Ansonia High School posts 2nd marking period honor roll


ANSONIA - The following Ansonia High School students achieved honors during the second marking period:
Grade 9 High Honors
Brighton Ahearn, Rickayla Blagrove, Hailey Burton, Samantha Burton, Shellymar Casillas, Fahmida Chowdhury, Se-Nirha Degro, Atyana Delvalle, Gwyneth Fasciano, Zoe Frager, Jacquelyn Gibson, Jayvante Gonzalez, Kelly Horjatschun, Addyson Izzo, Davonte Jackson, Kayli Jacobs, Diana Kachaliy, Landon Kerr, Jonathan Kish, Erald Kukaj, Alexandra Makowski, Paul Palmer, Julia Pinto, Matthew Pinto, Izaiah Ribeiro, Lilly Rogers, Riana Sullivan, Madison Torsiello, Jensen Vazquez, Donny Wilder, Julia Wright.
Grade 9 Second Honors
Jair Albaladejo Rivera, Nicholas Ardito, Lailah Bromell, Jacob Gaffney, Ariana Gomez, Julia Jarmoszko, Brendan Lynch, Rasheed Martinez, Jacari Mcfadden, Anna Nguyen, Jonathan Pineda, Priyanka Rawley, Sahara Rivera, Amya Smith, Jaquan Thomas, Jalen Velez, Faith Walker.
Grade 10 High Honors
Evan Chen, Eileen Guzman, Matthew Haas, Johnathan Hewitt, Megan Howard, Jenna LaBranche, Sabrina Ortega, Chanmonita Rith, Samantha Rotteck, Christian Schloemer, Anthony Sullivan, Elif Ugurlu, Dana Usarz.

Grade 10 Second Honors
Carlos Ayala Mendez, Jelani Baez, Colin Cepeda, Mia Cortigiano, Brianna Dear, Nasir Diaz, Mia Georgis, Jordan James, Aidan Lewis, Jalyla Lopez, Matthew Mongillo, Elijah Montgomery, Sierrah Ray, Jaden Saleh, Jailyn Santana, Aidan Sheehy, Khalil Walker, Brooke Yezik.
Grade 11 High Honors
Joshua Andujar, Andrea Benavides, Emily Borona, Caroline Dabkowski, Jackson Dong, Kendall Evans, Maya Frager, Kristina Gecaj, Kiely Geoghan, Jace Gifford, Angel Gjoni, Louis Gripper, Jovi Guevara, Haylee Johnson, Patricia Kirejczyk, Elion Kukaj, Kairon McKnight, Maleah Murray-Francis, Mia Padro, Brendan Palmer, Kenny Rivera, Kennayashia Stovall, Kayla Thelwell, Ariana Wang.
Grade 11 Second Honors
Cheyenne Blackwell, Jayshelis Casillas, Nikita Dainiak, Alam Diroche, Jamal Hanaif, Ava Hultman, Craig Huydic, Taras Jatsiv, Zaria Knight, Haley Labrecque, Christian Malave, Brianna Martin, Rian Massaro, Albert Muir, Andy Peralta, Makayla Quinn, Genesis Rivera, Emily Robles, Eric Rodriguez, Austin Schloemer, Jillian Stewart, Kierra Thomas, Chrishea Underhill-Brown, Armani Vasquez, Eshona Vickers.
Grade 12 High Honors
Alandrea Boyd, Jonathan Cibulsky, Hailey Cook, Johnny Diaz, Anthony DiBlasi, Julia Fraulo, Gabriella Gjoni, Isra Hanaif, Madison Jankauskas, Savanah Lake, Linh Le, Katherine Lopez, Katlyn Mehlinger, Kylee Nimons, Tessa Peluso, Joshua Andrei Pintacasi, Kristo Praseutsack, Lisa Marie Shehada, Michael Szewczyk, Bryanna Tindall, Alivia Toth, Monica Wojcik.
Grade 12 Second Honors
Taniya Barnes, Alandaisa Boyd, Jaylyn DiMauro, Jamel Gause, Moises Hernandez, Taina Jackson, Jayden Jimenez, Colby Labrecque, Fernanda Macias, Abigail Magarin, Nicholas Martinez, Christopher Negron Lopez, Tre' Ragin, Isabel Rivera, Christopher Ruiz Colon, Gesienna Samuels, Jeremy Smith, Ashley Velez, Torriepage Walfall.
Congratulations and keep up the good work!

This is shared from Ansonia Public Schools' Facebook page.

Klarides-Ditria : 81 percent of poll respondents against proposed mileage tax



Recently I asked a simple question – “Are you in favor of a mileage tax based on the number of miles you drive annually?” – based on Proposed HB 6080 submitted to the legislature this year.

Hundreds of you took the time to respond, and I want to thank each of you for your input and comments. 
The response was overwhelmingly against adding mileage-based taxes to the state. In fact, 80.99% of respondents were firmly against, 1.41% were in favor, 9.15% responded “maybe” and 8.45% were undecided.

A very small sample of your comments follows:

A.S. – Yes: “I think we need a way to fund road improvements and if this is a dedicated way to do that then I am Ok with it. I also support tolls.”

M.N. – Undecided: “I would love to learn more about this. Also, I am very concerned about the so called mansion tax. With the recent rise in property value due to COVID relocations, this is the wrong time for a new property tax.”

R.M. – Undecided: “Somehow we need to improve the state’s infrastructure. Not sure that I trust that any form of new taxes would go for that purpose. “lock boxes” have keys. I believe that additional bounding alone is the way either.”

K.M. – No: “Property Taxes Are High, Fuel Taxes Are High, State Income Taxes, Enough is Enough!”

J.L. – No: “Can y'all just work with what you have and stop taking our money for useless crap? If you keep raising taxes you should at least fix the damn roads.”

J.M. – No: “we taxed too much already we get taxed on what we make taxed to buy gas to get to work taxed for the car we drive taxed to buy the tires taxed to get rid of those tires taxed to buy and replace the parts on car we drive again we are taxed way too much already.”

A.B. – No: “Where do we stop on taxing; what next, taxing for texting/messaging? I never see any questions as to what tax would you like to see reduced/eliminated? Is this how anyone would run their family budget; no common sense!! Spend and tax, spend and tax.”

T.S. – No: “The governor and Hartford need to stop with the frivolous spending and reel in the budget. They treat residents as money trees while pricing working class families out of the state. I live in Seymour and work in Westport and I’m supposed to pay more in taxes because I can’t afford to live in Fairfield county?”

K.R. – No: “I can’t imagine how this will impact the Home Care industry. I am a visiting nurse. I drive an average of 250 miles a week just for work. Who will pay this? The employee? The employer is barely staying afloat as it is with reductions in reimbursement and all the other government fees and regulations. This is a horrible idea. I can’t believe they’re dredging this up again.”


State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour, represents the 105th District.

Reminder: Seymour Public Library hosts Historic Haunts program today


Shared from the Library's Facebook page:

SPL hosts Jeff Belanger, paranormal investigator and author, and his presentation Historic Haunts on Monday, February 22 at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

Free and suitable for adults and those over the age of 15. Registration is not necessary. Find the link on seymourpubliclibrary.org on the Events page.

Call 203-888-3903 or email sgarvey@biblio.org for more information.

Huntington Branch Library to host Origami Afternoon Tuesday via Zoom



SHELTON - Kids of all ages can join Miss Jessica at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and learn how to fold different things out using the Japanese art of origami!
Each week we will try to make 1-3 different origami crafts, depending on time.
To participate, you should be prepared with origami paper (Miss Jessica is using 6x6 inch paper) OR you can make your own origami paper at home using printer paper that has been cut into a SQUARE.
Participants must register with an email address to receive a Zoom link and password.


This is shared from the Shelton Library System Facebook page.

Valley Save Our Youth recognizes work of 2 community leaders

VSOY Black History Month Local Heroes Series
The old saying that “Leaders are born, not made” is only partially true.
Terri Goldson and Diane Stroman might have been born leaders with the certain qualities of leadership, yet they used those traits to develop leaders in the communities they served.
February is Black History Month.
"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
- Audre Lorde

Diane Stroman

Diane Stroman is a lifelong Ansonia resident and recently retired Vice President of the nonprofit TEAM, Inc. in Derby.
TEAM supports the elderly, homeless, youth education, and various community needs.
Through TEAM and her relationship with VSOY, we were able able to use the services of TEAM. Founding members of VSOY and the community was also guided by Diane through her creation of the Valley Youth Council NAACP.
Through the Youth Group we learned about our History, Organizational Structure, Community, and Leadership. In retirement Diane still is involved in community through her work in faith and as an alderman.

Terri and Ronja Goldson

Terri Goldson is also a lifelong resident who starred in football as a youth and continues to be a star in the community still to this day. After graduating from college, Terri started his teaching career.
He gave us a male role model who was and still is lacking in the education system to this day.
This man of faith also passed on his leadership traits to young men and woman by working directly with them as a football and girls basketball coach. Coach Goldson embodies all the classic leadership traits and uses them to grow the youth into future leaders.
We want to recognize these local black heroes who were born leaders and also developed leaders throughout the Valley.
With our love and the community's love we appreciate and are grateful to both Terri and Diane.

This is shared from the Valley Save Our Youth Facebook page.