LIFE

For years, Superintendent Alan B. Bookman has spent part of a May board of education meeting lauding the careers of educators taking their final bows and heading off into retirement. This May was different. In addition to saying goodbye to a dozen teachers and administrators, Bookman himself will retire after 55 years in education.

Excellence Across Our Schools: A sampling of some recent student awards:

Students at Elizabeth Green School are not just learning reading, writing and arithmetic. They are also learning how to make healthy choices when it comes to the food they eat. At the conclusion of a recent program called “Eat Local, Eat Healthy,” these youngsters visited the Rooster Co. restaurant in Town Center.

Amber and Banner were celebrities for a day at Corpus Christi School in Wethersfield. An assembly of excited students met the two dogs that are trained to serve people with disabilities including former military personnel who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

During his retirement announcement to the board of education earlier this month, Superintendent Alan B. Bookman said he never forgot his roots as a math teacher.

Glastonbury public schools has completed the hiring process for three outstanding elementary school principals. We are confident that these accomplished and dynamic school leaders will be successful.

Forget sports—this competition may be harder than anything requiring physical aptitude. King Philip Middle School’s Team 1 will represent West Hartford and the U.S. when they go to New Zealand in July to compete in the Kids’ Lit Quiz, an annual literature contest for students aged 10-13. They’ll be competing against teams from around the world in an intense and brainy battle of the books.

When building a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, some pieces fit together easily and naturally, but others we may try from many different angles before we make an accurate connection. This process is often frustrating and time-consuming, but once we have endured all the attempts, the complete picture makes the toil worthwhile.