Week in Review: Win $100K, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Profile of a Police Chaplain

Patch launched its annual Deck the House contest. Winners receive $100,000 for their school district and $500 dollars toward their electricity bill!

One of the most popular stories this week was a profile of Rev. Herman Pollard who is a beloved fixture in his church and also the Ledyard Police Department.

It has been a busy but very enjoyable 17 years for Pollard who works at the Ledyard Police Department as the custodian and Police Chaplain.

"I don't think of it as work, I think of it as going to my friends house to do something,” he said at an interview inside his office at the police station.

Pollard works at the station part time and said that police officers aren’t too hard to clean up after and that for the most part, they keep things pretty clean when he’s around.

“The officers here have accepted me as part of their police family,” he said. “I just marvel at that.”

Pollard said he has retired from work twice already and despite a heart attack during which he died briefly but “not too long,” he hasn’t yet considered leaving the police department.

“I work because I like what I’m doing," he said. “I do it because it makes me happy.”

Read more about Rev. Herman Pollard here.

Patch showed a short preview leading up to the High School’s upcoming performance of The Diary of Anne Frank.. According to lhscolonel.com (the school's online newspaper) the play took shape when auditions were held on Sept. 10, 11 and 12. Rehearsals were afterschool Monday through Thursday, starting on Sept. 17, The leads in the play are Amber Coombe, who will be playing Anne Frank, and Alec Chattin, who will be playing Peter, Anne’s love interest.

Curtains open on Dec. 7 & 8 at 7:30pm and tickets will be sold ahead of time in the main office at LHS and at the door. The cost is $5 for students, $7 for adults.

The school district voted to recover some of the days lost to Hurricane Sandy this week. Read about which vacation days the Board of Education voted to cancel and more here.

Students at the Gales Ferry and Juliet W. Long schools decked the halls with nearly 400 pieces of art for an art show that’s currently hanging in the Gales Ferry School. Each grade had different assignments and appears to have explored just about every facet of artistic expression with painting, drawing and multi media. Here’s a photo gallery of their artwork.

Ledyard Middle School held its first career day in at least 14 years, according to school counselor Patty Pollin. Twenty-two guests in professions ranging from Judge Advocate General to a DJ were invited to speak with seventh graders about their jobs, what helped them get there and more about their journey from middle schooler to professional.

Patch let you know that we’re gearing up for a fresh new look that will deliver big, changes that will make life even more ridiculously easy. Ledyard Patch readers will be better able to become Ledyard Patch USERS (like me) who can start groups and see what other groups are up to.

Come mid-December you’ll be able to:

• Personalize Ledyard Patch by following groups. A few clicks makes your local news feed custom-fit to the topics you care about. Police blotter and shelter pets? Taxes and restaurant reviews? Why not?
• Better organize your day by creating groups of your own. Use Patch to plan a rec sports league or school fundraiser. Everyone can finally be on the same page—literally.  
• Experience a better mobile Patch. We know you live on your smartphone—so we put everything you love about Patch in a smaller, more portable package.
• Share comments and photos more intuitively and much, much faster. 
• Turn any blog or opinion piece into a mini-community of interest, complete with followers of your very own. 

For a sneak peek, check out Long Beach (NY) Patch and let us know what you think. You can also ask any questions—large or small—by emailing Senior Regional Editor Elissa Bass at elissa@patch.com.

You can also register your interest in forming a group right when the new Ledyard launches here. We'll walk you through it!