Shrewsbury – This past fall, sixth-grade students at the Sherwood Middle School participated in a special journalism project. Under the direction of their teachers, Moira Cristy, Douglas Kershaw and Jordan Smith, the students identified a person from Shrewsbury that they thought would make an interesting profile, then conducted an interview and wrote a brief feature. We will be sharing some of those profiles in the coming months.
Roy Arnold
By Arielly Moscon
Newer generations are always advancing in education, but some children aren’t able to get an education on past experiences like war from a personal perspective. Roy Arnold has experienced the emotional impact of war through his experiences working in the army.
Roy Arnold grew up in Marlboro, Massachusetts living in a family with an older sister and three younger brothers. Roy explains that he and his siblings “watched out for each other,” until later individualizing near high school. In hindsight, he grew up in a nice neighborhood with a good environment. Roy attended a primary school and he had the same classmates for nine years. He explains this was an advantage since he “got to know the people there well.” Roy was part of the top 20% in his grade with academics which helped him get into college and get good grades on the S.A.T.
In college Roy majored in psychology. During this time, America was at war with Vietnam and a draft was in session. A draft is when you would get a number correlating with whether or not you would go off to war. Roy explains, “I was number 32 in the first draft they ever had.” Luckily, he had a deferment meaning in the next three years when he went to college he did not have to go off into the army. Fortunately, when Roy graduated from college, the war between Vietnam and America was close to an end. This meant he wouldn’t have to serve as much time. He was only assigned two years of active duty service. Roy’s family wasn’t too happy about him leaving for war, especially his dad. Roy’s father had also enlisted in the army during World War II. He knew what it was like and did not want his son to go through the experiences he went through.
The war was very controversial since it had been going on for several years and neither side was winning. Many young adults around the ages of 18 and 19 protested and had arguments against the war because they wanted to find middle grounds. Roy got drafted alone without anyone he knew to go with him. He worked as a social worker for the army in New Jersey at a stockade better known as a military jail. This is where people would go if they went A.W.O.L, standing for absent without leave. Roy struggled with the amount of individuality people got since “you had to take orders from whoever had a higher rank than you.” This was hard since “there were a lot of people in charge who didn’t know a lot about how to manage people,” stated Roy.
As the years passed, he enlisted in another army job as a security guard. He would stay up all night walking around the building making sure no one got out and no one got in. This job had to be operated Monday through Friday with little to no sleep. You would get some sleep during the day, but for some, this wasn’t enough sleep to stay up all night walking around a building while still having to stay watchful and vigilant. This job didn’t last very long since Roy got picked to fly to Germany and work at a psychiatric unit. Though it was in the same profession, this job was different from his social work job in New Jersey, since he just helped people with mental health issues rather than people who were just absent without leave. Soon the dreaded war between America and Vietnam ended and things were less chaotic.
Hopefully, hearing Roy Arnold’s perspective allows others to learn about his perspective on the Vietnam War and understand how he served in it.
Dr. Jane Lizotte
By Arthur Duru
Dr. Jane Lizotte was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was born at Saint Vincent’s Hospital. It is now used as an office building. Dr. Lizotte was one of the last babies born there. Dr. Lizotte was the 7th out of 10 children of her parents. Her parents were happy that she was there. She has nine brothers and sisters. Jane’s parents felt really happy that she was born happy.
Dr. Lizotte “was a principal at the old Sherwood beginning in 2007. I was in that old building for six years until the new Sherwood was ready to have us in January 2013. I was at both Sherwoods from 2007 to 2019.”
Dr. Lizotte was at a law firm one year after college as a law clerk. She then was a teacher at Floral Street School before becoming an assistant principal at Floral Street School. She is now an Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Shrewsbury. Dr. Lizotte said she loves shaping little people’s minds and she loves working with children.
Jane went to school at Paton for kindergarten then went to Saint Mary’s School for grades first through sixth. After that she went to Sherwood Junior High School which was the old Sherwood.
Jane is important to the community because she is shaping little children’s minds and wants them to succeed in the future and be smart.
Ritesh Sheth
By Arya Sheth
Ritesh Sheth was born on February 9, 1977 and has a stupendous life because of many struggles which could have killed him or even made him bankrupt.
When he was a child he wanted to be an actor or a teacher. He also used to dream to go to Australia for fun and meet an Indian actor named Amitha Batchan. In class he would always joke around and make everyone laugh, including the teacher, but his life was not smooth and he had many bumps along the way. When he was a kid he used to get a “B+, 70% or a 3” and says “education is important.”
His Mom went through many struggles. She wanted both of her sons Ritesh and Bhavesh to go to an English language school. This was a struggle for her since none of her family members had ever gone to an English language school. Going to English language school is why Ritesh stood out from all the kids and could communicate with everyone.
When Ritesh was a kid he had limited entertainment with a few shows on a black and white TV, but the positive side was he made lots of friends. The negative side was that he could not easily access information like we do today, so he had to go to the library or ask a teacher.
His dad was good at math and taught him, so he was good at math and later decided to do engineering as his career. After that, his brother stopped studying, but Ritesh decided to keep studying so he could support the family. He could not get into the Ivy League colleges since he could not “afford a private tutor that were very expensive to enroll for,” but he was still happy to get an admission to an engineering college. His parents struggled to pay the fees and took many loans for it. He was always aware of their struggles but he was always determined to complete his engineering degree.
While studying engineering many of his friends dropped out since it was very difficult, but he did not give up. He successfully completed an engineering degree, even though he did not get the best grades. He says, “one of my biggest accomplishments is completing my graduation.” He could have taken the easy path, by not studying or staying home and pursuing other streams of studies, however he opted to stay far away from his family for four years to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Not only studying engineering was difficult, but living in a small place with no good avenues for food, clean water, heat or air conditioning was also challenging. When he was in college, he chose to cross a river to get there. Once the river current was so strong and he almost flowed with the water. He learned his lesson of not challenging nature and took a longer route to college after that incident.
After he completed his studies he thought it would be a piece of cake to get a job and earn money but that was not true. While he was struggling during that time, he had switched to 8 or 9 low paying jobs like a “furniture shop, car dealership, air conditioner dealership and then went to a good paying job at Whirlpool.” While working, he decided to study further in America. Although he was nervous, his dream finally came true when he got admitted to Syracuse University in America. He started to get good grades. He also worked a part time job at a food court. It was a difficult job for him because being a strict vegan, he had to make egg omelets. In this college he received scholarships and became a research assistant. He helped perform research and also taught students Math. He enjoyed this period because he got a fulfillment from helping others.
He finished his master’s degree in 2006 and got a job. Later he went to India to get married and he had his son Arya in 2008. At that time, he lived in a small rental apartment and struggled to meet their needs since he was a single earner. They moved to “three or four apartments” and finally bought a home. He had a second child, a daughter named Rhea in 2010. He then moved to Shrewsbury to give his kids a good education and started working for CVS. In CVS he is a Program Manager, who is in charge of all the Project Managers and projects. He still has a lot of free time and chooses to play chess, see his kids playing soccer, and read. He still says “I like those days better since I did not have any responsibilities and just had fun.”
This man has an interesting story of ups and downs, but how he overcomes them is inspiring, so if you come across a struggle just remember him.
Edward Clough
By Ashwin Sivagaminathan
Edward Clough is a music teacher who teaches brass instruments like the trombone. He mainly teaches middle and high schoolers who want to get better at music or compete. He grew up in New York and is now teaching at Music and Arts, which is a business that sells instruments and teaches music. Music and Arts is located at 1300 Union Street #102, in Westborough. He has been teaching music for 13 years.
He grew up in upstate New York in a small town called Gloversville, where they made gloves. He had a great childhood. He has 4 siblings, and “Everyone in my family was musical,” he said. His mom directed a choir, and the rest of his family, including him, sang in the choir. He grew up near a park, and he played baseball with his siblings. The reason he teaches the trombone isn’t because he picked that instrument, the instrument picked him. As a kid, he failed a music test in school. But the band director knew that he knew about music. So he called his mother. Edward Clough wanted to play the drums, but the band had all of the drums they needed. So, he ended up with the trombone, and he still teaches it, even to this day. He didn’t have a dream job as a kid. He was just waiting to see what would happen when he grew up.
Teaching wasn’t his first job. His first job was to measure leather skins in a factory. It was a very boring job, but he learned that with a boring job like that, he just had to get to work, and he couldn’t watch the clock, or else it would feel slower. The person who hired him said that he could get a bonus if he got onto the honor roll in school, and he did, so he earned the bonus. When he went to college, Edward Clough wanted to become a music performer. “I became a music teacher because I wanted to be a music performer,” he says. “But I think to be a music teacher, you have to perform.” He went to a community college in New York State, then Boston University. At Boston University, he met a famous brass quintet called the Empire Brass. A quintet is a group of 5 people that play music in a group. That’s when he knew he wanted to be a music performer and play in an ensemble. He ended up teaching music after college and he has been teaching full time for 13 years.
He usually teaches middle and high schoolers who want to get better at playing music. But he also teaches kids who want to compete or get into an upper band. Lots of people that he teaches want to practice for college auditions. “So it’s kind of like tutoring,” he says.
When asked about the community impact that he has, he says, “I think the community impact that I have is no more or less than the community impact of anyone who offers a service or makes something. If you create something and people are willing to buy it, then you’ve improved your community.” He teaches people and they use that knowledge in a band or to perform and it makes them feel more accomplished.
Christine Mattero
By Ava Cotton
Christine Mattero works as a Human Resources Assistant, “My job is the Human Resources assistant, I help Barbara Malone the executive director of Human Resources do her job, and it mostly has to do with the staff at our schools.” She has always believed you should work hard and persevere through tough times. Mrs. Mattero went to college in Worcester at Quinsigamond Community College. Quinsigamond Community College was established in 1963, focused on helping thousands of children get a higher education.
Christine Mattero grew up in Worcester on lake Quinsigamond across from the bridge. Her childhood was pretty simple. She would walk to school every day, play outside, and swim in the pool pretty much every day. She believes that where she grew up impacted the job she has today because she didn’t really adventure out to another state. Mrs. Mattero has worked very hard to get to her career today. She has had many jobs before her job now. Christine began at an accounting firm in Worcester, but then she had kids so she stayed home until they were old enough to care for themselves. Then she worked at her son’s preschool which was Lilliput Early Childhood Center for a couple of years. While she was there, she went back to school to get her teacher certification so she could become a teacher. She then moved on from there to be a special education aide in Northborough Public Schools for seven years. Later, she decided she was looking to get a little more money and expand her career. She ended up in the town manager’s office for about five years, and then her job as the Human Resources Assistant became available. Mrs. Mattero got hired and has been working at that for three years so far.
Christine Mattero has many accomplishments, but her biggest accomplishments so far has been her kids because it was wonderful for her to raise them and watch them grow up to be the young adults they are. She believes it’s important to raise children the right way and take good care of them. Another accomplishment she has work wise was all the learning she has done to get to her job. When she first got to her department she didn’t really know anything about it. She had to work really hard to learn as much as possible and be sure that her job was done right. “My biggest influences in life would probably be my parents and my family, they have always taught me hard work and perseverance. Not only that but a sense of faith and a sense of community service and doing good for others.” Her parents and family have always influenced her to do good for others, work hard, and persevere. They have always believed she could accomplish her goals if she kept persevering through the challenges.
Christine Mattero’s life has much more to it than just her job. In her free time she likes to run, bake, and spend time with her family. Mrs. Mattero met this little boy while she was teaching at the Northborough schools that changed her life forever. “A big part of my life is because of a student that I met when I was in Northborough. He was really special. He was born with Down Syndrome and when he was three he was diagnosed with Leukemia. I think meeting him and his family has really changed my perspective on life. I learned so much more from him then I have ever taught him as his teacher. He would come to school every day so happy, so determined, He’s just really a special kid, he has an impact on everyone he meets.”
Christine Mattero is a very caring, hard working person, who has an amazing career. Not only does she work hard to do her job correctly, she perseveres through challenges at work and in life.
