University, graduated from HVRHS in 1959 and has excelled in education throughout the world.  He and his wife have been strong supporters of the 21^st Century Fund since its formation by Jack Mahoney.  Mr. Vermilyea, Chair of the HVRHS Social Study Department, has been at HVRHS for 25 years.  He is an outstanding teacher who has led his American history students through the development of the CT Afro-American Civil War Regiment website, a multi-year project which was financed by the Fund.  We encourage community members to visit the site, www.project29.org, to see the impressive research his students have done.
During the past 25 years, the 21^st Century Fund has awarded 126 grants totaling over $220,000, in addition to raising almost $500,000 and recruiting over 100 volunteers to transform the Clark B. Wood Ag Ed Center into the HVRHS Mahoney Hewitt Science and Technology Center, an asset coveted by other schools.  The Center, opened in 2014, is the home of the school’s robotics team, a computer gaming space, 3D printing room, professional recording studio plus a large makerspace.