Voice Profile

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Jennifer Murillo described her sister, Gabby, as a bubbly person with a contagious smile and a heart of gold.

“I feel like any time my sisters or my family or friends needed something, Gabby would always be the person to volunteer to help,” said Murillo. “I own an online jewelry store. She would always help me pack when I’d get swamped with orders.”

Jennifer said her sister was about a month into her dream internship at Disneyworld in Orlando when she was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. Her C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae were injured as well as other nerves being completely severed. Since the June 15 accident, Gabby has undergone multiple surgeries and was recently airlifted from Florida to Georgia.

According to Murillo, Gabby’s desire to work at Disney grew overtime and started with family trips to Disneyworld. She said it grew when Gabby participated in a cheerleading competition in Florida. By the time she was a freshman at Gateway Community College, Murillo said Gabby knew she wanted to do the internship program at Walt Disney World.

“Me, personally, I had no idea that even existed,” said Murillo. “But she was a fan. She said, ‘I want to do this. This is my goal.’”

Murillo said received the notice that she was chosen for the internship early this year. She said Gabby cried tears of joy when she got the news.

“We were all so happy for her,” said Murillo. “She’s 22 and she’s finally getting out of my parents house and starting her own adventure.”

Jennifer said Gabby moved down to Orlando in early May and began the internship later that month.

“She loved it,” said Jennifer. “She would text our whole family saying ‘I’m going to Magic Kingdom tonight to watch the fireworks.’ And that was just her Friday night thing – going to any of the parks at no cost. It was remarkable for her.”

Murillo said the weeks since Gabby was in the car accident have been a “big jumble.” She said her mom has been with Gabby since the car accident and has been hard not having her home.

“It’s upsetting for our whole family because we’re all separated,” said Murillo, adding that her sister Amanda discussed with her how she missed family events like Sunday dinner. “It’s been a lot of changes and I just keep telling myself and my mother that this is just temporary. This is just going to be a memory one day.”

Jennifer said Gabby is doing great and has made a lot of progress since the accident. She said she and Amanda went to Atlanta to visit Gabby over the weekend.

“They’re taking her off the trach four about four hours and then put her on for about three hours,” said Murillo. “So for those four hours that she is off the trach she actually has a voice and I can kind of see Gabby being normal again.”

Murillo said Gabby was cracking jokes the entire weekend. She said it was good to see that Gabby is slowly but surely getting her quality of life back.

Jennifer said the family has been told to expect medical bills upwards of a million dollars. She said insurance is not covering everything. She said they will be able to write some of the equipment off on their taxes but other things, such as 24-hour care, which might be necessary depending on Gabby’s progress, will cost a lot of money.

The Murillo family is hopeful, Jennifer said, that between therapy and the stem cell research studies they are trying to get Gabby into, she will make progress.

“To get Gabby back to even moving her fingers would be the ideal situation,” said Jennifer. “That one day, she would be able to hold her own cup of coffee, or do her own hair, do her own makeup. Then she’ll be more independent. We’re hopeful for that.”

Jennifer said the community has been incredible. She said she always knew West Haven was great but she would never expect the amount of support they have received. She said even just the messages of support mean a lot to them.

“I’m truly proud to be from this town,” said Murillo.

Jennifer said Gabby is a fighter. She said she has always known her sister is amazing but this experience has changed her perspective and shown her how strong an individual Gabby is.

“I don’t know any other person that would be as positive and strong-willed about this entire experience,” said Murillo. “I hate saying this because it’s such a cliché but she really is my hero.”

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

When a West Haven resident has a fallen tree in their backyard, Scott Silver said they should do the natural thing: call their pharmacists so he can chop it up and sell the wood to raise money for charity.

Silver, who has lived in the city since 1989 but grew up working here in his family’s landmark drug store, said he has been cutting, splitting and delivering cords of wood for several years in order to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“They do something called the Trailblaze Challenge,” said Silver. “You hike a marathon at Bear Mountain in New York. It’s a 26-mile trail. To participate you have to agree to raise $2,500.”

Silver said participants in this year’s Trailblaze Challenge have raised almost $90,000 so far and added that a lot of money “pours in at the end.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit which raises money in order to grant children with critical illnesses a “wish.” Wishes granted cost thousands of dollars and can range from a family trip to Disney World to being an airline pilot. According to their website, Make-A-Wish grants a child’s wish in the United States and its territories every 34 minutes.

Silver said seeing what the organization does for the children and their families is amazing. He said it’s one good story after another. Raising the money is only part of the goal for Silver.

“I can afford [to write a check] but you want to get involved in it,” said Silver. “You want come up with a creative way to fund raise. So, I created Wood for Wishes.”

According to Scott, he is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys the solitude and exercise that comes from splitting wood. He said people who need firewood will call him and he will stack a half a cord of wood in his Ford F150 and deliver it to them.

“People ask how much it costs and I tell them there is no price,” said Silver. “It goes by donations. I ask for roughly $75 to $100 for half a cord of wood. If you were to buy a cord it would cost you between $180 and $250.”

Silver said he has raised almost $3,000 so far by making one delivery at a time. He said people know to call him if they have a tree down on their property so he can continue to fund raise. Silver uses word of mouth and social media to get the word out about it.

Silver said he meets people all the time who have had their lives touched by Make-A-Wish. He said all the charity does is bring smiles to children’s faces. He said he has a lot of respect for the families and what they go through.

“It humbles you,” said Silver. “Life is very fragile and you should enjoy every moment.”

Silver said he likes being involved in the community and helping other people. He said it gives him personal satisfaction.

“I was always brought up to help others,” said Silver. “That’s what life is all about.”

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Michelle Caprio has spent years doing philanthropy in and around West Haven, and she doesn’t have plans to stop anytime soon.

She said having a passion for helping others and giving it her all helps to make other people smile and make the world a better place. The West Haven native has been involved in copious fundraisers and projects.

“I got involved when my older daughter, Michaela, started at Mackrille Elementary School,” said Caprio. “When Hurricane Katrina hit, I organized for a truck to come and I had gotten supplied from the community and we filled the truck and sent it down to New Orleans to help the victims.”

For Caprio, this was just one chapter in a long story of having a passion for helping others. Soon after she said she started a program called “Backpacks for Kids” with teacher Cathy Biagetti which gave “gently used” backpacks filled with school supplies to foster children or children in need.

Caprio said she has always enjoyed helping others but got more involved after her daughters Michaela and Chloe were born. She said she realized that bad things could happen to anybody.

“You’d always want someone to come along to put a smile one your face and make your day a little better,” said Caprio. “So I’d always had that feeling people could use a helping hand sometimes. So why not help out?”

Caprio said for five years she hosted the Health and Wellness Fair for students in the school district which saw over 30 vendors and medical professionals give out free items and information. She said over 300 families attended each year.

The list of events and fundraisers Caprio has organized or been involved in organizing is extensive. During the past 20 years she has run a dental hygiene day for students to get free teeth cleanings, helped raise supplies for foodbanks like WHEAT, ran “A Day of Caring” for struggling or homeless families as well as several benefits for families going through hard times. She also does work with national organizations.

“I am an active participant of fundraisers and do walks for the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, Alzheimer’s Association and Wounded Warriors Foundation,” said Caprio.

Her work has not gone unnoticed as Caprio has received many awards and honors. ) In 2014 she received the “Forever Friends” award from the West Haven Community House. In 2016 she received a proclamation from the office of the mayor of Meriden for being a “hometown hero for West Haven.”

This year the West Haven Republican Party gave her an award for her service and commitment to the city. Caprio said it was an honor to be chosen for any of the numerous awards she has been given but one stuck out.

“I received 2017 Westies Care Deb Hutchinson Award,” said Caprio. “She passed away and I was very close to Deb so this was heartwarming. It was very special.”

Caprio said she has not done any of this work alone and said she has had support from Mayors Picard, O’Brien and Rossi as well Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro. She said she has met countless great and likeminded people along the way.

“I thank everyone who has entered my life and made an impact on the lives of others through all our hours of volunteering because I didn’t do any of this alone,” said Caprio. “I was always in great company.”

With such a long resume, Caprio said her crowning achievement is her daughters, who came to PTA meetings, City Council meetings and all of her events and helped her learn so much along the way. She said she wants her children to see her work and realize there are people who need their help.

“Like I’ve always said, if you’re able to give back, don’t hesitate – do it,” said Caprio. “Don’t second guess it. Get out there, present an idea and get it done because it will always help someone else.”

Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Well into his second term, State Rep. (D-115) Michael DiMassa said he “got the bug” for public service because he liked to help people and work with others towards a common goal.

The 28-year-old said he started out interning for Mayor John Picard and continued to take opportunities when they arose.

“At one point, some members of the Democratic Town Committee asked me if I’d consider running for state representative,” said DiMassa. “I thought about it and made the leap.”

DiMassa said he has no long term plans for politics. His goal, he said, is to stay in for a small amount of time, try and make a difference in people’s lives where he can and then pass the torch for the next person.

When he ran in 2016, the state representative ran against incumbent and current executive assistant to the mayor, Louis Esposito. He said having worked on Esposito’s campaigns in the past made it a tough experience.

“Neither Lou nor I made it personal,” said DiMassa. “It was just one of those things where people in the district told me it was time for a fresh perspective.”

DiMassa said he wanted to look at jobs, economic development and school funding going into his first term. He said in his district there are a lot of one-parent households and people who work two or three part-time jobs instead of one full-time job.

“Those are the issues you run into here,” said DiMassa. “How do we propel the local economy?”

Representative DiMassa said leveraging state resources to make improvements to municipalities is the best way to create jobs and stabilize the tax rate.

DiMassa said passing legislation like the $15 an hour minimum wage and paid family medical leave help lift the burden off some of his constituents. He also said he was excited for early absentee voting, which will be on a state referendum ballot next year, because it will allow more people to participate in the political process.

According to DiMassa, he has to maintain a good relationship with whatever administration is running city hall. He said in a city like West Haven, where things are quickly politicized, people frequently ask him his take on local elections.

“I try not to get involved in politics because I have to work with the mayor,” said DiMassa. “If the mayor says, ‘this is a priority,’ then that’s the priority I’m working off of. I also don’t feel it’s my job to make my political views known in issues that concern public because I feel the voters of West Haven should make their own decision.”

DiMassa said he will regularly help city officials by making calls to places like the Department of Transportation or the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to try and speed up a city project or get something done.

“We have a lot of DOT related projects in West Haven because we have a lot of state roads that run through West Haven,” said DiMassa. “When it comes to potholes or restriping the roads we have to work with the DOT.”

He said because the DOT schedules road maintenance years in advance and they are so inundated with requests it can be a challenge to get it done. DiMassa said it is not uncommon, in any project or task, to have to call a department commissioner two or three times in order to get something looked at or completed.

Given that there are only three state representatives and two senators who represent West Haven, DiMassa said it takes more effort and teamwork on the part of their delegation to get something for the city.

“We have to work twice as hard to make our case for things,” said DiMassa.

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

For Patrice Farquharson, the importance of the quality of education the city’s young receive cannot be understated.

Farquharson, the executive director of the West Haven Child Development Center, has worked at the program for 41 years. Over the course of those years, Farquharson has played a role in educating thousands of West Haven’s youngest students.

According to Farquharson, she has worked at the center since shortly after graduating from UConn with a degree in education. She said she started out as an assistant preschool teacher but, within two years, became teacher and then executive director.

“I had been helping out the executive director at the time,” said Farquharson. “When she was not here I was filling in for her. So I had a little bit of a transition. But yes, I was young when I became executive director.”

Farquharson said she has worked to ensure the teachers get the respect they deserve and that working parents have a safe place to put their children while they are at work. She said the program started out servicing students from the ages of three to five – it soon became the only place in West Haven that taught students under the age of three.

In a write-up of the center’s history and mission, Farquharson stated, “The West Haven Child Development Center believes that the family unit is the strongest influence in the life of a young child. Our program is designed to support the family by providing the child with a warm, secure and educationally stimulating environment.”

While the program has grown over time, it now has about 186 slots for students, Farquharson said the mission has not. She said the program has been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children since 1991.

“They had developed a system where programs could be accredited so that parents would know that we had met a certain standard of quality,” said Farquharson.

The professionalism and credentials of the teaching staff are some of the highlights Farquharson said she is proud of.

“The state has recognized that teachers in early childhood play a very important role,” said Farquharson. “All the research points to what we always knew: the period between zero and five is a huge period of development and growth and brain development for the child so it’s important to have quality experiences.”

Farquharson, a lifelong Westie, said the program has many of alumni still living in the city.

“Lots of school teachers are graduates of the child development center,” said Farquharson. “Lots of people who work for UNH have been graduates of the child development center. So it’s nice to be able to see how successful our students have been and we like to think we had a part in that.”

Farquharson said through her career at the center she was able to keep herself “professional and up to date” in the field by first getting her masters in school administration and then a doctorate in child studies.

She said she wants the families to know that due to their status as a non-profit, all the money the center receives from grants go back into the program to guarantee continued quality. She said nobody working at the center are city employees.

“Mayor Johnson, at the time, had the foresight to see that, in order to not be an additional burden on the taxpayers, we are employees of the child development center,” said Farquharson. “We are run by a nonprofit board. Yes, we do pay a slight rent. But that was all part of the additional grant. But the service we provide far outweighs [any cost to the city].”

Farquharson said college students, with permission from the parents, come to the center from the surrounding universities, such as Yale, to do research, internships or work study in fields like nursing and psychology.

“We have a lot of talent,” said Farquharson. “That helps us grow and develop and give better services and understand the needs of the children better. I think that’s a big piece of what we do.”

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Sports have always played an integral part of Mike Madera’s life. From running the Westie Blue website to being the former president of the Walter Camp Football foundation, Madera said sports play an active role in building a strong community.

Madera, who works at Yale, said he has lived in West Haven for 43 years. He said he “ate and drank sports” when he was younger and still talks to the friends he made back then. According to Madera, with all the options the youth of the United States have when deciding how to spend their time, it’s important they understand the difference sports can make in their lives.

“I just think that, today, with all the video games and their phones and all the options that these kids have,” said Madera, “they don’t play the sports like I did 30 or 40 years ago. Unfortunately, you don’t see kids playing baseball, or hockey or football in their backyard – you just don’t see a lot of it.”

Madera said he started the Westie Blue website eight years ago. He writes, edits, and posts the stories himself and said the sole purpose he had in creating it was to shine a spotlight on the young athletes of West Haven.

“The reason I did that was because I was getting the feeling that these kids who play high school sports weren’t getting enough recognition,” said Madera. “This website is to gives those kids positive recognition so when they look back 20 years from now they can read about all the great things they did in high school.”

Whether a reserve player or a star player, Madera said they can find stories on the positive things they have done on the website.

A few weeks ago, Madera finished his term as president of the Walter Camp Football Foundation. The national organization oversees selection by the Football Bowl Subdivision coaches of the oldest All-American football team.

They also give out awards to college players who they feel have distinguished themselves and make donations to charities and youth-oriented organizations. Madera said the group is about much more than just football.

“The Walter Camp Football Foundation is more than about just college football. It is an all-volunteer organization which contributes to other organizations near and far,” said Madera. “We are very involved nationally and locally, supporting Special Olympics and various charities, as well as working within the community at various events.”

Madera said he is proud to say he has been a contributing member for close to 25 years and when he looks back, being President and leading such a prestigious Foundation will go down as one of the proudest things he has done.

Madera said the WCFF hosts fundraisers in order to donate to charities and youth groups as well as make visits to youth hospitals with players, mascots and cheerleaders. He said activities such as that are just some of the important work they do.

“When you can put a smile on someone’s face who may be going through the fight of their life,” said Madera, “it just verifies what you are doing is right.”

Madera said he feels giving back is both important and the right thing to do.

“I feel it is important for my kids to see,” said Madera. “There is nothing wrong with seeing hard work and the rewards which come with it.”

Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Celia Pinzi works in a business where family means everything. As the owner and funeral director of West Haven Funeral Home, Pinzi ensures the deceased have a respectable celebration at the end of their life.

The funeral home was started in 1964 by Pinzi’s father, Nello. By the time she was eight years old she was answering phones for him.

“When I was 14 or 15 I started coming in to do office work,” said Pinzi. “I’ve worked officially, as a licensed funeral director, since 1983. I’ve always worked here.”

While Pinzi said it is more common to find funeral directors that are women nowadays, when she started in 1983 it was a “very unusual.”

“My mom was the founder of Adult Basic Education for the United States – which is now ESL [English as a Second Language],” said Pinzi. “I always had a career mom growing up. That didn’t seem strange to me; so this didn’t seem strange to me.”

Pinzi said her mother was not keen on the idea of her working at the funeral home. She said they made a deal that if she still wanted to work there after going to college she could do so. Therefore, Pinzi went to Georgetown University – where she double majored in international relations and Spanish.

“I came home and apprenticed with my father and off I went,” she said. “So I didn’t think it was unusual but there were two women in embalming school …. out of 85 students.”

According to Pinzi, she had a long discussion with her father about whether or not to join the family business before going to embalming school. She said he told her to try it and, if it was not for her, she would know fast.

The funeral director said she now sees the business as a vocation. She has run the funeral home by herself since her father passed away in 2009. She said her favorite, and the most significant, part of her work is meeting with families.

“I was meant to do this,” said Pinzi. “You can’t just teach what you need to know. You need compassion. You need to be able to read people. You need to try to be objective with things. You can’t take all this home with you or you’d be drooling in a corner.”

She said West Haven is a tight knit community where one family’s pain is everybody’s pain.

“People go all out to help,” she said, “regardless of anything. It’s what I love about West Haven.”

Pinzi said one of her most important memories from her career was helping the Honan Funeral Holm in Newtown in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. She said she assisted there for a week, while gathering other funeral directors to do the same, with the funeral preparations for those killed in shooting.

She said through the gestures people make in West Haven her Faith in humanity is constantly renewed.

“Someone will call and say, ‘I’m paying for this funeral anonymously,’” said Pinzi. “It’s not a relative or anything. It’s, ‘I saw this in the paper’ or, ‘I saw this on Facebook’ and, ‘How do we arrange to do this.”’

She said in a job which sees it’s fair amount of tragedy, the acts of kindness she witnesses towards the families she serves make her feel good.

When her father named West Haven Funeral home Pinzi said he did it with intent. She said the home caters to people of all different backgrounds and that, as the city’s demographics change, so do the customs for funerals. Pinzi said she is always willing to help people who need assistance making funeral arrangements.

“My father said, way back when, that everyone wants their name of the building,” said Pinzi. “He said, ‘This is named West Haven and it’s for West Haven; so that’s why it’s named West Haven Funeral Home.”’

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Michael Mercuriano has been an advocate for various projects and events in West Haven for decades. Mercuriano, who works in real-estate, was instrumental in getting the West Haven train station built.

Mercuriano moved to West Haven with his family when he was seven years old. He went through the public school system and got his start working in the offices of a rail road company. He eventually got his real-estate license and took classes at the University of New Haven, Yale and UConn to further his education.

Mercuriano has been involved in a number of non-profits during his time in West Haven. He said this started several decades ago.

“I was a member of the Lions Club for years back then,” said Mercuriano. “I put a few things together for them when I was president – a handicap area down by the beach.”

In the mid to late 70s Mercuriano began getting involved in municipal leadership. He served on the Redevelopment Committee for 12 years and the Economic Development Commission for six.

“In redevelopment down by the shoreline we dealt with erosion problems or different complaints,” said Mercuriano. “We also looked for what could possibly better the city.”

During his time on the Economic Development Commission, Mercuriano said he and the commission tried to find ways to bring businesses to the city – including a shopping center on Water Street, where the Haven Project is planned.

Mercuriano said the commission also worked on a plan to get a US Navy ship permanently based in West Haven during Sal Guerrera’s term but when he lost the next election the plan fell through.

Two of the organizations he was in, the Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce, hosted the first Savin Rock Festival. He said this was before the city was involved with planning the event.

“The Chamber of Commerce ran the first festival and it had nothing to do with the city,” said Mercuriano. “The Lions Club gave the first check. That was way back in the 80s.”

Over his decades of being involved, Mercuriano said he has learned that it is hard to get plans to come to fruition in West Haven.

“It’s like a town that doesn’t seem to want to better itself sometimes,” said Mercuriano. “It’s frustrating.”

He referenced the train station, a project he and the train station committee collected thousands of signatures to bring back to West Haven. He said the city has done nothing to develop the over 1 million square feet in the surrounding area.

Mercuriano continues to push the city into developing the area. West Haven does have a plan to attempt to develop the places around the train station – they have turned it into a Transit-Oriented Development zone – but nothing has come of it yet.

Now Mercuriano is focusing his energy on bringing a carousel back to the city. He said he and other member of the Carousel Committee, a non-profit, have been in talks with different people and organizations around the country that could complete the project.

“Twice we’ve had success with vendors wanting to put up a carousel here,” said Mercuriano. “Even the city had spent $3,000 on a design for it to be put right in front of the Savin Rock Center. Then the fight stirred up about what size the carousel should be. It’s nonsense.”

Mercuriano said he grew up in the city and will continue to try and make it better.

“I always want better for this town,” said Mercuriano. “So you surround yourself with people who want the same. But you can only go so far when all the administrations are really fighting against you.”

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Russ McCreven has been a fixture in the community for decades. For some he’s been a photographer for various sporting and civic events. But for many he was their former teacher and head of the Social Studies Dept. at West Haven High School. Working there for 35 years before his retirement, McCreven’s name has been found as a photo credit in city publications going back to the 1970s.

McCreven said he has always had an interest in youth sports and got his start at the newspaper writing pieces for the sports section. At the time, he said he had no interest in photography. But an old friend, the late Bob Tingley, who was sports editor of the old West Haven City News kept trying to get him involved.

“The first print I ever did was Jon Capone – the (current) athletic director,” said McCreven. “Although at the time he was a senior on the baseball team. They went on to win a state championship that year (1973).”

A “stringer” for the City News and the New Haven Register, when it was on Orange Street in the Elm City, McCreven covered the high school hockey triple-headers at the New Haven Arena (just across the street from the paper), and write up the games for the Sunday and Wednesday aedition.

He was also the announcer at the Arena games, and became the “Voice of West Haven hockey” for more than 20 years at the Edward L. Bennett Rink, and covered the games at the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum. But photography quickly became his forte – but now without a lot of trial and error.

He said while his original photos were not great, he has been doing ever since. According to McCreven, he learned and improved his photography through practice, books on the topic, and talking to other photographers.

He also held the position of sports editor for the West Haven News (the name changed when the Milford Citizen bought the paper) for about a decade after Tingley passed away suddenly in 1984. Tingley, like McCreven was a teacher, and did a stint as the city’s Park-Rec Director. He became the sports editor of the City News when Bob Joyce bought the Town Crier and revamped the periodical. That was 1971.

“He was a very good friend of mine,” said McCreven. “For anyone who liked sports, he was the main man.”

While McCreven is still a photographer for various publications, his main job was as the head of the Social Studies Department at the high school. He said he started teaching there in 1961, and got the promotion three years later.

“There were very few people applying for the job because, supposedly, it was a pain in the neck,” said McCreven. “It turned out to be true some extent.”

Being able to see the students as athletes and as scholars have him a unique perspective when writing his weekly sports stories, he said. McCreven said he enjoyed both jobs and that made them easy to do.

“I got along with the kids and the kids got along with me,” said McCreven. “I would say the 35 years that I taught were very noteworthy. I rarely ran into kids I did not like.”

After retiring in 1996, McCreven focused on his work at the News and the nascent West Haven Voice. He said he likes it because it keeps him occupied and he finds having a deadline each week mentally beneficial.

His wife, Ann, passed away about a decade ago, and it was decided he would leave the home they made and live in a nearby condominium, where he has been ever since. His three children still keep tabs on him, making sure he has what he needs, but they need not worry about him being active. He still can be seen on his bike, or walking around the neighborhood.

McCreven, a Westie, lives about five blocks from the house he was raised in. He said he has enjoyed his life here immensely.

“If I could do it all over again – I would,” said McCreven.

By Josh LaBella

Voice Reporter

Board of Education Nursing Supervisor Donna Kosiorowski is retiring after what she called “a great 25 years.”

The supervisor started her career as a nurse in Rapid City, South Dakota where he husband was serving in the Air Force. They later moved to Boston and lived there for several years before returning to her hometown of Shelton – where she worked at Griffin Hospital.

Kosiorowski got her start as a nursing supervisor at a school in Shelton and got the position in West Haven after a 10-year tenure there. She said when she first got to her job in the city she was intimidated due to a lack of familiarity with her staff but it quickly subsided.

“I made the transition over here and never looked back,” said Kosiorowski. “The district has been wonderful.”

According to Kosiorowski, while many people think being a school nurse is a “cushy” job, there has been a tremendous change in school nursing over the past 35 years she has worked as one.

“In a hospital you have people that can help you,” said Kosiorowski. “You have other nurses, you have doctors – you’re never alone. In a school, the nurse is the only health care provider. If you don’t know what to do; it’s a problem.”

Kosiorowski said school nurses have to know a lot about everything. She said they are responsible for understanding a myriad of medical syndromes, conditions and practices for people from the ages of 3 to 21.

“We do have kids who have complicated and, sometimes, severe issues,” Kosiorowski said. “We have to be ready to do whatever it is we need to do to make sure they are safe and that their family feels comfortable too.”

The challenges of the job, Kosiorowski said, are making sure all the students are safe and ensuring the nurses feel supported.

School nurses, she said, are critical to keeping students healthy, in class and learning. Kosiorowski said she has a great respect for her colleagues.

Kosiorowski said one of her favorite parts of her tenure in West Haven has been the four superintendents she has worked under, who she says have always been very supportive of the nurses.

“The administrative support that the nurses and I get here is not something you are going to find everywhere,” said Kosiorowski.

She said she also looks back fondly on her time with the other nurses and the students that she worked with.

Kosiorowski said she follows a mantra that while many things such as: her wealth, what house she lived in or what car she drove, won’t matter a hundred years from now, one thing will – being important in the life of a child.

As the government relations chairman for the Association of School Nurses of Connecticut, Kosiorowski tracks laws and policy to keep her association apprised of changes in nursing practice.

Looking forward, Kosiorowski said she is not ready to “fade into the sunset” and believes there is still work for her to do. She said in retirement she still has a lot to offer the school system but plans on doing other work as well.

“I also have an opportunity to teach school nurses throughout the country,” said Kosiorowski.

Kosiorowski will continue her work with the professional associations she is a member of. The way she puts it: “I have a lot of irons in the fire.”