The New Year Is Here And Milfords Kids Future Is Near

The Holiday Cheer is behind us and for some that is a relief from all the joy that the holiday seasons brings. Every year I hold an annual Christmas party at my home and every year it grows to new stellar levels. The parties are fun, the kids love to play and celebrate with time off from school and we as parents honor our kids achievements with thoughtful gifts and presents.

The most important part of the holiday season, is to close out the old year and set the course for the new year. Some in my family have made resolutions, I on the other hand stay resolute and continue to find those solutions to the difficult problems that face the average person like myself and my family.

Each time I spend time with my kids, I am reminded of how much I love each and every one them. I also have dedicated my life to working hard and spending every penny I have to make sure they have a good home, food on the table and get a good education.

All of my remaining wonderful children and step children, two girls and one boy will be going off to college soon and like most kids they will have high hopes and dreams of aspiring to great things. My eldest step daughter already graduated from college, completed her Masters degree and is a teacher in the Fairfield Public School system. We are all very proud of Brianna who has made such great decisions for herself.

With the new year coming upon us, all too often we parents place all our energy in taking care of our kids up until college. To few of us teach our kids to fight the very forces in Washington D.C. who pass laws exporting their jobs to China and India.  This reality is increasingly frustrating universities and our youth who are discovering that they cannot find jobs that are good enough to pay for the loans they took out to pay for their education.

What I learned over the last year, and in talking to and meeting with several college graduates is that they are all to often struggling. Many believed that College and good grades were the answer to what we as parents taught them are the keys to independence and success.

The job of raising and loving your kids today is being redefined, and as such a crossroads exist. We can tell our kids to get good grades, go to college and with that diploma live a life inferior of that of their parents. Or we can accept that raising a kid today is more then just about good grades, a diploma and lots of student debt. Anyone out there who is raising children needs to accept that education is only a small part of parenting, the biggest part is making sure your kids are politically involved and actively discussing politics.

There is no way to make the next generation stronger than the last without demanding that our kids take part in elections as well as get a good education. Our kids need to learn how to fight corrupt congress people like Rosa Delauro who support and promote Communist ideals in our state.

We as parents want our kids to succeed, but when the wholesale destruction and dismantling of our economy is permitted in the name of bribery and corruption, we could expect our kids to live lives inferior to those that we as their parents made them accustomed to. The straddling of debt and being the product of a diploma mill will ultimately lead to our kids being increasingly frustrated. This year lets make it our mission to love our kids enough to teach them how to vote and identify those corrupt individuals who are ruining their future out of office. There is no greater new years resolution than to teach your kids how to identify and fight those politicians who destroy their future and then lie about it. Raise your kids to be infowarriors!

Happy New Year 

Foran and Jonathan Law Students Graduate From High School

Speakers at the Joseph A. Foran High School graduation Thursday evening in Milford had a hard time saying goodbye.

"I'm very bad at saying goodbye, so I'll just say 'See you soon!,' '' valedictorian Nichole Geoffrion told her classmates.

Salutatorian Megan Holton said she is looking forward to seeing her friends this summer, but also at the Class of 2009's reunions throughout the years, so goodbyes weren't called for. "I expect to see many successful, accomplished, happy people,'' she said.

Class president Juliana Mazza also avoided the "G' word in her speech. "I'm going to say that I'll be seeing you around, and let's make more memories.''

Assistant Supt. of Schools R. Michael Cummings, the former Foran High principal, is another person with a lot of memories at the sprawling cement high school. A graduate himself, Cummings watched his own son move the tassel on his mortarboard from the left to the right at the end of the commencement exercises at the Vito DeVito Field.

Cummings presented gold medals to Geoffrion and to Holton, noting that both young women were leaders and academic standouts in a very competitive class, and that both have already done much to improve the lives of others. Geoffrion organized a fundraising dinner to help a local family with financial and medical problems.

She also organized her Foran High classmates to respond when two Jonathan Law High students were killed in a motor vehicle accident in 2007, and a third died later of his injuries. "She showed compassion to our sister high school, getting students to wear black and gold, Jonathan Law's colors,'' Cummings said. "She also served as the liasion from Foran High to the Board of Education, answering the board's and the superintendent's questions with poise and confidence.''

Holton was injured during a charity fundraising race, but kept up her high grades in advanced placement courses and a busy schedule of activities, Cummings said. "It was evident that she was in considerable pain, but she never complained.''

Holton noted that she has had the opportunity to visit Prague, Budapest and the Andes Mountains, and to witness first-hand the inauguration of Barack Obama through Foran High. "But many of us have done remarkable, amazing things -- gotten a song on iTunes, been in the tai kwon do Olympics, or made a prom dress out of duct tape.

"Despite the moving walls and the lack of windows, most of us have learned important things here in the past four years,'' the salutatorian said. "But success is a lot more than having a lot of money or being famous. As my grandmother said, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.''

Geoffrion recalled that she had also been the speaker when the class graduated from eighth grade at East Shore Middle School, and said she is still teased about a corny joke she told then. The valedictorian urged her class of 248 to meet as many new people as possible, and to really listen to what other people have to say.

The class filed onto the field, boys in blue and girls in red, to cheers and snapping camera shutters. Taylor Mascia held up a large sign with "We love you Connor'' on it, for his brother. Every time a member of the band graduated a trumpet blast or a cymbal crash greeted the name.

And Principal John Barile drew the loudest applause, at the start of the ceremony, when he said: "Yes, it is sunny. Let's cheer for that.''

Frank Juliano. Original POST Click Here

To Read About Jonathan Laws Graduates and see more pictures Click HERE