LIBRARY LOCAL SPORTS Short Golf story tournament finals contest PAGE 3 PAGE 7 PAGE 2 AGAWAM ADVERTISER NEWS A TURLEY PUBLICATION ❙ www.turley.com

July 8, 2021 ❙ Vol. 43, No. 19 ❙ $1.00 www.agawamadvertisernews.turley.com Storm causes damage, Elementary schools start pen pal project shuts down Six Flags By Shelby Macri some of their students don’t [email protected] share that love. By Shelby Macri “What we tried to do was en- [email protected] AGAWAM – Project Pen Pal courage them, every year we try has been started at Clark and to do something a little bit differ- AGAWAM – A heavy storm on Doering schools in Agawam, I ent,” Jediny said. “And this year we Tuesday, June 29, caused mores presentation for the project was decided to do a pen pal because then a dozen trees to fall with- put on at the School Committee Mrs. Basile moved to Clark; we in the Six Flags New England meeting last month used to be at Doering together, theme park in Agawam. The park Teachers from Roberta G. Do- and we decided to have pen pal closed its gates to guests for the ering School, Kathleen Jediny and buddies.” following two days before open- Celeste Basile attended the meet- The two teachers set up the ing again on Fridays, July 2 for ing to talk about the project. project so Jediny’s students wrote the holiday weekend. Before the presentation Su- a letter and they were sent to “Guest safety is our number perintendent Sheila Hoffman Basile, then she would pass out one priority and concern, we said the pen pal project is brand the letters randomly to her class. deal with rain and storms of- new this year and has just begun, Both teachers saw that the stu- ten we communicate with staff Hoffman said she was excited to dents really enjoyed writing the during storms and we watch learn about it that night as well. letters and receiving them from the weather every day,” Six Flags Jediny started the presentation students in another school, and Photo by Shelby Macri by saying that she and Basile both STORM ❙ page 12 Six Flags crews work on cleaning up the park last Thursday afternoon. have a love for writing although PEN PAL ❙ page 11

School committee concludes business for pandemic year

By Shelby Macri year and proposed to change the [email protected] daily schedule down to seven courses without two days so the AGAWAM – The Agawam schedule stays the same all five School Committee held their fi- days. There were no additional nal meeting of the 2020-21 aca- comments and the new program demic year on Tuesday, June 22, was accepted unanimously just where a variety of items were as the rest of the items were. approved before the next school The committee watched re- year’s first meeting. garding the Clark School Ever- A Junior High Team Modeling source Challenge, where students Program schedule, and a memo- throughout the schools partici- randum of understanding for the pated in the challenges. Hoffman team model at the Junior high said the challenge is a program School were part of the agenda. offered grades kindergarten The two items were discussed through 12, in communities ser- in executive session and then viced by Eversource. were approved by all present The challenge is throughout school committee members with Western Massachusetts and lets Strong storm wreaks havoc two absent. Superintendent She- students show their knowledge of lia Hoffman said the Team Mod- energy saving, conservation and eling has to do with the courses sustainability. Each grade level PHOTO BY GREGORY A. SCIBELLI students take during the days, as has a different challenge and this The front of Stuart Rowley’s home on South Street features a downed tree following severe thunderstorms and winds last students have a day one and a day year’s challenge was done by stu- Tuesday night. Please see more storm photos on page 6. two they follow. dents in Clark and Granger. Stu- The junior high had a schedule dents whose entries win will be AGAWAM – Last week, sev- on Tuesday afternoon and eve- England was shut down for two with eight courses split between notified and have a virtual cere- eral strong storms caused dam- ning. Many people lost pow- days due to the storms (see re- two days. The Junior High Sched- age, with most of the power er for various periods of time lated story). uling Committee met during the SCHOOL ❙ page 5 line and tree damage coming during the storm. Six Flags New

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@turleysports www.turleysports.com acebook.com/turleysports SPORTS LACROSSE Brownies fall short in Western Mass. finals By Tim Peterson Sports Correspondent

AGAWAM – Carla Lem- nah-Warner has celebrated many victories during the past 21 years as the Agawam girls varsity la- crosse coach. One team that the Brownies have never been able to beat during the regular season or in the postseason tournament is the Longmeadow Lancers. Longmeadow won both of the regular season matches against Agawam this spring. The two teams also faced each other for the third time in the Central/West Division 1 finals. The fourth-seeded Lancers captured the sectional title for the 19th consecutive year by Angelina Kozhenevsky moves about the Nina Liquori circles around the Long- posting a 15-5 victory over the PHOTOS BY DAVID HENRY WWW.SWEETDOGPHOTOS.COM second-seeded Brownies before back line looking for an opening. meadow goal looking for an open shot. a large gathering at Harmon A. Nina Liquori makes her way toward the goal. Smith Field in Agawam on Friday, wam played in the championship June 25. was in 2007 when they also lost to “We’re very disappointed,” said Longmeadow by the final score of Lemnah-Warner following the 19-4. The two Valley Wheel rivals championship match. “You can’t have met in the semifinals four make as many errors as we did times. Their last semifinal meet- in order to beat a very good team ing took place in 2019 with the like Longmeadow. We certainly Lancers celebrating a 17-3 win. had our share of unforced errors The Agawam players entered in today’s match.” this year’s championship match The Brownies, who also lost to with a lot of confidence following Minnechaug by one point during a 14-12 loss in the second meet- the regular season, finished the ing of the regular season against season with an 11-4 overall re- the Lancers on their home turf on cord. June 1. “We haven’t played in the finals The three seniors listed on in 15 years and just making it here the Agawam roster are Delaney this year is a huge accomplish- Brown, Ashley Hurley, and Nina ment for us,” said Agawam junior Liquori, who were tri-captains. Emily DeGeorge. “We didn’t have Liquori recorded a hat-trick very much depth, but we tried our and added an assist in the cham- best in every game. We came a lot pionship match. It was her sixth farther than we thought we would hat-trick of the season. She net- this year.” Ashley Hurley looks for an open The only other year that Aga- BROWNIES ❙ page 8 Emily DeGeorge tries to dodge a defender. teammate.

RACING SOCCER Tri Track series event Win moves Pioneers back to first place By Tim Peterson Just like the rivalry between standings with a 5-3 victory in moved to Aug. 25 Sports Correspondent the two Major League a very intense battle at Lusita- teams, the USL League Two soc- no Stadium on June 26. The five SEEKONK – Seekonk Speed- Fans are asked to keep their LUDLOW – It was only fitting cer clubs really do not like each goals were a season high for the way and Tri Track Open Modi- general admission tickets to that the Western Mass. Pioneers other very much. Pioneers. fied Series officials announced be granted re-entry on the faced the Boston Bolts on the The Pioneers, who were shut- “When we lost to the Bolts in on Wednesday night a post- new race date. Race teams and same night the out 4-0 by the Bolts in the season the season opener, they were very ponement, and rescheduled fans who entered the pit area were playing the New York Yan- opening match on May 11, moved date of Wednesday, August 25, are also asked to keep their pit kees at Fenway Park. back atop the Northeast Division PIONEERS ❙ page 8 for Speed51.TV Modified Mad- passes for re-entry on the new ness. Due to an electrical out- date. age due to a power line down For Tri Track Open Mod- in the Seekonk area -- and ified Series teams, the five severe lightning in the area -- competition tires used at See- officials had no choice but to konk on Wednesday must be move the race in the best in- brought back for the new date. terest of safety for all involved. Those five tires are not to be On August 25, the remain- altered, and must be brought der of the event program will back dismounted from their be run, with feature event ac- rims, in order for officials to tion for the NEMA Lites and scan them in and check for any their 50-lap Dave Steele Me- alterations. morial, a 40-lap event in the “We worked with all three inaugural Seekonk event for divisions to come up with the the 350 SMAC Supermodifieds best date that would work and the 100-lap, $10,000 to win for their teams, as well as our Speed51.TV Modified Madness great race fans at Seekonk for the Tri Track Open Modi- PHOTOS BY DAVID HENRY Jordan Koduah plays the ball off his Fede Gutierrez makes a slide-step to fied Series. TRI TRACK ❙ page 8 Patrick Agyemang sends a pass away. knee. keep possession of the ball.