What we have experienced this past month is SNOW, ICE. COLD, WIND AND
MORE SNOW. WE SURRENDER. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We are flying the white flag.
Essex Heritage Events
Cape Ann Birding Weekend
February 27, 2015 to March 1, 2015
Cape Ann is known worldwide for its exciting concentrations of winter
seabirds! Enjoy this weekend full of events for all levels of birders.
Featured Partner Event: Planting an Essex County Pollinator Garden
Lecture by Kim Smith
March 5, 2015 • Cox Reservation, 82 Eastern Avenue, Essex, MA, 1929
The second session in "Greenbelt’s pollinator film/lecture series
will feature local designer, writer, filmmaker and gardening expert Kim Smith.
Kim specializes in creating pollinator gardens, as well as filming the
butterflies that her plants attract.
Featured Partner Event: Pesticides and Bees in Essex County Lecture by
Dr. Alex Lu
April 2, 2015 • Cox Reservation, 82 Eastern Avenue, Essex, MA, 01929
Learn about the effects that pesticide use has had on bees in Essex
County, and what we can do to combat this.
Rocks Village Architectural Tour
April 11, 2015 • 55 East Main Street, Haverhill, MA, 01830
Join Essex Heritage and the Buttonwoods Museum for an architectural
tour of Rocks Village -- one of Haverhill's oldest neighborhoods!
Essex Heritage Annual Spring Meeting
April 16, 2015 • Everett Mills, 15 Union Street, Lawrence, MA, 01840
We invite you to participate in this free, valuable morning of
networking and regional engagement. Join us!
Heritage Hero Award Dinner 2015
May 7, 2015 • Danversport Yacht Club, 161 Elliott Street, Danvers, MA,
01923
Join us in honoring three incredibly deserving individuals who, over a
span of 50 years, have collectively inspired a powerful land conservation ethos
in Essex County and beyond.
Regional
News
Salem has three finalists for the
position of new Police Chief
Interviews will be conducted in the near term to select a replacement
for ex-chief Paul Tucker who has gone onto to the state legislature.
ST JOHN’S PREP NEWS
To Members of the Prep Community,
We’ve been a little preoccupied with the mounting piles of snow on
campus of late, but this has not slowed progress on construction of our new
High School Academic Building. As
planned, the building is enclosed and weather-tight for the winter with
temporary heat to keep workers cozy inside. They have been installing the
mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems throughout the building's five
floors even as the snow was flying. Fortunately, all of the major large
mechanical components are onsite and in the building. They were delivered and
put in place before Mother Nature unleashed winter on us.
On the outside of the building, the air and vapor barrier system is
complete, about 2/3 of the windows are in place, the zinc panels on the roof
are installed, and brick has been put in place on the building’s south facade.
The quality of construction has been at a high level and we are on
budget and on schedule, as planned. Thanks to the folks at Windover
Construction and Flansburgh Architects for their diligence and professionalism
in getting us to this point.
On the Middle School front, our plan is in place for renovations to
Brother Benjamin Hall during the summer. We will be getting a jump start on
sprinkler system modifications and other behind-the-scenes work during the
February and April vacations so that we can hit the ground running when
students complete school in early June.
If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to
reach out to me at scunningham@stjohnsprep.org.
Three Prep Alumni featured by
Forbes 30 under 30
Three young alums were named to Forbes 30 under 30 lists!
Congratulations to Jay Greenberg ’04, Bo Burnham ’08 and Deckard Sorensen ’08
for the very impressive recognition! Learn more about Bo, Deckard, and Jay
here.
Boston Business Breakfast For
alumni
February 20 -
The Business Breakfast is back! Join us at the Boston College Club on 100
Federal Street on Friday, February 20 from 7:30 - 9:00 am. We are excited for
Drew LeBlanc ’05, Director of Analytics of SAP,
to share his playbook on how to maximize career opportunities. Please register
online in advance.
March 19 - Washington D.C. Alumni Reception –
Catch
up with the Prep on Thursday, March 19 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Rayburn House
Office Building on Capitol Hill! Meet Keith Crowley, Principal/Associate Head
of School, host Bill McCann ’90 and fellow St. John’s alumni for cocktails and
the latest on what’s happening back on campus! Register online by March 13,
guests welcome.
April 1 - Chicago Alumni Reception -
Did you know that there are over 80 Prep grads living in the Chicago
area? Paul Sternlieb ’90 is hosting a
happy hour and casual get-together at the University Club of Chicago from 6 pm
to 8 pm. It's a great way to meet fellow Prep grads in the Windy City. Register
online by March 23.
• University Club of
Chicago
• Wednesday, April 1
from 6-8 pm
• Guests welcome
April 13 & 14 – NEW DATES - New York City Alumni Receptions
The NYC alumni receptions have been rescheduled for Monday, April 13 at
Soho House and Tuesday, April 14 at the Harvard Club. Limited space is still
available. Online registration in advance is required.
• Soho House -
Monday, April 13 from 6-8 pm
• Harvard Club -
Tuesday, April 14 from 7:30-9 am
• Guests welcome
Career Opportunities for Middle School Faculty & Staff
The
new St. John’s Middle School will open in
September 2015, and the hiring process is underway now. For more information,
please see the careers page on the Prep website. If you would like to be
considered for a position, please complete the following:
For information about other scheduled events, check out the alumni
events page.
Thanks,
Andrew
Frates ‘06
Alumni Programs Coordinator
NEW ENGLAND SPORTS ICONIC MOMENT
CREATED
Malcolm Butler’s Game Winning interception - The spectacular
interception sealed the 4TH Super Bowl title for the New England Patriots.
NEWS from Danvers Historical
Society
Congratulations to the Society and the Director of Glen Magna Farms in
Danvers on the recognition and the Award they received from the Wedding Wire Couples Choice as their
choice of the Iconic Danvers Location for the 2015. Couples Choice Danvers
Location is not surprised at the Award.
Anyone that has ever attended an event at the Glen Magna was not
surprised by the award.
NEWS FROM NSES
This is from the blog of Nora Super, the Exec. Director of the White
House Conference on Aging.
President Announces New and Enhanced Initiatives to Support Older
Americans
3 February 2015 by Nora Super (reprinted from the blog)
The President’s 2016 Budget will help ensure that older Americans enjoy
not only longer but healthier lives. The Budget makes a number of commitments
to enhance, advance, and create opportunity for older Americans, especially in
the four focus areas of the 2015 White House Conference on Aging: retirement
security, healthy aging, long-term care services and supports, and elder
justice.
Let me say a little about a few of the Budget items in each area of
focus:
To enhance retirement security, the President is committed to ensuring
that Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in
the future. The Administration will
oppose any measures that privatize or weaken the Social Security system and
will not accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations or
reduces basic benefits for current beneficiaries.
Additionally, as many as 78 million working Americans - about half the
workforce - don't have a retirement savings plan at work. Fewer than 10 percent
of those without plans at work contribute to a plan of their own. The
President’s Budget expands retirement opportunities for all Americans to help
families save and give them better choices to reach a secure retirement.
To support healthy aging, the Budget proposes a set of initiatives to
strengthen Medicare by more closely aligning payments with the costs of
providing care, encouraging health care providers to deliver better care and
better outcomes for their patients, and improving access to care for
beneficiaries. In addition, the Budget includes proposals that would build a
stronger foundation for Medicare's future.
To provide relief from increased prescription drug costs, the Budget
proposes to close the Medicare Part D donut hole for brand drugs by 2017,
rather than 2020, by increasing discounts from the pharmaceutical industry. The
Budget also proposes to provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services with
new authority to negotiate with manufacturers on prices for high cost drugs and
biologics covered under the Part D program. These proposals represent a few
amongst a range of potential options, and the Administration looks forward to
working with Congress to address growing drug costs.
Recognizing the importance of nutrition to healthy aging, the Budget
provides over $874 million for Nutrition Services programs, a $60 million
increase over the 2015 enacted level, allowing States to provide 208 million
meals to over 2 million older Americans nation-wide, helping to halt the
decline in service levels for the first time since 2010. In addition, the Budget helps provide
supportive housing for very low-income elderly households, including frail
elderly, to allow seniors to age in a stable environment and help them access
human services.
To ensure older individuals and people with disabilities receive
services in the most appropriate setting, the Budget proposes expanded access
to Medicaid home and community-based long-term care services and supports.
First, the Budget expands and simplifies eligibility to encourage more States
to provide home and community-based care in their Medicaid programs. The Budget
proposes expanding and improving the “Money Follows the Person” re-balancing
demonstration, which helps States provide opportunities for older Americans and
people with disabilities to transition back to the community from institutions.
The Budget also includes a comprehensive long-term care pilot for up to five
States to test, at an enhanced Federal match rate, a more streamlined approach
to delivering long-term care services and supports to support greater access
and improve quality of care.
The Budget also includes increased discretionary resources for the
Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) program, which make it easier for
Americans nation-wide to learn about and access their health and long-term care
services and support options. ADRCs support State efforts to create
consumer-friendly entry points into long-term care services at the community
level.
The Family Support Initiative will assist family members supporting
older adults or people with disabilities across the lifespan. It will
complement nearly $50 million in new resources for existing aging programs that
are already providing critical help and supports to seniors and their
caregivers, such as respite and transportation assistance.
To support evidence-based interventions to reduce elder abuse, neglect
and financial exploitation, the Budget includes $25 million in discretionary
resources for Elder Justice Act programs authorized under the Affordable Care
Act. These resources will support standards and infrastructure to improve
detection and reporting of elder abuse; grants to States to pilot a new
reporting system; and funding to support a coordinated Federal research
portfolio to better understand and prevent the abuse and exploitation of
vulnerable adults.
Taken together, these and other initiatives in the Budget will help to
change the aging landscape in America to reflect new realities and new
opportunities for older Americans, and they will support the dignity,
independence, and quality of life of older Americans at a time when we’re
seeing a huge surge in the number of older adults.
As many of you are aware, 2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of Medicare,
Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act, as well as the 80th Anniversary of
Social Security. The commitments made to support older adults in the
President’s Budget are a fitting way to mark these anniversaries, and to help
fulfill the promise of a better future for older Americans—and for all of
us—that is inherent in these landmark pieces of legislation.
