Superintendent Michael S. Nelson and Assistant Principal Lauren Millette are proud to announce that art students from Old Rochester Regional High School once again connected with students from another country – this time Armenia – as part of an international initiative known as the Memory Project.

            Students in Art II and Honors Art III classes at Old Rochester Regional High School created portraits from photographs of children from Armenia in the fall of 2025, with participation in the project coordinated by art teacher Kate Butler. Art teacher Joanne Molgilnicki also participated with students in her Honors Art III class. The finished works of art were then delivered to their subjects earlier this year through the nonprofit Memory Project.

            “This was an excellent way for our student artists to connect with fellow students from a faraway place through the power of art,” said Butler. “It was a chance for our students to challenge themselves in order to create a special image of their counterparts from Armenia, creating lasting memories and a new international connection for everyone involved. We appreciate the Memory Project for making this possible.”

            Since 2004, the Memory Project has engaged 320,000 youth in 57 countries through school-based programs, providing student artists with photographs of children living in orphanages – and in other difficult circumstances – all throughout the world. Operating under a banner of “creating a kinder world through art,” the Memory Project has connected student portrait artists to youth in countries such as Uganda, Sierra Leone, Romania, Guatemala, India, Honduras, Thailand, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Peru, and Ukraine. In 2022, art students from Old Rochester Regional High School got the chance through the Memory Project to make and send portraits to children in Syria.

            “The Memory Project, from its first intention, was to provide handmade, heartfelt portraits as special memories to children in orphanages,” said Ben Schumaker, who started the Memory Project as a university student in 2004. “Now our intention has expanded to touching the lives of youth around the world facing many types of challenges, while opening our hearts and minds so they can touch ours in return. Together we are using art to reach a distant destination: a kinder world in which all youth see themselves in one another regardless of differences in their appearance, culture, religion, or circumstances.”

            Old Rochester students used a variety of drawing and painting techniques to create highly detailed, realistic portraits. Each portrait was then signed by the student artist, and a photograph of the artist was included so that the recipients could see who created their artwork.

            Most of the children who received portraits live in rural areas of Armenia. According to the Memory Project, the experience of receiving personalized artwork from students on the other side of the world was a new and exciting experience for many of the children.

            After the portraits were delivered, students at Old Rochester Regional High School were sent a video from the Memory Project showing the children in Armenia receiving their artwork. The video captured the joy, excitement and appreciation expressed by the smiling recipients as they received their portraits and spoke into the nonprofit’s camera.

            Superintendent Nelson and Assistant Principal Millette praised the students and faculty involved in the project for embracing this opportunity to connect with other students from across the world through creativity, compassion and cultural understanding.

            “The Memory Project exemplifies the type of learning experience that leaves a lasting impact on students,” said Assistant Principal Millette. “Our students flexed their artistic skills, while forging an authentic connection with students from another country, demonstrating kindness, curiosity and creativity. We are grateful to Ms. Butler and Ms. Mogilnicki for continuing to provide opportunities that broaden our students’ perspectives and encourage them to become thoughtful global citizens.”

            “This project demonstrates the incredible power of art to create connections despite differences in language, geography and culture,” said Superintendent Nelson. “By making these portraits, our students shared a meaningful gift while learning important lessons. We are proud of our students for using their talents to help make the world a little kinder.”

This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in New England and the northern Thirteen Colonies. Last week, Washington arrived in the largest city in the colonies, and the de-facto capital of the Thirteen Colonies, Philadelphia. Here, he meets with representatives from across the revolting former-British subjects. Calls for independence continue to grow louder.

            On May 31, 1776, Washington continues his meetings with the Continental Congress. delegates agree to grant the Quartermaster General, Brigadier General Thomas Mifflin, a massive $50,000 to procure supplies for the army including clothes, tools, and tents.

            Major General Philip Schuyler has continued to write both the congress and Washington requesting ammunition and manpower. The next day, the congress votes to send an additional 6,000 men north towards the battle in Canada to support the desperate defense of the Hudson River. These men are to be raised from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York.

            That same day, Washington receives a message from Major General William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling. He has spent the last days, under Washington’s orders, to survey fortifications around the Hudson River around New York. He also notes the highlands and advantageous positions. Including hand-drawn maps of the region, he warns that Fort Constitution and Fort Montgomery to the north are dilapidated and undermanned. They require urgent attention and work. He presses the forts, “appear well worth possessing on many accounts; should the enemy be in possession of it, we should be cut off from our best communication with the whole country.”

            Major General Israel Putnam, placed temporarily in charge of the defense of New York by Washington, writes on June 2, quelling any fears held so far. He says, “No ships arrived since I wrote by express yesterday – nor no other news of importance.”

            On June 3, the Continental Congress was back in session following the prior day’s Sunday recess. The day would see many military reforms. Reading various accounts presented by Washington, they vote to reinforce New York with 13,800 militiamen from the Northeast. Another 11 battalions are to guard New England, and a “flying camp” will be established in the middle, Atlantic colonies of Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. These flying camps were a experiment employed by the congress. The regiments employed by them would not be divided by state-of-origin and instead be mixed and not answer to any one state.

            June 4 was the 38th birthday of King George III. Though once a popular holiday in the colonies, the current situation made it an unremarkable day.

            On June 5, the Town of Wrentham declares independence. At a Town Meeting, not unlike the Tri-Town’s own we just had, citizens, stirred by zealous anger at the crown and recent events around Boston, officially vote to no longer recognize the Crown as an executive and declare themselves free of “tyranny and oppression.”

This Week in Revolutionary War History

By Sam Bishop