Scary Businesses at Belmont’s Second Halloween Window Painting Contest

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Leonard Street businesses will have their windows transformed into pumpkin patches, witch covens and scenes of specters and ghouls as the second annual Belmont Center Halloween Window Painting Contest will be held on Saturday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The contest is open to artists in second to eighth grades.

Sponsored by the Belmont Center Business Association, the event’s proceeds are being donated to the Foundation for Belmont Education.

Rain date Sunday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Register at: A Chocolate Dream, 68 Leonard St., 617-484-4119.

Register before 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, the fee is $10 per child per window After the deadline, the fee is $15 per child per window. Checks can be made payable to: BCBA or cash

Window Painting Contest Rules:page1image10232 page1image10392

  • Each artist will be assigned a 20″ x 36″ space on the outside of a merchants window in Belmont Center.
  • Sill, wall, and sidewalk areas below window MUST be covered and taped with newspaper.
  • Each artist supplies his or her own tempera (NOT ACRYLIC) paints, brushes, newspaper, rags, and masking tape. All work needs to be done freehand and have a “Halloween” theme.
  • Official rules and regulations will be given out when you register and must be followed closely to avoid disqualification.
  • Windows will be painted on Saturday, October 25th, any time between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. all work must be finished by 3 p.m.
  • The rain date for painting will be Sunday, October 26, 9am – 3pm. You will receive an email by 8am on Saturday, Oct. 25 if the event will be postponed because of weather-related conditions.
  • Windows are assigned on a first come, first served basis. One window will be assigned to each participant. Due to the popularity of this event, we cannot honor requests for specific windows.
  • Prizes will be awarded for each grade.
  • Winners will be notified by e-mail.

Members of the Belmont Center Business Association: Alchemy, A Chocolate Dream, Bells and Whistles, Belmont Citizens Forum, Belmont Dramatic Club, Belmont Farmer’s Market, Belmont Historical Society, Belmont Orthodontics, Belmont Savings Bank, Bessie Blue, Brugger’s Bagels, Cambridge Savings Bank, Champions, Coldwell Banker, East Boston Savings Bank, Hammond Real Estate, Henry Frost Children’s Program, Ingram, Rettig & Beaty, Inc., Irresistibles, Kashish, Lawndale Realty, Leon & Company, Nicks, Paprika Kids, Patou Thai, Pilates, Ponte & Chau Consulting, Inc., Rancatore’s Ice Cream, Refresh Therapeutic Massage, Revolve, Robert’s Salon, Rotary Club of Belmont, Subway, Thirty Petals,The Toy Shop of Belmont.

 

‘I Ran the Dan’: Second Scharfman Memorial Run Tops First

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There were parents who could run very fast and teachers who are strictly middle of the pack, youngsters who could out race most adults and a pair of superheroes – those would be The Mighty Thor (Ed Chen) and Captain America (Mike Worthington) – all who came to Belmont High School’s Harris Field on Sunday to race either over five kilometers and a flat mile.

The racers also brought a great deal of heart as more than 700 runners – both fast and not so fast – participated in the second annual Dan Scharfman Memorial Run 5K on a brilliant autumn morning, Oct. 5.

“We even had more people come out than last year that is fantastic and the day is gorgeous, so it was perfect running weather. We’re thrilled,” said Jamie Shea, president of the Foundation for Belmont Education.

The race is held to raise money – with the hope to top $20,000 from this year’s race – for the foundation’s education innovation fund, the goal of the man for which the race is named.

Dan Scharfman was a school committee member and a long-time supporter of education and the performing arts who sought to bring technology into the classrooms by teaching Belmont educators “the tools and the practices that they need in order to bring innovative techniques into the classroom,” said Shea.

After his untimely death from a heart attack in Jan. 2013, the FBE decided to hold a road race in Scharfman’s memory – Dan was a dedicated ultra-distance runner – with the aim to assist in the foundation’s four-year, $450,000 Innovation Teaching Initiative campaign. This spring, the foundation funded $50,000 for professional development in all grades and curriculum.

For Iris Ponte, leading the four-member Henry Frost Children’s Program team, the race was to remember “Dan, who was an awesome guy.” She can recall when she was a lifeguard at the Underwood Pool, “we would keep the pool open for him so at the end of his big runs he would come flying into the deep end almost every evening.”

“The town has not been the same without him,” said Ponte.

It’s that sort of memory that Rachel Scharfman hopes the annual race will rekindle each year it’s run. Rachel – who with her brother, Jacob (who also sang the National Anthem), aunt and mother, Muriel Kummer, participated in the race – recalls her father being a community leader, runner, friend and, now, an inspiration.

“His biggest passions are combined today in this one event,” she said.

“I know once a year, this town will gather to support the Dan Scharfman Education Innovation Fund. We’ll come together not to mourn but to carry forward Dan’s great loves; running and education.”

Moved up from November to October, this year’s race would be competing with nearly 30 established road races in the crowded fall running calendar. In addition, several long-standing charity events were taking place in Boston and surrounding communities. But came they did, in greater numbers than the first race.

With the help from the Belmont High School Volleyball team – which was spread around the course as marshals and timekeepers – and a hoard of volunteers, the race was successfully completed under a bright warm sun on the cool fall morning.

Racers climbed from Harris Field to the Payson Park Res before starting back down Goden Street before taking a lap around Clay Pit Pond and returning to Harris. The one-milers sped around the “Pit” before sprinting home.

Along the route, the runners passed four of Belmont’s six public schools in another tribute to Scharfman.

As for the winners, Chris Leitz of Watertown (in 17:26.1) took first followed by Belmontian’s Joe Shaw and Belmont High senior cross country captain Ari Silverfine. Rachel Henke of Cambridge (20:15.9) was the top woman with Belmont teacher Sara Saba-Sher second and Christy Lawrence third. In the one mile, Chris Burge broke six minutes by a hair in 5:59.4 followed by Shea Brams in 6:10.4.

“It feels great to finish in the top three,” said Silverfine, just as the race announcer urged all the runners to tell their friends “I ran the Dan!”

“But this is real special because I know the Scharfman family and Dan was a great man.”

Belmont High Students Making Strides This Sunday

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It’s October, and the Belmontian Community Service Club at Belmont High School has been planning for Breast Cancer Month.

As a first step, many members are walking in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer this Sunday, Oct. 5, where representatives from the club will be on the stage at the Hatch Shell in recognition of our third-place finish in last year’s High School Challenge. 

If you would like to support the team – and the American Cancer Society’s efforts in breast cancer research, education, treatment, and patient support – the team would be delighted to accept those donations by going online to the team’s website: 

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/belmonths 

and clicking on “Donate Now” or by sending a check, made out to “American Cancer Society,” to Alice Melnikoff, Belmont High School, 221 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.   

The team will be collecting donations from now until the end of November. In 2013, the team raised $15,000 from all its breast cancer fundraising activities and it is hoping to exceed that figure this year. 

Second Annual Scharfman Memorial Road Race this Saturday, Oct. 5

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Belmont and area runners who are looking for a great race to participate this fall need only look as far as their nearest town street as the second annual Dan Scharfman Memorial Road Race will take place this Sunday, Oct. 5.

The 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) race will start at 9:30 a.m. at the Harris Field track adjacent to Belmont High School. A one-mile run/walk for kids and slower adults will take place at 10:30 a.m.

Race route can be found here.  Screen Shot 2014-09-29 at 1.39.40 PM

“What’s great about this race is this is becoming a new tradition in Belmont; our fall race to go along with Brendan’s Home Run in the spring,” said Paul Roberts, who is the race co-chair.

“Our community support is amazing from the sponsors (CitySide Subaru, Belmont Orthodontics, Lightwire and Belmont Savings Bank are the main backers) to the police and all the volunteers we have,” said Roberts.

Last year, more than 700 runners and walkers registered and the event raised $30,000 to help the Foundation for Belmont Education with its Innovative Teaching Initiative. 

Roberts, a friend and sometimes running partner with Scharfman, said Dan, an IT professional for most of his working life, was passionate on bringing teachers and technology together to help better implement educational subjects.

“While most people think that the money buys technology (the funds helped provide iPads to all ninth grade students last year) for the classroom, that’s just part of it. Actually a big part of it is giving teachers the professional development to learn how to implement and use technology,” said Roberts.

Screen Shot 2014-09-29 at 2.03.53 PM

Lougee, Fiore Set to Run for Re-election to Belmont School Committee

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Incumbents Anne Lougee and Lisa Fiore indicated that they are preparing to defend their seats on the Belmont School Committee at Town Election in April 2015.

“I don’t see why not,” Lougee told the Belmontonian after the Belmont School Committee meeting last night, Tuesday, Sept. 23. Fiore also said she expects to run to return to the six-member board.

Both Lougee and Fiore will be seeking full three-year terms to the board.

Lougee, a Warwick Road resident whose daughter is a Belmont High School graduate, was appointed to the Committee in October 2011 to fill the reminder of the term formerly held by Karen Parmett who resigned. She won a full term in the Town Election in April 2012.

Like Lougee, Fiore – a Lesley University faculty dean with children in district schools – was appointed to the committee, in September 2013, to serve the term of Pascha Griffiths who also resigned. In the 2014 Town Election, Fiore was elected to fill the one year remaining on Griffiths’ term.

Belmont High’s Career Night, with Actual Workers, Tonight

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More than 50 recent high school/college graduates will be advising high school seniors and juniors on the actual world of work at Belmont High School’s Real World Career Night tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the school’s cafeteria from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

BHS senior Tess Hayner has recruit young professionals who graduated from Belmont High and any other public or private high school between 1999 and 2010 to participate in this evening of short, informal talks with the school’s upperclassmen to share stories of their own work experience and discuss possible career paths.

This evening’s schedule is:

  • 6 p.m.: Volunteers arrive in the Belmont High School cafeteria.
  • 6:15 p.m. – 6:25 p.m.: Session 1 students arrive and get assignments.
  • 6:25 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Welcome and instructions for Session 1.
  • 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: Seven minute conversations with a two-minute rotation.
  • 7:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.: Break for Volunteers / Arrival of Session 2 students.
  • 7:45 p.m. – 7:50 p.m.: Welcome and instructions for Session 2.
  • 7:50 p.m. – 8:50 p.m.:  Seven minute conversations with a two-minute rotation.

Belmont High Garden Club Helping Those in Need of Food Justice

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As autumn comes this week, Belmont gardeners will be busy harvesting the promise of what was sowed in the spring.

But unlike most of Belmont’s small gardens located in backyards or along sunny sidewalls, one is situated close to the baseball batting cages at Belmont High School. The four raised beds are filled with a summer growing season of eggplants, tomatoes, lettuce and green beans.

Nor will the garden’s yield end up on the dinner plates of those who dedicated the past year to its creation and care. Those benefiting from the effort of a dozen young growers will be those most in need in the community.

In a project promoting awareness and action around food in town and around the globe, members of Belmont High School’s Garden and Food Justice Club have been dropping off the garden’s harvest to the Belmont Food Pantry, which serves residents desperate for food aid.

“The entire experience of making a garden and harvesting is very exciting, but the best impact is see this food being delivered to the people who need it and enjoy it,” said senior Maggie O’Brien, who with fellow senior Olivia Cronin led the effort to establish the garden and start the club.

“There is another part of our town filled with people who don’t have enough money to provide food and especially fresh produce, so walking in with all these vegetables is great to see how this helps,” she said.

Partnering with the Belmont Food Collaborative – the people who sponsor the Belmont Farmers Market – the initial blueprint for a garden and later the club was the brainchild of Cronin who served two years as a Collaborative intern in its Community Growings program where residents plant a garden to raise fresh produce for the Food Pantry.

“I thought this was a practical project since I had the background, and the Food Pantry is located at the High School,” said Cronin.

In the summer of 2013, Cronin and O’Brien, with the help from Collaborative member Suzanne Johannet and Joan Teebagy, started the process of creating a garden plot like one established at the Beth El Temple Center on Concord Avenue.

But “[i]t turned out to be a lot harder than what we thought it would be,” said O’Brien, with long negotiations between the girls and the school administration on where the garden would be located and establishing a club to garner student support.

After the approval of the current garden location, the girls began organizing the club around gardening and food justice.

“We asked students to help start a local garden on campus as well as become involved in food insecurity and global food issues,” said Cronin, who said the club received a great deal of interest.

While waiting for spring, the club’s held a food drive competition and brought speakers in during the High School’s Global Awareness Week. It also sponsored a hunger banquet in which participants randomly draw tickets assigning them to a high-, middle- or low-income country based on the latest statistics about the number of people living in poverty. Each income level then receives a corresponding meal.

When spring finally came in May, the club built the raised beds; the collaborative provided wood and seeds with soil donated by Hillside Garden & True Value on Blanchard Road.

“It was a lot of fun to have a solid visual that a garden was growing on campus,” said Cronin.

After planting the seeds, Cronin and O’Brien said there were “definitely some issues” getting students to commit to a garden schedule during the height of the growing season which ran during the summer break. Finally, six club members “could be counted on to come and water, weed and harvest,” said Cronin.

“Summer is a hectic time for all of us, but people continued to stay involved,” said O’Brien.

With the garden up and running, the girls ran into some practical problems.

“We quickly learned that broccoli was a favorite of a predator. We didn’t know what it was until someone sent us a photo of the geese reaching into the beds,” said Cronin.

Currently, the club has picked a row of green beans, two variety of tomatoes, beets, lettuce and eggplants all which “tends to go quickly by pantry customers,” said Cronin.

Like O’Brien, Cronin said the experience of walking over to the pantry with a handful of produce and talking to those waiting in line to the Pantry to fill their boxes and bags with what the club has grown has been a transformative experience.

“The customers are all really appreciative, and that makes a big impact on myself,” said Cronin, who said the garden itself has been a welcome success.

“I had high expectations for the garden, but I honestly been surprised how its turned out as well as it has,” she noted.

“I’d come during the summer just to water and stay for an hour just weeding. It’s nice to be out here. It’s a little oasis from the high school,” Cronin said.

 

Football: Progress As Marauders’ Offense Sparks in 35-21 Loss to Bedford

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When senior running back Max Jones scored his second touchdown of the game mid-way through the third quarter, it finally appeared that Belmont High School Football was turning the corner from a team hoping just to be competitive to one on the verge of taking over a game by the scruff of the neck.

Jones’ five-yard run “right up the gut” at 6:16 brought the Marauders within 7 points of host Bedford High School, 28-21, on Friday, Sept. 19, after Belmont’s defense stuffed the Buccaneers on the first three plays of the third quarter and then took advantage of a muffed punt to put the ball deep in Bedford’s end.

“Our guys seized the momentum. It was great,” Belmont’s first-year Head Coach Yann Kumin told the Belmontonian after the game.

But after the resulting kickoff, Belmont’s defense would not leave the field for nearly nine minutes as Bedford grounded out a sustained drive that lasted the entire quarter and then some. Three times Belmont put the Buccaneers in a third or fourth down (4th and 2 yards, 3rd and 5 and 8) only to see Bedford use its stellar rushing attack to convert each time.

“There were a couple of times when we really couldn’t seem to get off the field. We did have some great stops in the first half and then shot ourselves in the foot. That’s just a young and inexperienced player making a mistake,” said Kumin.

Despite the 35-21 loss to the Buccaneers (3-1), Kumin said the goal for the game was to show progress from the last game, which the Marauders showed everywhere on the field.

“I’m really proud how the guys played football tonight. There is a fight in this team,” he said.

After being overwhelmed by a quick Stoneham team in the opener a week earlier, Belmont could not have started the game any more brightly as Jones took the handoff from sophomore Quarterback Cal Christofori down the right sideline 65 yards for a touchdown on the first offensive play of the game.

“[Jones] is  just a tremendous athlete and one of the hardest working guys we have on our team. At any moment when he has the football in his hands, he can make something explosive happen. But he also ground out some tough yards for us,” said Kumin.

Behind the running tandem of Aaron Lee (243 yards) and Jake Eliason (107 yards), Bedford grounded out a 28-7 lead in the second quarter until Belmont RB Jamar Paul scored off a slant after a Christofori 35-yard pass to RB/WR Robby Aiello put the ball deep into Buccaneers territory. 

Kumin said a great deal of the offense’s success this week lies at the feet of the line, as they “came together tonight as a unit. We talk about about those guys as not being individuals but as all five as one. They worked for us every step of the way.”

And after both sides of the line for Belmont contributed to the third score, momentum appeared ready to move to Belmont’s side of the field.

But the four-year varsity veteran Lee was able to exploit the young left side of Belmont’s defense during his team’s journey down field before scoring with eight minutes remaining in the game. By the time the Marauders got the ball, Bedford’s aggressive defense along with a few blown plays and an ill-advised penalty, stalled Belmont’s chances.

Next up for the Marauders is, once again, an away game, this time to Division 1 Lexington High School on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1:30 p.m.

“Times are bright in Belmont,” Kumin told his team after the game.

“Don’t you lose faith in this program. Don’t you lose faith in this staff. Let’s go home like men, our heads up.”

Belmont Super Tells School Committee What He Did This Summer

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At his first Belmont School Committee meeting, John Phelan told the members what he has been doing this summer.

And Phelan, the district’s new school superintendent, has been doing much in the first two-and-a-half months on the job.

“I had a very, very busy summer but also a very, very productive summer,” Phelan said during the abbreviated meeting Tuesday night, Sept. 16.

There were many “coffee talks” with residents and teachers, greeting teachers, visiting four of the six district schools on the opening day and attending retreats and group forums, all part of Phelan’s “road map” to better understand Belmont community and the educational culture.

“I want to thank you for the warm welcome I’ve received,” said Phelan, saying he found the environment in the schools “as being engaged in learning.”

As part of his school-year long, three-part “entry” plan into the system – which will be released next week online and in print form at each school –Phelan met with the district’s Leadership Council, made up of the district’s principals, top administrators and senior staff, which during a two-day retreat in August, pointed out several areas for Phelan and the School Committee to consider as key issues to focus on in the coming year.

“I walked into the room with the Leadership Council and the wall was plastered with sheets of paper with all these notes on them. The energy was palpable, and it was a great experience,” Phelan told the committee.

On Tuesday, Phelan said he is committed to placing three of the Leadership Council’s ideas into the district’s strategic plan which is the town’s educational blueprint:

  • Safety in all the district’s schools.
  • Create a plan to deal with the district’s growing enrollment and increasing class sizes.
  • Meet the social/emotional needs of each student, looking beyond test scores to produce successful citizens.

Phelan said implementing this plan will likely take the entire school year to complete and then can only be successful if the school budget can accommodate the items.

“We have to generate a budget before we can complete our long-term plans,” he told the committee.

A Real World Look at Jobs Coming to Belmont High

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The traditional high school career day is seen by many as being a bit … well, bland. It usually consists of a few company representatives discussing “jobs,” firms seeking unpaid interns and lots of brochures handed out to students busy with class work, athletics, SATs and applying to college.

When she thought about holding a career night at school, Belmont High School Junior Tess Hayner felt there had to be a better way of introducing the wide variety of careers to 11th and 12th graders who may have a limited view of the possibilities before them.

That’s when Hayner came up with a novel approach: why not ask those who attended the high school and are in the job market to come back and tell their own stories?

Hayner has been recruiting young professionals who graduated from Belmont High and any other public or private high school between 1999 and 2010 to participate in an evening of short, informal talks with upperclassmen to share their stories and discuss possible career paths with juniors and seniors.

“Just picture speed dating without the dates,” says Hayner.

That original idea is now a reality as the Belmont High School Real World Career Night will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 23 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the school’s cafeteria.

“It will be a fun way for them to revisit their school … and help younger kids out,” said Hayner who hopes that by the end of the night juniors and seniors will be inspired, and less intimidated at the prospects of finding a career.

Recent BHS and other high school grads who wish to volunteer can email Hayner at realworldcareernight14@gmail.com

“I am hoping that we can get a core group of recruits who will pass the recruiting message on to their high school and college classmates in different professions,” said Hayner.