In early 2013, former Lebanon City Manager Greg Lewis was looking for a way to ‘bump up’ citizen engagement in the City’s policy and advisory boards. The idea he landed on, creating the Lebanon Citizen’s Academy, was designed to educate residents on the inner workings of city government to spur their interest in volunteering. And by all accounts from the perspective of both the City and Academy graduates, the idea is working.

According to the City’s website, the Lebanon Citizen’s Academy “consists of a series of entertaining, hands-on, educational short courses, and will provide you with the knowledge and understanding of how your city government works for you.”… Read More

The New York Times has been given credit for using the following motto: “All the news that is fit to print.” That definitive statement served as a source of pride for that publication in its masthead since the 1800s.

Today, the quotation has come into question as mainstream media often appears to have changed its mission, and now reports and emphasizes only the sensationalist or ‘bad’ news, both in print and over the airwaves. Just what is fit to print these days? A lot of heated rhetoric surrounds this question.

I know how to find the answer to this question. Take a few minutes out of your day and sit down with longtime publisher, Jen MacMillen, and have a chat.… Read More

Jonathan Warren graduated from the Lebanon School District in 2007 with a keen interest in the arts. Now, he’s returned as the visual arts teacher. “Just as the arts helped shape me as a student, I value the opportunity to work with today’s young artists. The arts provide a vehicle for self-expression as students develop their voices… and provide an opportunity to work collaboratively.”

On the District’s last professional learning day, arts teachers Lauren Haley, Jonathan Warren, Jonathan Verge, Todd Matte, John Carey, Gary Rothe, Yvette Garnham, Todd Renninger, Christine Greenough, Margaret Schultz, Megan Cardillo, and Thea Calitri-Martin met to work on the PreK-12 curriculum.… Read More

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was credited with the following quote many years ago: “Music is the universal language of mankind.”

Joe Clifford, Executive Director of the Lebanon Opera House, apparently is an exponent of that theory and from October 10-12 he made that bit of wisdom a reality for the Lebanon community and the Upper Valley. Joe arranged to host a group of musicians from Egypt to tour the region and give performances for area music students and concert-goers.

The musicians were part of a band from Cairo, Egypt who were making their American debut. The group was led by Youssra El Hawary, a singer/songwriter who playfully blends the sounds of Cairo’s underground music scene with French chanson, Indie rock and jazz.… Read More

An investment in knowledge pays the best dividends.
~ Benjamin Franklin

Perhaps there is no better example of that quote than the overwhelming success being posted by the Lebanon School District. Flying a bit under the radar without a constant, glaring spotlight shining on its contribution is the Student Services Program headquartered at the SAU#88 administrative offices at 20 Seminary Hill.

The Student Services Program’s comprehensive offerings help make Lebanon one of the finest school districts in the Granite State. Back in 2016 when Lebanon was named “The Best Small City” in the United States by livability.com, the Lebanon School District was a leading factor in gaining that award.… Read More

Community Access TV is “a conduit that fosters community connectedness,” says executive director Donna Girot. From its home in White River Junction’s TipTop building, “Its mission is to let all people find a voice. We provide training and equipment to all, for free. When there’s a problem in the community, we help solve it by helping people explain their ideas and points of view.” Donna has been at CATV for about a year. “The job seemed compelling,” she says, “because there are lots of challenges,” including that it’s the only (she thinks) community access station that contractually supports towns in two states.… Read More

It takes a special kind of athlete to play rugby. One who enjoys the challenge of a hybrid sport that involves continuous running, kicking and carrying the ball, being tackled, and passing only sideways and backwards. For the members of the Upper Valley Rugby Football Club, however, the sport is more than just a game with unusual rules, mud in your eye, and a checkered history. The Mountain Men (men’s team) and the Valkyries (women’s team) consider community service projects and genuine goodwill toward their teammates and opponents an essential part of the game.

The Upper Valley Rugby Football Club got its start in 2016 when Grant Gordon, once a local high school player, moved back to the area and wanted to play again, according to Brian Frampton, the men’s club president.… Read More

This hasn’t been a city project, and it hasn’t been a state project. It’s been a community project.

That’s Frank Gould at the July 21 grand opening of the Mascoma River Greenway. The 2.1-mile trail connecting Lebanon to West Lebanon has been more than a decade in the making, and, thanks to the enthusiastic work and support of hundreds of leaders and volunteers in Lebanon, it is finally a reality. In fact, the Mascoma River Greenway had support extending beyond the city limits: “It’s an incredible project for the Upper Valley – not just Lebanon, but the whole community – that shares a singular identity,” says Frank, speaking to an audience of more than sixty people gathered on the Alice Peck Day Homestead lawn.… Read More

When Kathy Petuck joined the Lebanon Garden Club in the late ’80s, she and her husband Clifton Below were the youngsters, and the club had a strong social aspect with monthly meetings and guest speakers. Since the club’s founding in the 1950s, the seasoned gardeners of the time had been enjoying each other’s company around their shared love of gardening. The group planted hundreds of flowers for the many public gardens in Lebanon and West Lebanon.

More than 60 years later, Lebanon Garden Club members are still planting around 600 plants each spring, providing Lebanon residents and visitors with joyful mounds of three-season color.… Read More

If you live in New Hampshire, there’s a good chance you know someone who has been affected by opioid addiction. The opioid crisis has been a long time in the making, and by 2014 Jeff De Flavio, then a medical student at Dartmouth College, had noticed an unsettling trend: despite the prevalence of addiction, treatment providers either weren’t addressing the problem adequately, or their programs were prohibitively expensive, with intake appointments alone costing as much as a thousand dollars. Sometimes, even with the high cost, the programs were full, leaving those struggling with addiction to wait on long lists to receive help.… Read More