Mrs. Finnegan 

Susan Abel, Donna Anderson, Jayne Anderson, William Anderson, Sandra Andrews, Debra Andwood, Adele Archie, James Aubin, Monica Barry, Robert Bartlett, Linda Bates, Paul Battige, Leonard Beaulieu, Patricia Berard, Leslie Bergeron, Janet Betterley, Nancy Birtwell, Donna Bitzer, Richard Bjorklund, Judith Bliss, Jean Bonin, Ellen Bonneville, Koby Borodkin, Christine Bortle, James Bourque, Kendra Bowker, Laura Bradley, Lawrence Bradley, Robert Bradley, William Schmitter.

Mr. Tarsa

Adrienne Arnum, Arlene Breau, Janice Breen, Daniel Brenton, Nancy Bryson, Carolyn Buck, Andrea Burger, Nancy Burritt, Jeffrey Burton, Marlene Cabana, Debra Campanella, David Carpenter, Nancy Cauley, Stephanie Chmielewski, Thomas Churchill, Susan Circosta, Robert Clark, Donna Colapietro, Alicia Coles, Harry Coles, Bradford Cook, Marsha Coons, Lawrence Cooper, Steven Corey, Todd Cormier, Alison Cox, Jeffrey Crary, William Creighton, Christine D'Angelo, Debra David, Beth Davidson, William Davis.

Mrs. Spolzino/Mr. Harvey

Denise Descheneaux, Julia Devine, Henry Dickinson, Michael DiMonaco, Beverly Dion, John Dlugos, Frederick Doersam, Ralph Donohue, Jeanne Donovan, Patricia Donovan, Suzanne Dreyer, Barbara Ducharme, Bruce Duncan, Lois Dusenberry, Donald Eddy, Christopher Edwards, Dorothy Edwards, Karen Esposito, John Evans, Brian Falk, Deborah Sawyer.

Mr. Smith

David Farioli, Andrew Farquharson, Linda Farrell, Donna Fiorentino, Dean Florian, Steven Gagner, David Gallerani, Nancy Galvin, Armand Gamache, Richard Garrett, Constance Garvey, Stephen Geoffrion, Frank Gibney, James Gilmartin, Dale Goddard, Eddie Goguen, Douglas Goodrich, Marilyn Gour, Deborah Gray, Linda Gray, Richard Grimaldi, Mark Hadeler, John Haetinger, Garnett Hall, Kenneth Hall, Deborah Hanson, Theodore Harper, Vivian Haskell, Andrea Hastings, Ann Marie Hearn, Patricia Hendrick, Nancy Holland, Mary Ann Lamoureux.

Mr. Cadwell

Mary Holotka, John Illig, Lisa Italiano, Susan Jasinski, Nancy Jenne, Pamela Johnson, Eileen Jordan, John Keane, Robert Keane, Douglas Keith, Douglas Kenyon, William Kenyon, Lynne Kinney, Edward Kopec, Dennis Kronenberg, Joseph Kwasnik, Katherine LaBerge, Paul LaBroad, Diane LaFave, Linda LaLiberte, Mary Ann LaLima, Carl Larson, Elizabeth Lasek, Nancy Lavertue, Edward Lemanski, Paul Lieberwirth, Victor Linden, Bruce Lindwall, Allison Lipp, Mary Lynch, Timothy Lynch, Richard Malmstrom, Eva Nichols.

Mr. Mazzariello

Marilyn Man, James Manferdini, Candice Marino, Karen Martin, Virginia Martin, Stephen Mascaro, August Maserati, Catherine Maurer, Richard Maurer, Patricia May, Lee Mazzaferro, Thomas McCabe, David McCallum, Janet McCarthy, Susan McGill, John McGrady, Paul McNamara, Marilyn Medbury, Lois Melbourne, Frederic Merchant, Jane Mertz, Douglas Milroy, Thomas Mineo, Frank Miorandi, Brenda Misitano, Richard Mondoux, Jean Montana, Bruce Moore, Scott Moore, Alan Morris, Linda Mottle, Pamela Murphy, Thomas Murray.

Miss Humberston

Mitch Dante, David Lariviere, Gregory Naylor, Stephen Newell, Ralph Nooney, Kim O'Brien, Enrico Oliveri, Nola Olmsted, John Ouellette, Peter Ouellette, Thomas Ouellette, Ross Overlock, David Owen, Jane Passburg, Kathryn Pedersen, Priscilla Perusse, Richard Pesto, Debra Peterson, Susan Petronino, Dennis Plante, Carl Porcelli, Kathleen Price, Robert A. Price, Robert M. Price, Eleanor Ramey, Linda Redin, Susan Regnier, Michele Roy, Patricia Ryan, Susan Saacke, Pamela Sakakeeny, Debra Simons.

Mr. Lech

Anna D'Angelo, Noreen Dubour, Bruce Ostrander, John Quinn, David Radebaugh, Michael Rafferty, Albert Raimondi, Robert Reis, Marion Renzi, Cynthia Richards, Joanne Rinaldi, Joseph Roy, David Sand, WIlliam Scheumann, Wayne Scully, Paula Seligman, Kenneth Sheret, Maria Siano, Mark Simone, Sharon Soares, William Soares, William Stark, Nancy Steitz, Dorothy Stellato, Christine Stewart, Paul Stilphen, Stephen St. Marie, John Stolecki, Susan Sullivan, Thomas Sullivan, Clark Swanson, Jeanne Symmes, Charles Taylor, Gail Taylor.

Mr. Coon

Robert Ireland, Ann Tesoro, Donna Tranghese, Felix Tranghese, Regina Truitt, David Turnberg, Donald Turnberg, Gail Vagts, Nancy Vallett, Stephen Viger, John Vigliano, Jane Viveiros, Phyllis Vogel, Edward Warren, Susan Waterman, Robert Wenning, Jarl Weyant, Melinda Wheeler, Malcolm White, Susan White, Kurt Whitney, Susan Wicks, David Wieland, James Wilkins, Richard Willard, Susan Wolcott, Jonathan Wolf, Nancy Wrinkle, Nancy Yacovone, Anthony Zampiceni, Ellen Zimmerman.

Larry Cooper's 7th Grade Report Card Envelope and Report Cards

 

Art --- Mrs. Jeanne Comiskey.

 

Music --- Mrs. Jean Corliss.

English --- Mrs. Estelle Krause.

Industrial Arts (wood shop) --- Mr. Victor Mushenski. 

Math --- Mr. Harvey Cadwell.

Physical education --- Mr. Allan Pash.

Science --- Mr. Gary Bunce and Mr. Norman Wytas.

Social studies --- Mr. John Bowler. 

Apr. 1, 1965 newspaper article ---7th grade, fourth marking period honor roll.

Larry Cooper's 8th Grade Report Card Envelope and Report Cards

English --- Mrs. Dorothy Gladden. Does anyone remember the other teacher, Mr./Ms. M. Korradi? 

Industrial Arts --- Marking periods 1-3: Mr. Joseph Cangro (metal shop, drafting); marking periods 4-6: Mr. Victor Mushenski (wood shop).

Math --- Mrs. Eileen Worthing.

Physical education --- Mr. Allan Pash.

Reading --- Mrs. Estelle Krause. 

Science --- Mr. Gary Bunce.

 

Over 20 of our classmates were in the 8th grade play, "Oliver". Program below. Courtesy of the Springfield Union newspaper.

Drawing by classmate Sue Wicks. 

Dec. 21, 1965 newspaper article --- 8th grade, second marking period honor roll.

February 1966 newspaper article --- 8th grade, third marking period honor roll.

April 1966 newspaper article --- 8th grade, fourth marking period honor roll.

1966 newspaper article --- 8th grade, fifth marking period honor roll.

Birchland Banner

Our school newspaper was the Birchland Banner. Here is the entire June 1966 issue, published as we were finishing 8th grade. We thank Miss Denise Humberston, one of our English teachers, for preserving this priceless treasure.

  

  

 

  

 

Newspaper clipping from 1966, just before we finished 8th grade at Birchland Park School.

Monogram awarded to Gail Taylor in eighth grade (see newspaper clipping above).

Kathy Price remembers spinning the glass milk bottles on the cafeteria tables at lunchtime. Scott Moore remembers teachers trying to contol the noise in the cafeteria at lunchtime, adding, "At times the noise was deafening. The teachers would take a glass milk bottle and bang it on a table while shouting at the top of their lungs for us to be quiet."

Ed Warren remembers Mr. Mushenski, our beloved wood shop teacher, telling students, "You want to whistle, you go out in the woods with the birds and whistle. You don't whistle in class!" Dave Farioli remembers him saying, "You cut, you buy. You break, you pay." Joe Roy remembers Mr. Mushenski watching him hold a hammer by its neck instead of the lower end of the handle. He told Joe, "If you're not going to use the handle, cut it off." So, Joe went over to the band saw and cut off a portion of the handle! Boy, did Mr. Mushenski get mad. And Scott Moore remembers when a student got in trouble in Mr. Mushenski's class, he would say, "Four doors to the right" (the principal's office).

Lenny Beaulieu remembers an incident involving Bill Stark in Mr. Mushenski's wood shop class. It seems Bill had inserted a drum sander into a drill chuck, but did not lock it down. When he turned on the drill, the drum sander came flying out of the drill and went through a door of a cabinet another student was making.

Scott Moore remembers an incident regarding Mr. Cangro, our metal shop teacher, and Bill Stark. "We were painting the bookends with black paint. Mr. Cangro told us, "When you finish painting them, brush the excess paint from the rim of the paint can, put the lid on, and place a cloth over the lid. Then gently tap the edges of the lid with a hammer." Unfortunately, Bill must not have heard these instructions. He put the lid on the can, forgot about the cloth, then smashed it in the middle with a hammer. Paint went flying everywhere, including onto Mr. Cangro's shirt!"

Bruce Moore has two memories:

"I had Mr. Novicki for seventh and eighth grade science. One afternoon, he and Bob Keane pulled a fast one on the whole class. They pretended to have an argument, which ended with them both going out into the hall outside class. They got real vocal, and an apparent fight broke out. Lockers were being smashed into, etc. I tried to get out the door to see the fight. Sharon Soares (who might have been in on it) prevented anyone from going out. Bob came back in the room, put his head down between his arms on the desk, and cried. Mr. Novicki came back in, and a moment or two later, Bob picked up his head and had a big smile. We then figured out what really happened. Mr. Novicki made us all write a paper on what we were feeling at the time. Nancy Steitz and Jack Evans were in the class, and might remember this cool incident.

"This is my last memory of Butch Garrett: One afternon after school, Butch, Ronnie Goodrich, and Kenny Bressette were up in the woods behind Birchland Park. They had made a homemade .22 zip gun. They got it to fire, but the bullet went through the bicep area on Butch. He ended up being okay. Doug Goodrich should also remember this very well."