Adventure Center

Is Part Of A Great Education

To the Editor:

Every week, I read the letters in The Newtown Bee online. Lately, the letters from seniors have been upsetting to me. This is not an “us versus you” battle: Adventure Center versus Senior Center, students versus seniors. That’s not what it’s about. I implore the seniors to stop comparing it as such. The fact that seniors feel the need to attack students, children, disheartens me most. I believe the seniors deserve their own center. I mean no disrespect by this letter.

But, remember, the Children’s Adventure Center wasn’t just handed to them. They worked for it. They received grants. Maybe I’m an idealist, but when it comes to budgets, I think we need to spend more on education. However, important programs and critical resources always seem to be cut. I’ll be the first to say I’ve never balanced a town budget in my life. One thing I do know: the education of the children in your town is an investment in the future. These are your children, your children’s children, your neighbors kids, your town’s kin. They are the best investment you will ever make.

I had the pleasure of attending Newtown schools since prekindergarten. I went to the Children’s Adventure Center, I graduated from Newtown High School. In case you didn’t already know this, Newtown turns out some of the best and brightest, most talented, articulate people I have ever had the pleasure to know. They are the most prepared individuals for higher education. They create championship sports teams, win awards, produce Broadway caliber musicals. Your future does incredible things.

I am thankful every day that I went through the Newtown schools because it has prepared me to be a wonderful person with high hopes, dreams, and ambitions. It is because of the resources I had at my disposal: the facilities, textbooks and educational tools, teachers I worked with. Every time financial cuts are made, the resources become less available. Programs suffer. Students should have the unequivocal right to an education. In Newtown that should mean the very best.

We’re in a recession, which means money is an issue. But, it’s really an investment that needs to be made. Every week I see letters of complaint about the taxes and the budget. A whole lot of “we want this,” “we want that.” What I’d really like to see is a good, solid investment in the future of not only our town, but our state and nation. Because, when you agree that education is important — and a great education is key — you realize that your children, their children, will be fixing this country, running this country, hopefully trying to make it better for their children’s children.

I only hope that my children and their children will be able to get as great an education as I got. But I don’t see that happening in Newtown by the time I have kids. And that is not only a loss for me, but it’s a huge loss to our town’s future.

Wendy Borst

Temple University, Rome, Italy                                  March 23, 2008