A Day to Remember

Dateline: June 19, 2022

The well-attended ceremony ended with the children performing their own quiet ceremony – placing their painted Stones of Remembrance around a post near the road – but more on that later.

Thursday June 2nd dawned as a bright but cloudy day with temps expected to be in the low 70s – a fine day for a Groundbreaking Ceremony. The school district had sent out postcards inviting residents to the event, but use of their internal network for communicating with school parents might have been more motivational.

  SLIDESHOW June 2, 2022

Upon arriving several minutes before the 9:30 a.m. starting time, one could see that parking spaces on both sides of River Road were filled up about 100 yards north of the site of the ceremony. At the site, three school buses filled the middle of the road, having let out scores of school children who had been given permission to attend. Police Chief Michael Stark was in the middle of it all, directing traffic and people on foot.

The Initial Scene

Turning onto the gravel area left behind by the logging machines, your eyes immediately focused on what looked like about 100 excited school children in a tight knit bunch along with their teachers. School Principal Shannon Kruger had directed them into position as they disembarked from their school buses. The PA system set up for the event came in handy for that task.

The students and teachers gathered behind a large pile of fresh sand planted with 10 golden shovels ready for action. Behind them was a yellow bulldozer, waiting to get to work on the new school. The New School sign and the Milestone Engineering sign had been relocated from the side of the road to a place just beyond the end of the gravel. They became the backdrop for the school officials participating in the ceremony.

The Featured Speakers

School Board Chair Jody Moore was the first official to speak. Here are highlights of what she said.

"What an exciting day! As I look around and see fellow board members, students, staff, parents, residents, partners, town officials as well as state officials, I want to say Welcome!! This is the start of a great new opportunity for our community!" ...

"To our students, you are all making history as you place your painted rocks on this land. I assure you those will be looked upon for years to come. "

"To our staff, this is a new journey for all of you. A new home if you will, bringing forth new teaching opportunities and the unity of two schools joining into one."

"To our school board members, various committee members, and all those who have been involved in any aspect of this project thus far, we thank you for your many efforts and commitment to this project." ...

"In closing, I would like to ask you all to take a look around you today and capture this memory to cherish forever. You all are making history in our small community. You should be proud in knowing you played a role in this new and exciting adventure."

Principal Shannon Kruger spoke next. She offered the audience several enthusiastic comments about the new school written by some of the students. Here are a few of those thoughts that she read to us. The last one may indicate that student's top priority.

• "I think everyone is going to want to move to Allenstown to go to our school."
• "Allenstown is finally going to be seen in a really positive way."
• "When we get there, kids are going to think, 'I am so lucky to have this new school, new things, and a new playground.' "
• "I think I am going to feel like a princess in a big new castle."
• "A bigger library has to mean more books!"
• "Can the lunch ladies go with us so that we still get really good food?"

The final speaker was SAU 53 Superintendent Peter Warburton. He said that he wanted to thank the Allenstown Community for their support for the new school. He emphasized that this support would have positive effects to and for our children and to the community at large.

Groundbreaking Shovels Dig In

Once the speeches were done, the school officials took up positions behind the sand pile, shovels in hand. At a given signal, everyone dug into the pile and tossed their shovelfuls in unison. It was so much fun they repeated it a few more times. Melaine Boisvert, Budget Committee Chair, was especially enthusiastic with her shovel.

Stones of Remembrance

With the ceremony concluded and people taking photos in front of the two signs, the children were encouraged to engage in their own ceremony. Several days beforehand, the teachers had collected a large number of small hand-size stones, washed and cleaned them, purchased colored paint and brushes, and presented this idea to their students.

Each student chose a stone and, during school recess, painted it as they saw fit. At the ceremony, these were to become "Stones of Remembrance" which the students would use to build a cairn around the special post near the road.

As they placed their stones around the post, they were encouraged to let that stone remind them of the day when their teachers and others told them of the new school to be built here, the school in which they would learn solid academic and social skills and learn to successfully apply those skills as they grew into young adults in the great state of New Hampshire.

What You Can Do

Take an occasional drive along River Road to see what is happening. Crews for Lucas Tree Experts are busy preparing the path for the new power lines to the school by cutting back tree limbs and cutting down large pine trees that present a danger to the new power lines.

Once that is completed, Eversource can begin the installation of the Hendrix Covered Cable System (no relation to Jimi Hendrix, 1960s guitarist and rock legend). Crews are also expected to begin pulling up the stumps of the trees that were cut down in May.