We know the final issue of 2015 was all about last year. We also know that this week’s edition is supposed to be an exclusive look into what 2016 has in store, but unfortunately we couldn’t fit everything in last week.
So think of this as a bit of bonus 2015 coverage. We went over the stories that defined the Insider in the previous 12 months, but there were some we wrote that probably left you wondering what ever happened after the story appeared.
And we were left with some of the same questions, so we decided to check in with a few of those people to see how things have gone since we last talked to them.
Heidi Pauer
Concord resident and longtime educator at Bow High School, Heidi Pauer, was introduced to all of you in July when we reported on her being awarded the 2015 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
That means she got the year off from teaching her normal classes to pursue an educational dream. What Pauer wanted to do was use her time to foster creativity at schools throughout New Hampshire.
And during the first few months of the school year, Pauer has been pretty busy. She’s worked with teachers and students in 16 schools on more than 20 projects.
Pauer has been at Concord High School helping to introduce more theater work into the classroom setting and creating a N.H. history musical at Bow Elementary.
She’s driven more than an hour to schools around the state and has plans for even more projects when school returns to session in 2016. It sure does sound like Pauer is and will be pretty busy.
State House Dome
With the outer gold surface starting to peel off a little earlier than expected, the decision was made in the last few years to redo the dome on top of New Hampshire’s most recognizable buildings.
The project began with the installation of a platform that unless you saw the construction process first hand, you may not even notice anything changed. The goal was to make it look like it was always there and it worked.
The staging will go up in the spring and the process of gilding the 4.7 pounds of gold, which cost $177,000, will be done over the spring, summer and fall months with a completion date scheduled for December, according to Mike Connor, Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Administrative Services.
Tennis website
We introduced you to the newly created capitalcitytennis.net in May, a website set up to help connect area tennis players to each other.
Lee Sturtevant is a longtime player and instructor who wanted to create an environment where players of all ages and abilities could set up a match on any given day at one of the many local courts – and just go out and play.
When we first told you about the latest thing in tennis (at least in Concord), there were 15 players signed up for the free website and when we touched base with Sturtevant last week, the number had grown to 33. And if you haven’t signed up, there’s no better time than the new year.
See we actually do make a difference in the world.
Rania the Cat
If you don’t remember the story of Rania the cat, then you must have missed that issue. Cause if you saw her story, then you wouldn’t soon forget it.
But we’ll give you a quick overview just in case. Rania had both of her eyes removed when she was two weeks old due to an infection and was adopted all the way from Spain by Concord couple, Cory MacEachern Ghelli and Matt Ghelli, in November 2014.
We caught up with the Ghellis in March and wanted to see how the rest of her first year stateside had gone.
And in quite possibly the creepiest way ever, we did a little Facebook recon to see what Rania has been up to.
It looks like her lack of eyesight doesn’t seem to be bothering her one bit, as would probably be the case for anyone who was essentially born without sight.
She seems to be quite the rambunctious little kitty and is quite fond of her new home. Concord is a pretty cool place to live.
