Photo and article by Abby Fox

Gavin McHale is reading a newspaper while he waits in the waiting room of University Family Medicine, but if he gets bored, he can look up and admire two paintings of local artist Sarah Mutton.
The paintings got there thanks to a program offered by Fostering Arts, based in Foster, wherein businesses hang art made by locals for free, while the artists get good exposure.
Artists are encouraged to sign up for this program by calling Executive Director Kim McHale, at 451-8848.
“The art is on display as long as everyone likes,” or until it’s sold, McHale explained. “I can’t prove stuff will sell, but you have a better chance of selling it if it’s hanging somewhere than if it’s sitting in your studio,” she said.
Artists can also get exposure by submitting samples of their work on the group’s web site, fosteringArts.org, for an annual fee of $55.
“It’s fantastic,” she said. “The art’s been well received.”
Admission is open, but the art has to be something the businesses are comfortable with seeing on their walls, she said.
To meet McHale or some of the artists involved, or to learn more about Fostering Arts, the group is holding a July 4 Family Fun Day Cook-Out at the Little Rhody Vasa Park in Foster, or at the open studio tour in Foster, Glocester and Scituate, in November.

Photo: Jonathan Gibbs

Newly-opened Playground Prep held an open house last Saturday with a number of fun-filled activities for the children and information for adults looking for a place to send their pre-schoolers as well as those who need a place to go after school.Here, Tyler Tefft, 19 months old, takes a tractor for a spin with teacher Stephanie Booth. 

By JONATHAN GIBBS

There was everything there a child could want, from swings to slides to trucks to books to ice cream and cookies (lots and lots of cookies). There was everything a parent could want as well, attentive teachers, safety fences, alarm bells that dinged when a door was opened or closed, and books – plenty of books.

Photo: Abby Fox
Alexis Meyer, an East Greenwich native, is going to head Cole Junior High, where she’s worked both as a teacher and administrator for several years. Michael Zajac of North Smithfield is the outgoing principal.
 

BY ABBY FOX

Alexis Meyer, Cole Junior High’s next principal, after Michael Zajac leaves July 3, is East Greenwich, all the way.
Meyer was raised here, she graduated in 1972 from East Greenwich High School, and throughout her youth she worked at her family’s Kent Restaurant at 223 Main Street, owned by her father, Angelo Lazarides, for almost 50 years.

Photo: Abby Fox
Eldredge School students went back in time to imagine what life was like for people in the 1700s and 1800s during Colonial Day last Thursday. They panned for gold, made yarn and beaded necklaces, played with children’s toys and made cornmeal and coffee. Nicholas Edwards, right, and cohort pan for gold.

BY ABBY FOX

Jacqui Watts knew during her last semester at Boston University this spring that she wanted to get out of the house and do something fun, and interesting, after graduation.
So when the East Greenwich resident (and 2005 EGHS grad) received her bachelor’s degree last Sunday, following four years of studying biology and psychology, Watts could tell her friends that she had arranged a pretty cool plan for the summer – biking all the way to Santa Barbara, Calif., through bikeandbuild.org, and helping build affordable housing along the way.

BY HAYLEY SULLIVAN

For any doubters in the possibility of love at first sight, Tony and Lucy Ventura of East Greenwich have a story to convince you otherwise: Theirs.
It’s a story that begins in 1935, when  Lucy and Tony met at St. Anthony’s Church, a Portuguese Church in West Warwick, where Tony was an alter boy.  Lucy took one look at him and told her sister “he’s going to be my boyfriend!”  Soon after meeting, Tony began visiting Lucy at her house on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  Reflective of the times, the two were never without a chaperone during their courtship.  After dating for close to a year, Tony at 20 years old, asked Lucy, 19, to be his wife.  They were married on a Saturday and went to work the following Monday, sparing the indulgence of a honeymoon. 

Photo: Abby Fox

Seven eighth-grade French students at Cole Junior High scored big on the National French Contest, taken in March. One, Caitlyn Mason, was won first place in Rhode Island for her score.
Back row: Gwen Luvara placed eighth in Rhode Island, Kayla Olsen placed 18, and Alexandra Fugere placed fifth in Rhode Island. Front row: Alice Palmer was ranked second in the state, and seventh in the United States, while Caitlyn Mason, in the pink beret, was first in the state and sixth in the nation.
Not pictured are Sam Greene, who placed fourth in the state, and Arlene Sit, who was 11.
“I was very pleased,” their teacher Linda Alix said.