Harwich Elementary School

Castle in the Clouds will celebrate its 25th birthday this spring as a landmark playground on Cape Cod. Designed by Robert Leathers and Associates and built by the Harwich community in 1994, this vintage play structure has served our children well. Current HES parents and grandparents remember vividly the excitement of this community build project which has stood as a faithful friend to generations of Harwich children and summer visitors alike.

The structure has been diligently maintained over the years. However, our recent playground safety audit shows that it has exceeded its usable life. This fall, New England Playground Inspections completed safety audits of both the preschool and Castle in the Clouds playgrounds. The audits identified several elements as immediate safety concerns, which were promptly removed this week. Thank you to the town of Harwich for providing the machinery and manpower to remove the slide, jungle gym and fire pole from the HES playgrounds.

It is time for the HES community to evaluate the full replacement of both play structures and a request for quote for design services is underway. The HES Playground Committee meets regularly and includes members from the school district, town recreation, HES PTO, teachers and other vested groups. Stay tuned for regular updates on the HES playground project!

Monomoy Regional High School

Monomoy was well represented at the All-Cape and Island Music Festival. In the Treble Choir are Emily Blake, Jillian O’leary, Haley Kelsey, Olivia Prisco. In the SATB Choir are Marina Blaksteen, Samantha Dunford, Phoebe Gill, Lauren Morris, Audrey Smith, Sage Barnes, Abigail Jason, Brienna Notaro, Ashlee Shuemaker, Nicholas Blute, Isaiah Stafford, Hayden Bowman, Dylan Delaney, Aidan Melton, George Spalt, and Asa St. Aubin. In the orchestra is Kaitlyn Germann (bass clarinet first chair). In the concert band are Angelica Velasquez (first flute fourth chair), Sarah Blake (first clarinet second chair), Amalia Marjollet (second clarinet first chair) and Taylor Morris (first bassoon first chair).

The following students successfully auditioned for Senior Southeast Music Festival: for choir, Haley Kelsey, Ashlee Shuemaker, Nicholas Blute, Isaiah Stafford, George Spalt, Hayden Bowman and Aiden Melton; for band, Kaitlyn Germann (bass clarinet second chair); and Hayley Kelsey, George Spalt, and Kaitlyn Germann all scored high enough to get all state recommendations.

Sage Barnes was also accepted to the All Eastern Music Festival Chorus. She will represent Monomoy Regional High School in April, when she travels to Pittsburgh, Pa.

Jonathan Cahoon is the new sailing coach for MRHS. Cahoon is a real estate agent for John C. Ricotta and Associates. He has been the Monomoy assistant sailing coach since 2012. When he isn’t assisting buyers and sellers with their real estate needs or on the water coaching sailing, you can most likely find him playing golf. He holds a bachelor of arts in government from Connecticut College, where he was also a member of the nationally ranked sailing team.