WRHS Hall to hold first induction ceremony

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BEACON FALLS — Five years after the Woodland Regional High School Hall of Fame honored its first group of inductees, the group is set to hold its first official induction ceremony.

The WRHS Hall of Fame induction banquet — which will also celebrate the school’s 15th anniversary — will take place Tuesday at Aria in Prospect. Four new inductees will join nine previous honorees as part of the celebration.

The new honorees include:

Arnold Frank: Frank was the school’s first principal, leading the school through its initial planning and hiring processes. A number of his ideas still form the basis of the school’s curriculum, including block scheduling and the advisory program. He retired in the summer of 2013.

Alice (Levinsky) Kinne ’06: Kinne became the third athlete in school history to become a three-time All-State selection, earning the honors in softball from 2004-06. She helped lead the Hawks to their first state championship appearance in 2004. Kinne is also a coach with the softball program.

Ryan Matthews ’05: Matthews is the founder of The Susie Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides support to Connecticut families fighting ALS. Matthews was also the winning pitcher in the 2004 Naugatuck Valley League baseball tournament championship game, the first sports title in school history, and coached sub-varsity baseball for several seasons.

Steven Montambault: Montambault is a longtime volunteer for the Woodland PTO and the athletics program. He has been the unofficial athletics photographer for the better part of the last decade, and he has been involved with planning the school’s post-prom party for more than a decade.

They will join the past honorees, which include:

Chris Anderson: Anderson was the first football coach in school history, leading the team from 2001-07 and again in 2014. He won two NVL and Class SS state championships and later coached at the University of New Haven.

Maureen Carroll: Carroll was a member of the school’s founding faculty, first as an English and history teacher before serving as an assistant principal from 2003 until her retirement in 2010.

Gina (DellaRose) Syndomin ’05: Syndomin was one of the first two athletes in school history to become a three-time All-State pick, doing so in soccer from 2002-04. She led the Hawks to the 2004 NVL title, the school’s first league title, and was also an All-State track athlete. CN named her Woodland’s Athlete of the Decade in 2010, and she was a multi-sport athlete at Southern Connecticut.

Shane Kingsley ’06: Kingsley was an All-State football and baseball player who won a pair of NVL and Class SS state titles in football. CN ranked him second among Woodland’s top athletes in 2010, and Kingsley returned to coach three sports at the school.

Pat Krakowski ’05: Krakowski remains the only three-year football captain and led the Hawks to the 2004 NVL and Class SS state titles. An All-State running back, he still holds the program record with 66 career touchdowns.

Joan Krantz: Krantz was a founding faculty member at Woodland and helped start the school’s Advanced Placement program. She taught English until her retirement in 2009.

Three groups have also been honored. They include the Region 16 High School Cooperative, a group of parents who helped pass the high school referendum in 1998; the 2001-02 Region 16 Board of Education, the board which led the school through its first year; and the 2004 Woodland football team, which won the school’s first state championship.

In addition to the WRHS Hall of Fame honorees, athletic director Brian Fell will honor Mike Kingsley with the first Hawk Contributor Award. The award will recognize those who have displayed special dedication to the school’s athletics program. Kingsley has coached three sports at different times since the school’s opening and has donated his construction company’s efforts in building a concession stand and four dugouts.