Superintendent Michael S. Nelson is pleased to share that Old Rochester Regional School District and MA Superintendency Union #55 were recognized for achieving Massachusetts School Wellness Champion status for meeting the requirements of the School Wellness Initiative for Thriving Community Health (SWITCH).             The SWITCH program is a statewide initiative for supporting and advancing wellness […] Read more »

Editor’s note: The Wanderer has invited student keynote speakers for local high school graduation ceremonies to share their speeches for publication. Below is the speech given by Old Rochester Regional 2025 Valedictorian Caitlin O’Donnell on Saturday in the ORR gymnasium.             Superintendent Nelson, Principal Devoll, faculty, staff, school committee members, administrators, family, friends, and the […] Read more »

In May, we had the long-awaited return of the Soviet Venus explorer, Kosmos 482. It returned home on Saturday, May 10, crashing somewhere into the Indian Ocean after 53 years. It was previously hypothesized and reported it would land somewhere near the United Kingdom. Only 7,000 miles off!             June offers its own exciting astronomical […] Read more »

Many of us take dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other products to boost our health. Since many supplements contain natural ingredients, it’s easy to assume they are always safe. But “natural” does not always mean safe, especially when combined with medications. Nor does it always mean effective.             Let’s get the “effective” […] Read more »

            My parents were smokers, most likely beginning their long partnership with the tobacco industry when they were teens.             Dad quit cold turkey in 1964 when the first Surgeon General warning was aired on prime-time TV. He’d spend the next year sucking on hard candies as suggested by all in the know.             Ma […] Read more »

            For the last 10,000 to 12,000 years, humans have relied on agriculture for most of their food cultivation and consumption. Starting off with small homebound gardens, this process eventually evolved into estate-driven farming and then feudal/serf farming. In the modern era, we have vast fields that stretch to the horizon in all directions. Much […] Read more »

            The weather could not have been better on May 26 as the community of Mattapoisett gathered at Center School to remember the living and the dead whose military sacrifices were tenderly recalled.             The hour-long ceremony featured the vocal talents of the Showstoppers whose harmonies while singing much-loved patriotic tunes and favorites such as […] Read more »

Memorial Day saw the continuation of the annual Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race, as every town in the Tri-Town region, Marion, Rochester and Mattapoisett, saw a winner this year in some division.             Competitors build and race in their kayaks down 12 miles of the Mattapoisett River. Racers are staggered, one departing every minute from […] Read more »

Penny Unwise and Pound Foolish President Trump announced on the day of his inauguration that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization, a process that takes a year under a joint resolution of Congress passed in 1948. The stated reason was the WHO’s failure to quickly sound the alarm about COVID-19.             […] Read more »