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Last Tuesday night I joined a few friends at the gala kick-off event for the 2019 Tour de Cure, a day of walking, running, but mostly biking events to benefit the American Diabetes Association. It’s a huge event, drawing a few thousand participants, which has been taking place in Rochester for years.

The kick-off pep rally itself was equally huge. Organizers had to cut off registrations at 500 people, who packed the Holiday Inn Downtown ballroom. Vendors and sponsors lined the walls, offering give-aways and raffles. Balloons floated everywhere, and a fine dinner was served.

It was a party atmosphere, buoyed by the additional knowledge that Rochester’s Tour de Cure has become the largest in the nation. Last year almost 2,000 riders raised more than $1 million to fund diabetes research and help send children with diabetes to summer camp. 

But the reason I decided to write about this today is this: “Rochester’s” Tour de Cure is actually hosted in Webster.

This huge annual event begins and ends at one of the Xerox parking lots off of Chiyoda Drive. And you want to talk about a party atmosphere? The day of the ride, that lot is filled with tents and music and fire trucks and food trucks, thousands of bikes and people. Webster can be very proud to be hosting this, the biggest Tour de Cure in the whole country.

This year’s Rochester Tour de Cure is Saturday June 8. It will feature a 3.5-mile run or walk, and six different cycling routes ranging from 3.5 to 100 miles. Organizers are hoping to grow the event even bigger in 2019, aiming for 2,500 participants. There’s a distance and event for everyone — even walkers. Click here for more information. 

My friends and I will be joining the event for the very first time this year, challenging ourselves to ride 25 miles. We invite you to join us and our Amiel’s The Original Submarine Team. I met a few of my new teammates Tuesday night and can already tell it’s a great group of people.

If you can’t take part but would like to support the cause, feel free to log onto the Amiel’s team page or my personal page to make a donation. Every penny goes to support the American Diabetes Association.

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It was a busy, and very successful weekend for Webster sports and academic teams, who were participating in various local and state competitions. Seems like every hour another congratulatory message was coming across my Twitter and Facebook feeds as — one after another — the teams took home top awards.

You might have heard about some of them, or even read about a few in the paper. Here’s what I know about, but please tell me if I’m missing any team. (Although Superintendent Gumina did a pretty good job curating them all, thank you!)

The Webster Thomas cheerleaders are now state champions, taking first place in the co-ed division of the state-level competition held Saturday at RIT. They are the only Section V school to bring home a title this year. Click here to read the D&C story.

The Thomas Titans track team did pretty well for themselves over the weekend as well at the New York Indoor State Championships held in Staten Island. Monique Hardy easily captured the state girls weight throw title with her toss of 60′ 4″, more than 5 feet farther than the second-place competitor. Sean Smith posted a personal best and school record 67′ 4″ in the boys’ weight throw, taking second place.

The Webster boys’ swim team, competing in Long Island, finished second in the state in the 200 free relay, posting a new Webster record of 1:26.48. The team also took third place in the medley relay, and set a new Webster boys’ record of 3:13.88 in the 400 free relay, good enough for seventh place.

The Thomas Titans hockey team took the NYS Regional championship in hockey. Next up? The state competition.

The Klem South Odyssey of the Mind team — Cooper, Maura, Lily, Ellie, Ella, Kate and Kayleigh — took their very first ever regional title, and are now headed to the states in three weeks. They’ll be joined by the Thomas Titans Odyssey of the Mind — team — Logan, Brynn, Tegan, Ally and Kayla — who also won at regionals.

Webster’s indoor percussion team won top honors at their recent NYSCP competition.

And finally, the Webster Schroeder speech and debate team took second place in their national qualifier competition. Team members Luke and Katie are headed to the National Championships for Duo Interpretation.

Whew. That was a lot to pull together. Let me know if I got everything, and if I got anything wrong!  And congratulations to all of our sports, academic and music teams for a job well done.

P.S. Here’s an additional note which was recently passed on to me: Last Wednesday, the Webster Thomas varsity girls bowling team won their Class A sectionals!

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

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If you ever have business to attend to at our school district offices, this important announcement is for you.

All district administrative offices (DAO) have been temporarily moved from Spry Middle School — where the offices comprise the entire third floor — to Towne Center Plaza on Ridge Rd., (the one with Target, Old Navy and Kohl’s).

All of the district offices will be located in two suites at Town Center for about the next 18 months, as crews work on renovating and updating the current office space.

Specifically, benefits, business, human resources, payroll, instruction and the superintendent’s office will be located on the first floor of suite 112, (the former Paychex location), and central registration, special education and CSE meetings will be housed in Suite 100 (the former Peaches Restaurant).

Parents who need to go to district offices for central registration meetings, CSE meetings or other special education meetings should check in at Suite 100. All other visitors should check in with the DAO receptionist in Suite 112.

I believe that both suites can be found on the back side of west end of the plaza.

Teachers and students at Spry will not be affected by this move or the construction.

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

Congratulations to Webster’s young ninjas, Grayson Schoeffler and Megan Stupplebeen, for a fine showing at last weekend’s 2019 World Championships of the National Ninja League.

The kids, who are second-grade classmates at Dewitt Elementary School, joined more than 200 other ninja-wannabes at the four-day competition in Hartford.

While neither one reached the second round, they did quite well. Competing in the 6 to 8-year old division, Grayson placed 43rd out of 142 boys, and Megan placed 44th out of 75 girls.

“This was a grueling course this year,” Grayson’s mom Alison reported. “Only 17 out of 244 kids went on to stage two.” And she added, “We will train again to qualify next year!”

Webster looks forward to hearing about it when they do.

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.