A Tip of the Hat
To RU Custodians

The national recognition RUHS received is no surprise to me. As a parent of three graduates, I know the award is well deserved.

The Senior Project had an impact on my kids during their freshman year of college. When the first big paper was assigned, they knew what to do. They all remarked about how their classmates envied them for their research skills. The advanced placement and foreign exchange programs dwarf schools twice our size. But I feel that the most overlooked asset of RUHS is the loving care the maintenance staff gives a 50+-year-old structure that was built by the lowest bidder. It's easy to take mowed lawns, shoveled and sanded walkways, freshly painted rooms, waxed floors and an infrastructure that is safe and sound for granted.

I have had the opportunity to visit many high schools in other towns, states and countries. Each time I come back to visit, I am blown away by how clean this place is. Mike Lonergan and his crew deserve to get some of the credit too. He is the latest in a long line of people who have kept this building in top shape, Ray Quillia, Leon O'Donnell and Carl Thresher and their staffs set the standards and saw us through renovations and the wood chip facility.

Our athletic fields are exceptional thanks to the work of Gene Squire, Al Jarvis, Wes Gibbs and his successor, whose name I don't know, but a visit to a few baseball and soccer games during the past year show the standards haven't slipped.

The most important thing I learned in my teacher training courses many years ago was to be nice to the secretaries (another under-appreciated bunch!) and custodians. They were certainly nice to me. I worked with them for 27 years.

Terry McManamy

Brookfield & Naugatuck, Conn.