Tag Archives: Joe Colbert

March 24, 2009 · 12:24 pm

Triton Track Team Reads “Those Shoes” at Newbury Elementary School

Triton High readers gather at Newbury Elementary School with their copies of "Those Shoes" before heading off to the classrooms to read.

(Newbury) I was at Newbury Elementary School this morning to see another piece of the Triton community service project spawned by “Those Shoes,” fall into place. On this day a group of Trition High School students were to go into each of the classrooms and read, “Those Shoes,” as well as explain the sneaker-gathering project.

I expected to see an assortment of Triton students on hand but learned that Triton’s community service director (Joe Colbert – back left in picture) had decided instead to involve his spring track team. “Those Shoes,” by Maribeth Boelts is about footwear and the tie-in to the track team was a natural one.

I was surprised to learn from Joe that very few of the Triton students had attended NES. I, unknowingly, followed one of them walking down the hall to the classrooms. A teacher from one of the lower grades spotted one of the Triton students and gave him the, “Is that you, so-and-so. Wow, you’ve changed.” I believe I detected that particular student cringing after he heard that!

The students gathered in the cafeteria before going to the classrooms. There was an active amount of swapping what classes the students would go into to read “Those Shoes.” Seemed that the girls wanted the lower grades.

The person who organized the project (Laurie Collins) told me that quite a few pairs of sneakers had already been collected.

“Those Shoes” Inspires Community Service Project in Newbury

Laurie Collins holds the book that inspired the community service project in Newbury.

I guess it comes with the territory.

As the children’s librarian at the Newbury Town Library in Byfield, Laurie Collins gets to not only read plenty of books but also to recommend books.

One of the books, among many, that she has recommended is called, “Those Shoes,” by Maribeth Boelts. The parental response to this 40-page, illustrated book caught Laurie’s attention.

“Whenever it was given out, people would come back and say – “That was such a great story,” and, “It was so inspiring,” recalled Laurie in a recent interview at the library.

“Those Shoes,” is about a young boy’s ultimate generosity with a prized possession – sneakers.

The many positive responses caused Laurie to determine that the book had a clear message and readers might want to move from words to deeds.

The end result is that children in Newbury will be given the opportunity to donate pairs of new sneakers to those less fortunate.

How is this going to happen?

“On March 24th (Tuesday) a group from Triton High School, doing community service, will visit the Newbury Elementary School,” explained Laurie. “I’ll meet with them first to talk about “Those Shoes.” Then each class will; get the story read to them by a high school student, hear about the new sneakers donation, and have a book left in their classroom.” (Laurie told me that the Friends of the Newbury Town Library are buying the books for the classrooms.)

“The new sneakers that are received during the weeks that follow will be brought to our library and stacked in the meeting room,” said Laurie.

The end of the new sneaker collecting will be during April vacation and coincide with the visit of Wally the Green Monster to the library. “Last year Wally was here and we had 200 people come through in an hour,” recalled Laurie. “We’re hoping that this year, when he comes, people will bring new sneakers to donate and Wally will help us do a countdown of how many we have collected.”

Laurie informed me that a clearinghouse agency for local children’s services called, Cradles to Crayons, would distribute the donated sneakers.

Laurie was quick to commend the cooperation from Triton. “Joe Colbert (community service director) and Kevin McLaughlin (principal) are important in this project because they will organize and bring the students to the classrooms,” said Laurie.

Newbury Elementary School assistant principal Elizabeth Boulanger told me that the staff there was excited about being involved. “NES is enthusiastically looking forward to the visiting readers and for the opportunity to participate in this community service project.”

In a description online, the author (Maribeth Boelts) explains that the idea for the story came as years later she recalled being a substitute teacher and witnessing a student caught in a situation similar to the one she later wrote about in “Those Shoes.”

I sent an email to Maribeth Boelts (she lives in the Midwest) telling her about the community service project. She wrote back, “I was so honored to learn that “Those Shoes” prompted Laurie Collins to organize and lead this fun and worthy event. It’s always touching to see an act of generosity like this, particularly when children are involved in the giving.”

Laurie told me that the best part in this project is that “a piece of literature is driving the whole thing. That’s the most exciting part because that’s what we do here.”

It is said that, “A true charity is something that touches you personally.” If that is the case then some Newbury students will be going out and buying new sneakers………but not for themselves.

( Prepared for publication in The Town Common on March 18th. )

Triton Girls Star at Cape Ann League Open

Another meet. Another victory. That’s the way it has gone for the Triton girls outdoor track team (pictured above). Undefeated during the regular season the girls added the Cape Ann League Open championship to a truly remarkable season at windy Hamilton-Wenham on May 24th.

“It’s a thrill,” said Triton coach Joe Colbert reflecting on the victory. “It is certainly one of the top moments of my coaching career. This is a special group of hard-working kids. We’ve waited for this for a long time.” Someone on hand suggested that the last time Triton took the CAL Open was in the late 1980s.

“We won because we’ve got some stars but we also have depth,” was how Coach Colbert explained the outcome. The stars were certainly out, even on a Saturday afternoon, as Deanna Latham, Nikki Wurdeman, and Rachel Bourque dominated multiple events and combined for 74 of Triton’s 115 points on their own. The magnitude of those numbers is better understood when you realize that together the three girls outscored the full-squad final totals of every other competing school except for second place North Reading.

When the CAL Open was over Deanna Latham (pictured here) took five trips to the front during the awards ceremony. The first four trips were for medals and the final one was for her selection as MVP of the event. The sophomore took first in the long jump, high hurdles, and triple jump as well as second in the 200 meters.

Several other girls from the area did quite well. Newburyport’s Meghann Ronan won the high jump while teammate Kaitlyn Wallace finished second in the shot put and third in the discuss.

The top performer for Amesbury was Dawn Storek with a third in the javelin. For Ipswich, it was Molly Miller with a third in the high hurdles.

The Hamilton-Wenham boy’s team, like the Triton girls, remained undefeated.

The Triton boys finished fourth. Pete Rock was the team’s top point scorer. He won the long jump and finished second in the 400 meters behind the winner, Newburyport’s Tom Svirsky (pictured here).

Richie Pace also did well for Newburyport getting a first in the shot put and a second in the discus.

Other area firsts were by Amesbury’s Ben Lord (pole vault) (shown here) and Triton’s Kyle Devenish (triple jump).

Triton’s Billy Tindle took second in the high hurdles and fellow Viking Andrew Goodwin placed third in the mile.

Amesbury’s John Lannan tied for third in the pole vault and teammate Kevin Johnston was third in the 100 meters.

Newburyport got a third place finish from Thayer Adsit in the 800 meters while the top pointer scorer for Ipswich was Neil Verzins ending up third in the shot put.