Station Tour Showcases Team Effort

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            The Town of Rochester would like to replace its aged main fire station on Pine Street with something like what the Town of Mattapoisett built along Route 6 before the COVID-19 pandemic, but post-COVID construction costs and supply-chain issues are straining the building industry at large.

            Nonetheless, Rochester officials were quite interested in checking out Mattapoisett’s new public-safety facility during Tuesday’s Tri-Town Select Board meeting.

            Mattapoisett Fire Chief Andy Murray, who would conduct a group tour and take questions, estimated the hard construction cost of the 16,500 square-foot structure at $7,400,000.

            “Other than that, we were able to stay under budget,” said Murray, who leaned heavily on the expertise of Mike Hickey, a retired engineer and former call firefighter for a decade. Hickey chaired Mattapoisett’s building committee.

            “Through the whole process, we had to scale back and change. We started the project as much larger. …,” explained Murray.

            As built, the Mattapoisett station completed in 2021 has nine garage doors with 4.5 bays. The two-floor facility has four full-time employees on site and can sleep many more. Equipment includes giant touch screens on the walls of the meeting and conference rooms and a grant-funded fitness room.

            Asked by Rochester Select Board member Adam Murphy if there were issues that came up for Mattapoisett that Rochester officials could proactively address, and Murray recommended a soil test.

            “We ran into unsuitable soils,” he said, noting that the resultant dig went down to the groundwater table.

            Rochester Town Administrator Glenn Cannon asked about contingencies. Murray said the town set aside over $500,000.

            The rest of the Tri-Town Select Board agenda consisted of some substantial discussions about issues especially affecting one of the three communities but of interest to all three.

            Marion Town Administrator Geoff Gorman asked the stakeholders as to any interest in discussing a potential municipal agreement with the towns’ departments of Public Works to share services and especially heavy equipment.

            With each town’s DPW projecting out 10-year capital plans, the opportunity to join forces was considered mutually attractive.

            Mattapoisett Select Board member Jordan Collyer asked if such a cooperative would complicate insurance coverage. Gorman indicated belief that need not be a sticking point.

            Rochester Select Board member Brad Morse said, “It’s up to our Highway (Department) guy (Jeff Eldridge.) Are we in favor of it? Absolutely.”

            Murphy suggested sharing equipment is better for the equipment itself and noted that the Tri-Towns’ Fire and Police departments share mutual aid.

            Town officials will discuss the matter among themselves.

            Rochester Select Board Chairman Paul Ciaburri indicated that the town would like to leave its regional dispatch based in Duxbury, and he asked if there is any mutual interest in a Tri-Town dispatch.

            “Unless we find another regional center to go to, our hands are tied,” said Murphy, noting that Rochester is currently under contract and pays for dispatch service. “We’re looking for something closer.”

            Rochester is in the first year of a two-year contract with the Duxbury-based dispatch (18 months remaining.) Murphy said the State 911 office wants regionalization in order to minimize feedback.

            Rochester has another complication, as its Police Department recently went to a digital system but the Fire Department has not.

            Expanding the concept to address road repair, Marion Select Board Chairman Toby Burr considers it worthwhile for the Tri-Towns to join together when it can on bid processes for repairs to various roads. A coordinated effort would minimize redundancies and save each town money.

            Mattapoisett Select Board Chairman Jodi Bauer said she would love to see a solar array in the Old Rochester Regional High School parking lot. In discussing Rochester’s complications in trying to reach agreement with the contractor in the case of the solar canopy planned for the elementary school, Macallister indicated he can help. Murphy plans to contact Macallister to consult on the matter.

            Cannon suggested a regional approach to the broadband grant program. He said that the Southeastern Massachusetts Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) is involved with the Municipal Digital Equity Grant Program that provides towns with a signal-gap analysis. “A regional application usually carries more weight with the state,” he said.

            The membership agreed that it has been over two years since the Tri-Town Select Board has met. It was agreed that the boards will reconvene in the middle of June and that Marion will host the meeting.

            The Rochester Select Board voted to enter an executive session, while Mattapoisett members took a short break in advance of their own public meeting.

            The next meeting of the Tri-Town Select Board was not scheduled upon adjournment but is anticipated in June.

Tri-Town Select Board

By Mick Colageo

Additional Municipal Funding For Roads, Bridges

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Rep. Bill Straus (D-Mattapoisett), House co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation, is pleased to announce that MassDOT will distribute $100 million in additional funding generated by the Fair Share Amendment to the Commonwealth’s cities and towns for road and bridge improvements. This latest round of funding is in addition to the annual Chapter 90 appropriation for municipalities authorized by the Legislature earlier in 2023.

            Local towns may expect to receive the following in additional funds for the current fiscal year: Acushnet $177,362; Fairhaven $263,332; Marion $89,779; Mattapoisett $128,813; New Bedford $957,708; Rochester $190,108. The $100 million distribution uses a two-prong formula, with the first $50 million awarded using the traditional Chapter 90 formula, and the remaining $50 million awarded based on each municipality’s share of road mileage. By using the pure road mileage calculation, instead of the usual chapter 90 formula, the local towns are actually seeing an increase in funding from what they otherwise would have received.

            Towns will not need to take additional action as the apportionment will be automatically incorporated into their existing Chapter 90 contracts.

            “This is an important first step, and I welcome these additional funds for road and bridge improvements,” said Rep. Straus. “Our towns have long advocated for additional state support to meet the increasing challenges they face maintaining their aging infrastructure, and the Legislature continues to work on providing even more funding for our communities, particularly the rural ones.”

Mattapoisett Republican Party Meeting

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The Mattapoisett Republican Party invites everyone interested to join us on Thursday, January 18 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Knights of Columbus, 57 Fairhaven Road, Mattapoisett. Doors open at 6 pm and guest speaker at 6:30 pm. To start the 2024 election year off strong, you do not want to miss this month’s guest speaker Bill Gillmeister. Bill is a man of faith, family and country. He provides campaign trainings, Advocate Leadership Trainings for local grassroots initiatives. He has over 25 years’ experience driving public policy in local, state and federal government while working for the MA Department of Agricultural Resources, Financial and Policy Director for the Coalition for Marriage and Family and Executive Director for Renew MA Coalition. He also served 15 years on his local school committee.

            Other topics for discussion: Local initiatives, Upcoming events, Sharing ideas with like- minded neighbors, and Support of candidates in future elections.

            If interested, please attend or contact Paul Criscuolo, Chairperson, Mattapoisett Republican Town Committee, email PCMattyGOP@proton.me.

Marion Stays Course on Nitrogen

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Having had time to digest Albin Johnson’s objections to Marion’s septic bylaw requiring an upgrade to denitrification technology in any new construction, Marion Board of Health Chairman Dr. Ed Hoffer had his say when the board met on December 28 at the Town House.

            “There is no justification for us narrowing or making our regulations any less rigorous than they are,” said Hoffer, referencing reports that show approximately 750 homeowners connected to the town’s sewer system and approximately 1,200 residences with septic systems.

            Hoffer said he had spent “quite a bit of time on this.”

            Starting with the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan that Weston & Sampson engineer Kent Nichols provided the town over a series of meetings, culminating in a public hearing last year at the Music Hall, Hoffer took stance opposite to Johnson’s.

            “(Weston & Sampson) do advocate increasing the sewerage, but it would be cost-prohibitive to go to the whole town. … As highlighted by one of our board of (Water/Sewer commissioners), ‘six of the 11 needs areas be considered for sewer extension, the remaining candidates for advanced, on-site treatment’ … what we are already doing,” said Hoffer.

            Having distributed packets to the board with information from Weston & Sampson’s study, Hoffer called Nichols’ report “a generally accepted engineering project” and cited major septic as 85% the cause of Nitrogen in Marion’s harbor.

            Hoffer addressed Johnson’s question as to why things didn’t get better with the sewer extension when, Hoffer contended, that it did improve. He cited information in the Weston & Sampson report that stated that the amount of Nitrogen entering the harbor decreased after the sewer extension project of 2006 and 2007.

            Hoffer told the board that he looked at several different areas where Nitrogen comes from, and while a Wareham study said Nitrogen was found on farms and golf courses, it also identified wastewater as the primary source.

            “To me there’s no question that septic systems are the culprit,” said Hoffer. “We are not going to be able to just pretend that (the new bylaw) doesn’t work. The state is breathing down our necks, and if anything … we’re going to have to get a little more rigorous in the years to come – but not until pushed.”

            Hoffer contended that homeowners with septic systems “have a bargain.” He stated that a connection to the town sewer system costs over $11,000 for a three-bedroom house. Hoffer said his house, which serves two people, costs $1,750 per year in sewer fees, and he considers his usage “minimal” because the water being used outside the house is coming entirely from wells.

            “So people who can pay electric bills and monitoring are getting off a lot easier than people on sewer,” he said. “I rest my case. I’m open to rebuttals, but I think that there’s no question that Nitrogen’s a problem, Nitrogen is mostly from septic systems, and sooner or later we’re going to be pushed into everybody who isn’t on town sewer is going to have to upgrade.”

            Johnson believes that the bylaw hinged its report on a faulty narrative regarding Nitrogen around the town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant at Benson Brook.

            “I’ll have to go over this, but my only response at this point in time is the same as the answer Karen Walega gave,” said Johnson, recommending the town put off denitrification upgrades until the state makes them mandatory. “One of the reasons I got into this before was watching these groups do their studies. None of these studies are groundwater studies, they’re all … non-point-source, pollution resource studies. All the groundwater studies that we’ve had done, especially around the sewer-treatment plant, didn’t come up with anything.”

            Hoffer referenced a discussion with Christine Leblanc from East Coast Engineering and noted it would cost the board, including travel, over $500 to host Leblanc for discussion at a Board of Health meeting. Hoffer reported from his exchange with Leblance that the four test wells around the station have “absolutely nothing” to do with the septic situation in Marion.

            Johnson held to his opinion.

            “We’re at the tail end of the water table, and it’s coming from Rochester, Lakeville, what have you,” said Johnson, who argued that one of the reasons the state did not attempt to enforce denitrification septic upgrades as it has on Cape Cod is because “they’re pushing a product that sounds good at the top, but they haven’t provided any backfill as far as maintenance and upkeep and monitoring for this.”

            Johnson compared the situation to electric vehicles. “They’re going to take out all the (gas-powered) cars and make you buy an electric car, and you’ve got no place to fill it up,” he said. “The government giveth and the government taketh away.”

            Seeing the opposing arguments exhausted, Dr. John Howard spoke.

            “It’s two against one. You’re in the minority; you’re in a loyal minority,” he told Johnson.

            Howard said he had his Title 5 system pumped out at the cost of $300 and concluded, “I’m running a sewer-treatment plant at a low cost, let’s put it that way.”

            Johnson and Hoffer agreed to continue the situation, but the board emerged from the meat of the discussion with two members in favor of keeping the denitrification bylaw authored by former board member Dot Brown in place.

            Brown issued her resignation last year after Hoffer and Howard voted to grant a homeowner a variance from the bylaw based on its upland location.

            Johnson is a founding member of the board.

            The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for Thursday, January 11, at 4:30 pm in the conference room at the Town House annex building accessible from Main Street.

Marion Board of Health

By Mick Colageo

Pinecone Bird Feeder Craft with MLT

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Drop by Dunseith Gardens at the corner of North Street and Route 6 between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm on Monday January 15 to craft your own pinecone bird feeder to hang in your backyard. Mattapoisett Land Trust will have a tent set up and all supplies needed for you and the family to make pinecone bird feeders.

            There is plenty of parking for this free, drop-by event. Come by with the family and make a fun winter craft to take home with you. Check Mattapoisett social media for any event updates.

From the Files of the Rochester Historical Society

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It’s interesting to read the minutes of the early meetings of the Rochester Historical Society. In those days, the meetings were held at the homes of the members and donated items were also by necessity stored in their homes. This could lead to storage issues as one member found when she agreed to temporarily store some mannequins from the closing Star Store at her home. From the minutes, it sounds as though they were on their way to becoming family members until her husband finally dismantled (or maybe it’s dismembered) them so they would fit in their attic.

            As you can imagine, the members were constantly looking for a suitable building to become their museum. Many possibilities are mentioned in the minutes, but none pan out until in 2003, the East Rochester Congregational Church was offered to the Society. With a dwindling congregation, they could no longer sustain the building so for $1.00, the building became the Rochester Historical Museum.

            The Rochester Historical Society has always felt a responsibility to maintain the upstairs as it was left to us, but it has also become our museum and a place where we can set up exhibits and display items of historical interest. In the intervening years, one of our members, Betty Beaulieu, did the hard work of getting the building put on the Registry of Historic Buildings.

            Old buildings are hard to maintain, and it won’t be long before ours will need a new paint job, but we are able to keep the doors open and the lights on thanks to all our members and everyone who has helped us out this year in many different ways. Membership dues, yard sale donations and purchases, donations left after programs, purchases of our items for sale in the gift shop, generous donations that appear in our mailbox and grants from the Rochester Cultural Council all help us continue with our mission to preserve and share Rochester history.

            This year has been another busy one of well attended meetings with subjects that included bees, the history of the Balzarini family at Mary’s Pond, an inside look at Artisan Bakeshop with some delicious macrons, music with Tom and Sheila Perry followed by ice cream, and the history of surveying and maps with Charlie Rowley. In addition, there was the Thankful Supper, another potluck and a wonderful Holiday Organ Sing. I want to take a minute to thank all those who generously donated to our organ fund.

            Around these events we also had a yard sale, an open house for our updated exhibit, a cemetery tour of the cemetery in the center of town and a Mini- Fair with a Historic flair. This went so well; we’re planning a bigger, better historic fair for 2024.

            I want to thank The Wanderer for providing us with a way to get the news out about our activities. As always, the Museum is open by appointment. Contact info is on the library website. We hope to see you at our first meeting of 2024. It will be April 17 at 7:00 pm.

By Connie Eshbach

All Fall Down

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As children, we played Ring Around the Rosie, ending with “ashes, ashes, we all fall down.”

When small children fall down, it is fun. When older adults fall down, it is anything but fun. Over the course of my career, I saw many frail but independent elders fall, breaking a hip, and ending up in nursing homes for the rest of their lives.

The leading cause of injury and injury deaths among adults 65 and older is falls. At the last census, 14,000,000 older adults – 28% of those 65 and older – reported falling during the prior year. In 2021, 38,742 older adults died due to falls.

How can you avoid adding to these dismal statistics? There are many things you can and should do!

You can do things to your body. Work on balance. An excellent way to do this is to sign up at the YMCA or your local Senior Center for Tai Chi – an exercise program focused on balance. At home you can do simple exercises on your own, such as standing on one leg – just Google “balance exercises.”

Increase your muscle strength with resistance exercises, including squats. This will both improve your leg strength, which reduces falls, and strengthen your bones, so you are less likely to sustain a fracture if you do fall.

Speaking of bones, do you know your T-score? Women in particular, but older men as well, should be checked for osteoporosis at least once. If your bones are very thin, your fracture risk is higher, and you can discuss options with your doctor for improving this.

Beware of medication! Some medications can make you unsteady either by lowering your blood pressure too much or by directly impacting your brain. Sleeping pills and sedatives are a major culprit. A “med review” to look for any that can be stopped should be a regular event with your doctor.

Many simple things can reduce your risk of falls. When going up or down stairs, hold on to the banisters. Have adequate lighting, particularly at the bottom of stairs. If your vision is less than perfect, put bright tape on the last step so you do not miss it.

Be sure that any small rugs have non-skid bottoms or a non-skid pad under them.

Be cautious with ladders. Do not climb any higher than you would feel safe falling. Do use small ladders rather than chairs to get something down from a high shelf; ladders are designed to stay upright when you stand on them, chairs are not. Keep things used often on lower shelves.

Add grab bars to the shower. Closing your eyes to keep soap out of them can make you unsteady.

Both at home and in hotels, have a nightlight to help you safely navigate from bed to bathroom.

Be proactive! Do not be a statistic!

Dr. Ed Hoffer is the chairman of the Marion Board of Health, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Medical School. He is Associate Professor of Medicine, part-time, at Harvard and a Senior Scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

What Does The Doctor Say?

By Dr. Ed Hoffer

Year 1 Improvement Plan Approved

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“Think, Learn and Care” was the basis of Rochester Memorial School’s presentation of its School Improvement Plan to the Rochester School Committee at its December 14 public meeting.

            Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson reviewed the process, noting that all four districts were asked to bring forward a one-year, school-improvement plan with the intention that all ORR members will go back to two-year plans in the coming years.

            Elementary-school principals collaborated to achieve commonalities in their school-improvement plans. Mission, vision and core values are already in ORR-school policy or core to the district’s historic mission.

            Strategic objectives common to all six district schools are broken down into items related to Teaching and Learning, Support Systems, Climate and Culture and Safe Schools.

            From there, initiatives for each year-one objective will be categorized according to who’s responsible to see it through, listed and detailed by level-based goals, action steps and anticipated outcomes/evidence. The strategic plan for the district sets the stage for school-improvement plans, said Nelson.

            “A lot of hard work has gone into this, and the School Improvement Plan has some elements for local, meaning Rochester, but also as we work to align with the other two school districts as Mr. Nelson was saying,” said Dr. Shari Fedorowicz, ORR’s assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning.

            Nelson was careful to point out that not all strategic objectives start out in Year 1 of the plan; therefore, they are labeled differently if, for instance, they are introduced in the second year of the plan.

            Rochester Memorial School Principal Heidi Letendre thanked the members of the School Council that meets twice per month and was instrumental in putting together the RMS School Improvement Plan.

            ORR’s literacy program is core to the strategy, and all initiatives are tied into district-wide systems and data points, according to Letendre, who is continuing the work of the former Medeiros Minute (named after former principal Derek Medeiros) with a new Monday Minute.

            Administration, faculty and staff are using the PowerSchool program to consistently track student incidents.

            Regarding the Safe Schools initiative, district administrators and local principals are leading training on physical and cyber-safety training for best practices augmented by drills and training for faculty and staff with local fire and police.

            Letendre joined Nelson, Facilities Director Gene Jones and the RMS head custodian for a walk-through of the campus to identify needs.

            “Everyone’s working really hard, and we have a lot of things happening,” said Letendre.

            In summarizing the School Improvement Plan, Nelson identified literacy as the priority.

            “It has to be at this point,” he said. “The majority of our time and our resources and all our professional-development opportunities are all being dedicated to making sure that our literacy program in Year One is being launched to the best of our abilities and then making sure that our data-collection processes are obviously best practices.”

            Nelson acknowledged that in order to establish this priority, other initiatives have been necessarily deprioritized. Also acknowledging that the needs of children have changed significantly over the past few years, Nelson said the evaluation of support systems including those for special education are critical.

            Committee Chairperson Sharon Hartley thanked the administration for its effort.

            “You can’t meet a goal unless you have a goal; if you know the goal and everybody’s doing it and talking about it all the time, making this important is really a big deal, and making it come alive is the biggest deal,” she said. “Literacy, from my perspective, it’s thrilling, actually, to be where we are. … And the piece that also popped out for me … having the students feel like they’re part of the school and contribute to the work of the school and the joy and the success of the school,” led Hartley to a question she had about student ambassadors.

            Letendre explained that the ambassadors combine their efforts with social workers Jimmy Pacheco and Sharon Cruz, who meet bimonthly with the students to plan school events.

            “The students are very excited,” said Letendre, who estimated 20 students in the program.

            Nelson said ORR District has long been committed to social-emotional learning and the responsive classroom model. He indicated that he would like to see the responsive classroom continue into the high school.

            “To me, this is a living, breathing document that we are working on … so everything in here we’re working on to a certain degree, some things more than others,” said Letendre, reminding the committee that this is a Year 1 School Improvement Plan only.

            Committee member Kate Duggan was enthused about the weekly update feature in the school newsletter and thanked all involved in getting that letter out on a consistent day and time.

            The committee voted unanimously to accept the plan.

            In her Chairperson’s Report, Hartley was thrilled to pass along two experiences of happening upon conversations out in the community positively recognizing the work of the school district.

            In the administration report, Nelson noted the student contributions to the Thanksgiving Seniors Dinner and also holiday shows in the schools.

            The committee voted to approve the acceptance of Brockton and the Whitman-Hanson Regional school districts as new READS Collaborative member districts effective July 1.

            The committee voted to accept the following book donations from RMS Parent Teacher Organization: “Fearless Feline: 30 True Tales of Courageous Cats” by Kimberlie Hamilton; “Witch & Wombat” by Ashley Belote, “Boop!” by Bea Birdsong; “Tumble” by Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom; “Our Day of the Dead Celebration” by Anan Aranda; “Duck on a Tractor” by David Shannon; “Hickory Dickory Dock (Pete the Cat)” by James & Kimberly Dean; “The Last Kids on Earth” and “The Forbidden Fortress (Last Kids on Earth, Book 8)” by Max Brallier; “The Cursed Moon” by Angela Cervantes; “Odder” by Katherine Applegate; “I Survived the Wellington Avalanche, 1910” by Lauren Tarshis; “The Official Harry Potter Baking Book” by Joanna Farrow; “Big Book of Who – Basketball” Sports Illustrated Kids; “The MLB Encyclopedia” by Brendan Flynn; “World’s Most Extreme Animals” by Karen McGhee; “The History Book (Our World in Pictures)” by DK Publishing Smithsonian; “All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team” by Christina Soontornvat; “The Bad Guys Series Books 6-10: Alien vs Bad Guys (Book 6), Do-You-Think-He-Saurus?! (Book 7), Superbad (Book 8), The Big Bad Wolf (Book 9), and The Baddest Day Ever (Book 10)” by Aaron Blabey; “What Do We Know About Crop Circles?” by Ben Hubbard; “What Do We Know About Loch Ness Monster?” by Steve Kotre; “What Do We Know About Bigfoot?” By Steve Kotre; “What Do We Know About Atlantis? By Emma Carlson Berne, Branches: Press Start! Book series by Thomas Flintham (Game Over Super Rabbit Boy! Book 1, Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up! Book 2, Super Rabbit Racers! Book 3, Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss! Book 4 and Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off! Book 5),” “I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871” by Lauren Tarshis; “I Survived the American Revolution, 1776” by Lauren Tarshis; “Simon and the Better Bone” by Corey R. Tabor; “The Umbrella” by Beth Ferry; and “Dog Man – Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea” by Dav Pilkey.

            In personnel news, Kaitlyn Laprise began her maternity leave, and Pedro Silva has joined RMS as a long-term substitute in her spot.

            The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, January 25, at 6:30 pm at Rochester Memorial School, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, January 18, at 6:30 pm at ORR Junior High School media room.

Rochester School Committee

By Mick Colageo

Upcoming Events at the Elizabeth Taber Library

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The Library will have a delayed opening on Tuesday, January 9 to facilitate an all-staff safety training. The library will reopen from 2:30-8 pm.

            One Up Games presents a playable history of video games on Saturday January 20 from 12 to 3 at the Marion Music Hall. Learn about the evolution of video game consoles by playing retro & modern games. A great time for all the gamers in the family.

            Storytimes for all ages, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 am.

            For more information on the Elizabeth Taber Library, visit us at www.ElizabethTaberLibrary.org or call us at 508-748-1252.

Gonet to Bring ‘Kroks’ to ORR Stage

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            Of all the things Eddie Gonet could have become after graduating with the 2022 class at Old Rochester Regional High School, a Krokodilo was not on anyone’s radar.

            The Fairhaven native who attended ORR on school choice has always been up for a challenge. In high school, he helped start multiple clubs, survived an attempted coup of his leadership role of the school’s DECA chapter that he cofounded, and pressed on in good humor, his effort unrelenting to embrace each adventure and tap its potential.

            Now he sings with the Harvard University Krokodiloes, who will perform at ORR on February 3.

            “Every show wherever we sing it’s spelled a different way,” said Gonet. “We do 180 shows throughout the year. The summertime and winter is when we get busiest. … Basically, how the group works is three months every summer we travel to six continents … we did 25 countries last summer.”

            Pronounced krockahDIHlohz, the singing group at first glance looks like a college version of Straight No Chaser. But it’s hard to imagine their professional counterparts working any harder than they do in performing numbers from the “Great American Songbook.”

            According to the event press release, the Kroks are an internationally renowned group with a 75-year history in front of audiences, including the likes of Julie Andrews, Ella Fitzgerald, Anne Hathaway, Johnny Carson, Bill Clinton, Ryan Reynolds and the U.S. Congress.

            Harvard students do not Zoom to school – all classes are attended in person – so the commitment is enormous. Miraculously, Gonet was able to spend some time at home for the holidays, but on Tuesday he was already off to New York. Perhaps the Kroks will consider adding the juggling act to their repertoire.

            “What happens is, the day after graduation … we fly out and fly in one week before classes start. … A week before the ORR show, we will be in Alaska,” said Gonet, for whom recruitment is not the chore one would suspect. “Surprisingly, it’s not hard … there’s quite a lot of interest. We have a great community of alumni and have a fun time. We’ve never struggled to get people to join.”

            The cumbersome audition process to join the “Kroks” filters through many people, and practice in between tours is held five nights a week for a couple of hours each week.

            “I don’t think people know entirely what they sign up for,” he said. “That’s one of the jokes is no one has a girlfriend, but this year we have quite a few. … Thankfully, my girlfriend is very supportive.” A relationship is another adventure for Gonet, whose special someone is a Harvard student from Massachusetts.

            “I love balancing it. I find it fun juggling things around,” said Gonet, a sophomore studying economics.

            Among his professors: a former Russian economist whose job, he said, “was to fix the mess of the Soviet Union.” He has also sat in class with Jason Furman, who had served as President Obama’s economic advisor. “It’s great learning from people who really know their stuff.”

            With a year and a half of Ivy League college life under his belt, Gonet advises first-year students. As a freshman, he learned the ropes of the Kroks as a singer; now he is the group’s tour manager and plans its travel.

            “There are a lot of sacrifices, including a summer internship. We have to give that up to travel, but the opportunities … are incredible,” he said.

            Eddie’s sister (and ORR student) Emerson Gonet is the point person for tickets to the Kroks’ 7:00 pm performance on Saturday, February 3, in the ORRHS auditorium. There will be a meet and greet after the show in the gym. Concessions will be sold. All profits will benefit the ORR Class of 2025.

            For tickets ($20 for adults and $10 for students), visit: gofan.co/event/1293957?schoolId=MA14686&utm_source=GoFan&utm_medium=qrcode&utm_campaign=HQEventLink. For more information, email emersongonet@oldrochester.org.

By Mick Colageo