Verona Press The
I’m Still Here! 26 years in VASD Housing Market!
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KBartels@StarkHomes.com (608) 235-2927
Thursday, January 16, 2020 • Vol. 55, No. 35 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
Kathy Bartels
‘A good long tenure’ Gorrell to retire from district in June 2021 KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Verona Area School District superintendent Dean Gorrell hasn’t yet conceptualized what he’s going to do after he retires on June 30, 2021. While he made the announcement of his impending retirement in an email to district parents Wednesday, Jan. 8, Gorrell said there’s still so much work left to do in his last 17 and a half months. He said thinking about life postVASD isn’t something he’s considered much. “I don’t anticipate retiring and putting my feet up … I’ve told my wife I’m going to take a ‘gap year,’” Gorrell said with a laugh. After 16 years with the district, he will have spent his final four years guiding the district through the planning, building and opening of a new high school, the implementation of resulting new attendance boundaries for the
elementary and middle schools – as six schools are changing locations – and restructuring the district’s administrative team. Multiple factors a r e d r iv i n g retirement, Gorrell said. When the time comes, he’ll be 58, having spent Gorrell 36 years in education. “It’s really a 24/7 job, and it’s tiring,” he said. “I’m a pretty high energy guy, and I have been my entire life, my entire career, but as you get a little bit older, the energy requirement gets a little harder to fulfill – no surprise there.” In June 2015, during an interview about his 10 years with the district, he told the Press he didn’t see himself ending his career here, but he wasn’t yet focused on going elsewhere. That apparently had changed by the next year, however, as he had applied for at least three other jobs.
Turn to Retire/Page 14
‘They are just people’ Salem UCC photo exhibit highlights stories about immigrants, refugees BY EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Sarah Pundt wanted to tell a story – or stories, rather. The Salem United Church of Christ Director of Christian Education sought to highlight the experiences of people like Chaplain Clementina M. Chery, of Honduras; Gladys Jimah, of Ghana; and Mary Kakesa and her family, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – all immigrants
or refugees who came to the U.S. seeking a better life. Their portraits, among many others, adorned Salem UCC’s walls in a photo exhibit Sunday, Jan. 12, for people to make connections with. Pundt said that was the purpose of the exhibit, titled “Building Bridges: Portraits of Immigrants and Refugees.” The public can view the exhibit at UCC until Sunday, Feb. 2. To kick off the exhibit, Plymouth United Church of Christ from Madison presented on its trip to the U.S. southern border, shedding light on the conditions Mexican immigrants endure when they make the risky trek across the border.
Turn to Exhibit/Page 13
Verona Area School District
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Volunteer Christopher Brown helps Glacier Edge Elementary School third graders tape paper on their box during a work session on the Box City project on Thursday, Jan. 9.
A city of their own Students learn urban planning skills with ‘Box City’ project BY KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
There’s not quite “a million” boxes sitting in the corners of Glacier Edge Elementary School third grade classrooms, as one student estimated last week, but there’s a couple hundred, so it’s pretty close. They’re being used to teach third graders how to design their own model city for the upcoming Terrace Town event at Monona Terrace next month. And when you’re building a city, third grade teacher Kayleen DeWerd said, getting the boxes is the easy part.
the Terrace Town event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1. Held at Monona Terrace, the event aims to get kids involved with architecture, What: Glacier Edge and New Centudesign and city planning through the ry School Box City exhibition construction of a model city made out of boxes. Terrace Town happens When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, every other year since its inception Feb. 1 in 2000, tourism coordinator Heather Where: Monona Terrace, 1 John Sabin wrote in an email to the Press. Nolen Drive, Madison The event will include 15 schools, Info: mononaterrace.com including New Century School in the Verona Area School District, as well “Parents are amazing because we as schools from Sun Prairie, Madsay we’re doing this project, and we ison, Middleton-Cross Plains and need boxes,” she said. “We have so Oregon, Sabin said. DeWerd said when she and third many boxes, it’s been great.” The box city will be on display at Turn to Box/Page 16
If You Go
Community orchestra to hold first concert Jan. 29 NEAL PATTEN Unified Newspaper Group
A community orchestra composed primarily of Oregon, Verona, and Mount Horeb residents is busy practicing for its inaugural concert. The group has been rehearsing since mid-August. This concert,
which begins at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Verona High School Performing Arts Center, 300 Richard St. is its first public performance. The Verona Area Community Orchestra was created to fill a void for community members who play, but not professionally. Co-director Leyla Sanyer said the orchestra was
created after people felt there wasn’t a good fit for them elsewhere in other area orchestras. “There are a number of people who had put their instrument away for a few years and needed to get comfortable with it again, some who
Turn to Orchestra/Page 13
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