Corrections And Thanks

To the Editor:

Thank you for the picture and story on our daughter, Teresa Taylor, who was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal Youth Award in Washington recently. There was a minor error that was not the fault of The Bee, [but] a typo in the press release from the organization. Teresa’s Volunteer Service hours included many different projects, of which three were listed, but she was not a “youth counselor for children at the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen.” A missing comma would have clarified that she was both a counselor (for a nonprofit organization), as well as a volunteer at Dorothy Day. 

In addition, her “Personal Development” and “Physical Fitness” achievements were greatly shortened on the original release The Bee received. We would like to add just one, for the benefit of other Newtown students who might be interested in pursuing a similar course. In the area of Physical Fitness, her rowing skills led to four years on Yale University’s Community Rowing high school crew team, where she was selected for the varsity team from her first year. That team operates three seasons of the year, including winter workouts in Yale’s indoor tanks, and on-water training out of Yale’s beautiful Gilder Boathouse on the Housatonic. Thanks to her Yale experience, she has been invited to be part of the varsity crew team at Catholic University, where she will be a student in the School of Architecture.

Most importantly, though, we would like to thank Teresa’s advisor, Jeff Tolson, guidance counselor at Newtown High School, for all his help and encouragement over the years. The adults who pour out their lives in service to our kids are the ones who deserve a medal! Besides being Teresa’s medal advisor, Jeff has been a stellar example of encouragement and support to two of my children over many years, a role in which he co-starred with their awesome counselor, Jan English. They both, like the entire Guidance Department under Neil Culhane, always worked for the kids above and beyond the call of duty.

We now no longer have any children in the Newtown school system, and there is no way we can properly thank everyone who was so important in their lives. Jennifer Huettner, Latin teacher par excellence, and John Harned, world’s greatest mile-high choral director (Teresa and her friends sang not only at Carnegie Hall and the Vatican, but on what was claimed to be the first live radio-show broadcast from an airplane!), stand out, as do Jason Edwards, David Foss, Susan McConnell, Robert McHugh, Lee Keylock, Candace Dietter, Denise Mendoza, Gerry Waterbury, Michelle Hiscavich, and literally everyone else they ever worked with at NHS. Thank you all!

Michael and Mary Taylor

31 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook                                     June 26, 2006