Fairfield University’s Irish Studies Program will continue its ‘Irish in Film’ series in its 16th year. Each film will be introduced by faculty members along with William Abbott, Associate Professor of History at Fairfield University and Director of the Irish Studies Program, who will provide the context for the historical events depicted in the story, followed by a question-and-answer Answer round with the faculty member.
Each screening is free and open to the public and takes place at 7pm in the DiMenna Nyselius Library multimedia room; Light refreshments will be served.
The Secret of Kells, a 2009 animated film, will be screened on March 22nd. The film tells the story of a young boy who lives in a medieval Irish monastery and goes in search of a legendary book. Maurice Rose, Associate Professor of Art History, introduces the film.
“Brooklyn” will be shown on March 29th. It is a 2015 romance drama based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Colm Tóibín, and follows a young Irish immigrant who moves to New York City in the 1950s. Nels Pearson, Professor of English Studies and expert on Irish literature, introduces the film.
The series concludes April 12 with The Secret of Roan Inish, a 1994 family drama based on the 1957 novel Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry. Set in a remote fishing village in Ireland, the film tells the story of a young girl who discovers her family has a mystical connection to the sea. English professor Robert Epstein introduces the film.
SHU holds history competition
More than 300 middle and high school students will participate in the Connecticut History Day regional competition on March 18 at Sacred Heart University.
The Fairfield regional competition is one of six Connecticut History Day regional competitions being held this spring before the May 6th state competition at Central Connecticut State University. Working alone or in groups, students use their research to create projects in one of five categories – exhibitions, documentaries, websites, papers, or performances.
Fairfield Regional Contest students represent Fairfield, Shelton, Weston, Westport, Norwalk, Greenwich, Ridgefield and Stamford. From 9:30 a.m. the students will present their projects to the jury teams, which will culminate in an award ceremony at 3:00 p.m. Citizens are invited to do so.
The winning students and submissions will be published on historydayct.org on March 20th. For more information, contact state coordinator Rebecca Taber at 860-240-5342 or info@historydayct.org.
Students who place the top two in the state competition are eligible to enter the National History Day Contest, held at the University of Maryland in June.
Fairfield officials support eBook legislation
Fairfield officials joined with state legislators and library directors from across Connecticut on March 10 to support proposed legislation aimed at addressing inflated costs for library e-books.
Libraries regularly pay up to six times what consumers pay for the same eBooks. They are then forced to repurchase the same titles every year, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars over the life of a single eBook and making a solid eBook collection unattainable for many libraries, according to a press release.
The bill to lower the cost of e-books awaits a vote in the Legislature’s Planning and Development Committee.
Fairfield residents recognized
Fairfield resident Deborah Pratt Burns, founder of Literacy to Legacy Mentors, was named Alignable’s 2023 Local Business Person of the Year in Fairfield for the second year running.
The announcement was made by Boston-based Alignable, an online small business recommendation network with 7.8 million members in 35,000 communities. The award recognizes business leaders who have made every effort to lead peers and support small businesses through ongoing economic challenges.
Burns is one of 60 winners in Connecticut and one of 3,976 winners in North America.
Fairfield School to host St Baldrick’s event
The event, hosted by Fairfield’s team Teddy Osborn Hill School St. Baldrick, which has raised over $1.4 million for childhood cancer research since 2010, will return to the OHS on March 24.
The event went virtual when COVID hit in a downsized event and returned in person last year.
Team Teddy was founded in honor of Teddy Gerber, who was diagnosed with undifferentiated sarcoma in 2009 at the age of 8. He died after battling his illness for nine months. The money raised for the research goes towards grants that allow scientists to better understand and treat pediatric cancers more effectively, giving children like Teddy a better chance to recover and live their lives.
Anyone who wants to contribute without going bald can sponsor a shave, buy treats at the bake sale, or buy tickets for the raffle. To register as a shaver, donate, or find out about our local sponsors, visit stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/108/2023.
Free reading demonstrations
Southport School and Southport CoLAB are hosting free reading demonstrations for preschool through first grade students on April 4th, May 9th and June 6th.
The screenings take place at the Southport School, 214 Main Street in Southport and last approximately 45 minutes. Families receive a 20-minute personalized feedback and recommendation session via Zoom within a week of their child’s screening.
The EarlyBird Literacy Assessment and Dyslexia Screener, a technology platform developed by experts at Boston Children’s Hospital, can identify strengths and weaknesses in students ages 4 to 6 and uses the science of reading to screen for literacy deficits in young children, to evaluate, translate and fix . Screenings assess a range of skills and tasks important to identifying or predicting problems in reading, including naming speed, sound/symbol correspondence, phonemic and phonological awareness, oral language comprehension, and word reading.
Southport School is an independent day school for second through eighth grade neurodiverse children who have language learning disabilities and/or ADHD. Southport CoLAB offers programs for training professionals, educators and families.
Those interested in having their child screened can register online or call 203-254-2044 to schedule an appointment.
