Chris Pagliuco ’99 and his new book, The Great Escape of Edward Whalley and William Goffe

For a history writer, uncovering an engaging but forgotten story among dusty and long-untouched archives must be like the prospector who catches the glint of gold among the dirt in the bottom of his pan. And Christopher Pagliuco ’99 is one such history writer, with a new book, The Great Escape of Edward Whalley and William Goffe: Smuggled through Connecticut (The History Press), to show for his efforts.

The book tells the story of Puritans Edward Whalley and William Goffe, who joined the parliamentary army against the tyrant, King Charles I, in the English civil wars. Under their battlefield leadership, the army trounced the Royalist forces and then cut off the king’s head. Yet when Charles II regained the throne, Whalley and Goffe fled to the colonies aboard the ship Prudent Mary—never to see their families or England again. Even with the help of New England’s Puritan elite, including Reverend John Davenport, they struggled to stay a step ahead of searches for their arrest in Boston, New Haven (where they hid out in Judges Cave), and the outpost of Hadley, Massachusetts. Forced to live as fugitives, these former major generals survived many frontier adventures in 17th century New England.

Besides working as a freelance writer, Chris teaches high school history in Madison, Connecticut, and serves as town historian in Essex and on the editorial team of Connecticut Explored, a quarterly history magazine. He lives with his wife, two daughters and two dogs in Ivoryton, Conn. If you remember Chris, or have read his book, drop him a line.

Students in Professor Andoveloniaina Rasolofo’s French linguistics class at New York’s Manhattanville College, listening to Dr. Langford.

On May 1, French linguistics students at Manhattanville College in New York had their first encounter with Cheshire County’s Franco-Americans, via the wizardry of Skype.

From her office in Morrison Hall, Professor Margaret Langford delivered her interactive PowerPoint lecture, An Invisible Presence: The Franco-Americans in New England (Une Présence invisible: Les Franco-Americans de la Nouvelle Angleterre), to Professor Andoveloniaina Rasolofo’s students and guests at Manhattanville. Dr. Langford explained to her audience how more than 900,000 French-Canadians (Québécois) immigrated to the United States, primarily coming to New England and upper-state New York, from the mid 1800s to well into the 1930s, and that many of their descendants still abide there. Using the Franco-American experience in Cheshire County, New Hampshire as a model, Dr. Langford examined the question: “Why don’t we know more about the Franco-Americans today, despite their significant numbers and contributions?”

“My students and I learned a lot about a topic that is seldom discussed,” explained Professor Rosolofo.

Professor Langford found it “an exhilarating experience!”

In these days of economic turmoil, funding for important programs such as this is uncertain, at best. When NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen was on campus in early May to discuss student-loan debt, Upward Bound staffers contacted her to express their funding concerns.  The following week, Senator Shaheen reported that the Dept. of Ed. announced renewed funding to the UB programs at both UNH and KSC. UNH will receive nearly $478,000, while Keene will receive nearly $422,000. According to UB’s Assistant Director, Beth Zinn, this will allow the program to serve 94 high school students and their families from eight local high schools in southeastern Vermont and southwestern New Hampshire—more students than it could serve before. “It’s exciting to know that we now have the money to continue to serve these awesome kids,” Zinn said.

The money will be a big help in moving these students ahead in their career paths. “
This scholarship will be great support towards graduate school,” Brenner said.

Nathan Gray, recipient of the 2012 Fred Fosher Excellence in Writing Award

The craft of writing well eludes many students—and adults—but KSC senior and soon-to-be alumnus Nathan Gray found the key to excellence when he approached writing as music. “I began to think of writing a page of prose as writing a page of sheet music,” said Nathan, also a musician and songwriter. “Each word can be a note, or each sentence can be a note. I kind of made it an art game, playing with the shorts and the longs. As in music, you choose a note and then you decide upon the most effective instrument to play that note. In the same way, you choose a concept and then you choose the best word or phrase to express that idea. As soon as I did that, my writing improved. Just as it’s not very interesting to have a bunch of quarter notes in a row, you don’t want a bunch of five-word sentences in your writing. You’ve got to come up with ways to add variety and present your ideas in interesting ways.”

And his approach has had dramatic effects: Nathan was recently awarded the Fred Fosher Excellence in Writing Award—and he’ll be graduating summa cum laude this spring—quite an accomplishment, considering that Nathan came to KSC from Keene High School with a 1.1 GPA his last quarter. And contributing to that dismal GPA was the fact that he failed his advanced writing course at KHS.

“I was never really a great student,” Nathan said. “When I got to high school, I was  uninspired. I got plenty of Cs and Ds, quite a few Bs, but As were a rarity.”

So what happened between KHS and KSC? The transformation was immediate. “My first semester, I had a 4.0,” he recalled. “I think a few things worked for me. First of all, my roommate was amazing—we’re still best friends. I know a lot of people who got bad roommates, and they dropped out or transferred, or suffered academically. Also, it stopped being about the test, it stopped being about memorization, and it started being about thinking. The teachers stopped being authoritative figures; they became your mentors and your friends.”

Another surprise: The only college-level English or writing course Nathan took was his Integrated Thinking and Writing (ITW) course his freshman year, taught by Elizabeth Pacilio. “She was just wonderful—she was a great friend and very smart, and she pushed in the right way, so that was a good thing right off the bat.”

With degrees in political science and economics, and a minor in women’s studies, Nathan is not pursuing a career in writing, but his path has given him the keys to excellent writing, and to inspired scholarship. “As a junior, I took a course in logical argumentation,” he recalled. “You don’t really write papers in that course, but you do learn about logical argumentation, and that really helped me with my writing.” As he strove to turn in good work, the writing he did in his other courses also helped him refine his craft. Obviously, he’s learned his lessons well.

Gilly Moon ’09

Jon Gottlieb, who directs the Sound Design Program at California Institute of the Arts only accepts three students into the program a year. This fall, his first choice was Design/Technical Theatre major Gillian Moon ’09.

Gilly knows where she wants to go, and how to get there. After graduation, she worked as a sound intern for the Trinity Repertory Company. After that, she continued to work in audio, “Taking whatever gigs I could,” she said. “Besides theater, I have also done a lot of corporate and themed production work. Taking time off and actually working in my field I think helped me get accepted. I developed not only good technical skills, but I gained a lot of interpersonal skills and developed a clear vision of how I want to approach my goals artistically. I was also able to meet ‘sound guys’ who were up to date in the industry, and who also wanted to be my friends and mentors.

“The theatre profs at KSC taught me how to work and talk with people in a very creative, collaborative, and challenging environment. Which is what you often find yourself in in theatre!” Sounds like that’s a lesson she learned well. If you know Gilly, drop her a comment.

Samantha Massahos—KSC employee, grad student, and ’10 alum.

Samantha Massahos is a KSC employee (with Campus Safety), a graduate student, and alumna of the Class of 2010. And she’ll be competing for the title of Miss New Hampshire at the end of April. She’s currently serving as Miss Capital Area with a  platform of Advocating for Survivors of Sexual Violence. And she’d like your help: Help her get into the top 12 at Miss NH this year by going to the Miss NH website AND the Miss NH Fan Page and voting for her. Make sure you open the confirmation email and clink of the confirmation link to complete the voting process.

Says Sam: “Thank you—it is very much appreciated! I look forward to representing the Keene State College community at this year’s competition!”