
Post University men’s basketball player Tyler Collodel, of Prospect, reads to Xander Ramalhete, Prospect, recently during a pajama storytime at Pond Place Pediatrics in Prospect. Members of the basketball team participated in the event, which was run in conjunction with St. Mary’s Hospital, and contributed funds for the purchase of books for each child to take home. –CONTRIBUTED

Members of ProfNet, Inc., the Professional Networking Group of Waterbury, including Prospect business owners Peter Hughes, owner of Hughes Insurance Agency (first from left, back row), Margie Lindsay, owner of My Little Margie Cleaning Company (second from left, second row) and Barbara Rompre with Ambit Energy (third from right, second row), and Pam Davis, office manager with Brown Roofing Company, Inc. in Naugatuck (second row, center), recently donated dozens of men’s coats the nonprofit Acts 4 Ministry organization in Waterbury. –CONTRIBUTED

Maple Hill Elementary School kindergartners Mya Evangilista, left, and Paige Kovach hand presents they brought to donate to a toy drive to physical education teacher Angela Loomis Dec. 16 during the school’s holiday celebration in Naugatuck. The annual toy drive was run in collaboration with the Naugatuck Fire Department. –LUKE MARSHALL

Naugatuck resident Daniel Whitman, right, presents a cake to Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury Executive Director Lee Schlesinger. The cake, which was donated by Costco in Waterbury, was part of a Thanksgiving dinner that Whitman donated to Safe Haven’s domestic violence shelter. In recent years, The Manor Inn Restaurant in Southington has prepared the meal. –CONTRIBUTED

From left, Naugatuck Board of Education Chair Dorothy Neth-Kunin, Connecticut Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell and Naugatuck Board of Education member Ethel Grant are pictured at the Leadership Awards presentation during the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education/Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents Convention in November. The Naugatuck school board received CABE’s Level One Leadership Award, which recognizes boards that work effectively as a team with superintendents. –CONTRIBUTED

City Hill Middle School eighth-grader Juan Jimenez measures syrup for a slushie as his ‘business partner’ eighth-grader Brody Moore talks with fellow students waiting to buy a slushie during the school’s ‘Math Mall’ Dec. 23 in Naugatuck. The ‘Math Mall’ is the culmination of a lesson taught in the real world math class at the school, explained math consultant Rebecca Moore, who teaches the class. Students created a business and learned the math involved with running a business, including expenses, profits and taxes. The students sold their products at the ‘Math Mall.’ All the ‘taxes’ generated will be donated to charity, Moore said, and any profits were kept by the students. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

City Hill Middle School seventh-grader Hopeton Guthrie prepares a plate of taco salad to sell as his ‘business partner’ CJ Smith looks on during the school’s ‘Math Mall’ Dec. 23 in Naugatuck. The ‘Math Mall’ is the culmination of a lesson taught in the real world math class at the school, explained math consultant Rebecca Moore, who teaches the class. Students created a business and learned the math involved with running a business, including expenses, profits and taxes. The students sold their products at the ‘Math Mall.’ All the ‘taxes’ generated will be donated to charity, Moore said, and any profits were kept by the students. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI