Latest news with #LexingtonHighSchool
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Grab a coffee, meet Sal Frelick and support a cause close to the red-hot Brewers outfielder's heart
PHILADELPHIA – Sal Frelick's game hasn't changed all that much since he starred at Lexington High School in suburban Boston: Scrappy at-bats, hustle on the bases and crashing into walls playing defense. Sal Frelick poses with his friend Malachi, who he met through the Best Buddies program in high school, during a series at Fenway Park in 2024. His passions off the field haven't, either. Advertisement Beginning early in his high-school years when he was a standout three-sport athlete who held Division-I baseball offers as a freshman and started at quarterback on varsity as a sophomore, Frelick befriended a group of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, from eating lunch with them in the cafeteria to stopping to give them high fives in the hallways. It didn't take long before he learned about Best Buddies, a nonprofit group that operates frequently in schools that connects individuals with disabilities to other students. 'I had just been friends with these kids in the hallways, so I was like, 'Sounds fun,'' the Milwaukee Brewers right fielder said. 'So me and my buddies decided to join the club. It was awesome.' Involvement with Best Buddies carries over As Frelick rose athletically, eventually committing to Boston College for baseball and becoming the Massachusetts Gatorade player of the year in football, he always had his supporters from Best Buddies in the crowd to watch. Advertisement 'I just think I found a connection with them,' he said. 'They would come cheer me on at baseball, football, hockey games, then you'd see them in the hallway and they'd be so excited to see you. I became close friends with some of them. It was awesome.' Frelick met one of his best friends to this day, Malachi, through Best Buddies. The two go out to dinner – the tab's on the Gold Glove winner – each off-season in the Boston area, where Frelick still resides. Frelick's passion for supporting individuals with disabilities hasn't gone anywhere, either. His hometown partakes in Unified Basketball, a league where individuals both with and without intellectual disabilities play basketball together on the same team. Frelick has friends on the team and they face off against other towns from the area. At the league's big jamboree event, Frelick not only attends but, in conjunction with New Balance, comes armed with shoes and sweatshirts to give to all the athletes. Advertisement "It's a pretty cool event," Frelick said. Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick poses for a picture with friends from the Best Buddies program at the Unified Basketball jamboree. An opportunity to support a good cause Frelick's aim entering this season was to get involved with the cause of supporting intellectual disabled individuals in his second home, Milwaukee. So when there was a Best Buddies tailgate at a Brewers game in April, he wandered out to the parking lots in full uniform before the game and stopped by. A couple weeks later, Frelick attended the Best Buddies friendship walk in Oconomowoc for conversation, autographs and pictures. 'I hadn't done anything here but I knew Wisconsin had a big chapter (of Best Buddies), so I wanted to see if I could get involved in some way,' Frelick said. Advertisement There, Frelick met Mackenzie Edinger, owner of Inclusion Coffee Company. The Hartland coffee shop, opened in 2022, which was founded with the mission of giving individuals with disabilities the opportunity to work. 'My idea was to give our friends with disabilities a place to work after high school and at a job they wanted,' Edinger said. 'Not just at a place that hires you.' Edinger heard that Frelick was coming to the walk but figured it would be for a brief speech or a few photos. Instead, he stuck around the whole time, including for a brief chat with Edinger in which she informed him of Inclusion and its mission. Frelick offered to stop by and meet the staff, which is largely made up of those with disabilities. 'He said, 'Absolutely, get in touch with me and I'll stop at the shop if you want me to,' Edinger said. 'Whatever's gonna help you the most.' Advertisement What ended up being best for the shop has become a meet-and-greet, open to the public, at Inclusion on Saturday, June 7, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Located at 3152 Village Square Drive in Hartland, it's a chance to grab a coffee, get a photo with Frelick and see the mission of the shop up close. Edinger says pictures will be allowed but is asking fans to not seek autographs at the event, meant to support Best Buddies and Inclusion employees. 'We obviously both are very passionate about the same cause, so it will be a fun morning,' Edinger said. 'And he'll have time after to go to his game.' This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sal Frelick to appear at Milwaukee coffee shop to support Best Buddies
Boston Globe
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Get ready for the no-longer-PG-13 Pete Holmes tour
Advertisement It didn't take him long to realize some of his best material didn't fit. After one show in Austin, he scrapped the idea and renamed the tour. 'I was like, I don't want to do stand-up with one hand tied behind my back,' he said. 'I want to hit as hard as I can. I want to be as honest as I can. And I really want to make people laugh so hard, and sometimes you want to talk about pushing Hitler's dad off of Hitler's mom, and that was my favorite joke. It is still my favorite joke.' The show he's touring now is all new material, and he's got a filmed special he's currently shopping around to streamers. Holmes's comedy springs from a number of frictions. He has acknowledged that he looks like he should be a youth pastor playing guitar for a rec hall full of teenagers (and in fact, was headed toward becoming one after being raised in an evangelical Christian family and attending Gordon College, a Christian school). And yet he will tell jokes about sex and bodily functions with somewhat explicit language. On top of that, some of his material reflects deep spiritual and intellectual questions about the nature of religious beliefs, or why, if everything is made of molecules, does his hand not just pass through a stool when he pats it (a topic he explored with Neil deGrasse Tyson on the 'You Made It Weird' podcast). Advertisement The origin of the molecules bit came from one of Holmes's teachers at Lexington High School, who explained that a hand and a table are both made of molecules, and science doesn't have a reason why the hand doesn't just become part of the table when they touch. 'I was like, that's amazing,' Holmes remembered. 'I can't believe he's saying this. So I picked it up from LHS, and then I said it two decades later onstage, and then Neil deGrasse Tyson was checking my work, and thank goodness that that teacher and my memory were correct.' According to Holmes, these disparate elements came together in him organically. He did not set out to be a wholesome-looking comic shocking people with scatological references. 'There was no scheme of going like, 'I look like I have resting Latter Day Saint face,' right?' he said. 'I look like more of a missionary. Well, wouldn't it be devilish if I went up and talked about whatever – adult topics?' Advertisement In the beginning of his career, if the material was slanted a bit more toward pure silliness, that was still germane to Holmes's thoughts at the time. Now, Holmes and his wife have moved out of the city to a place where life moves a little more slowly, and that space is reflected in the new hour. 'I'm authentically reporting on what it's like to be a 46-year-old man alive today and feeling what it feels like,' he said. 'If I'm gonna write down a joke, I'm stealing time from, like, family dinner. It better be good.' Holmes had always wanted to talk about religion in a deeper way onstage, but it wasn't until he was 33 that he was able to shed his inhibitions enough to address it head on. He remembers a specific show with fellow Mass. native Eugene Mirman at Union Hall in Brooklyn where he debuted a joke about how he loves Jesus, but it's just his followers he's not crazy about, making the comparison that you could love football and still think the people in the stands are insane. It was a baby step, but an important one. 'It was my first little foray into that,' Holmes said. 'But to tell that joke, I had to say, 'I love Jesus.' And even in a hipster bar in Park Slope, saying, 'I love Jesus,' my heart rate, like, shot. I got sweaty. I fumbled it.' Part of his hesitancy was that he is always questioning his beliefs, and had no interest in trying to make a sweeping pronouncement for his audience to agree or disagree with. He just wanted to become, as he describes it, 'unembarrassed' to make a statement. 'I didn't even know if that was true,' he said. 'Did I love Jesus? It would have been more honest to say I was raised with Jesus, and I have a warmth and a fondness for that, but I didn't even know who I was, and it took a really, really long time.' Advertisement There are practical concerns to the way Holmes constructs his act. Sometimes the silly stuff is a necessary break after a heavier question. And Holmes doesn't see a philosophical conflict with presenting the two things together. 'I think there's something powerful in sort of a warts-and-all approach to what I'm trying to create,' he said, 'because I take issue with the fact that God – or the creator of the universe, or whatever you want to say, the essence of the universe – prefers it if you and I only talk about gumdrops and lollipops. I really think that's actually aggressively offensive and an echo of our weird, puritanical past.' Holmes thinks the taboos about profanity and sex are perhaps focused on the wrong things. Those aren't the dangerous concepts. 'It's the banal, stodgy, tick, 'Isn't winning great? Isn't eating great? Isn't being right great?'' he said. 'There's nothing of value being transmitted. There's nothing interesting being challenged. Everyone went in thinking that bacon is the best, and everyone's leaving thinking bacon is the best.' He promises his audiences won't catch him ginning up a self-righteous joke where he came up with exactly the right thing to say to put some mythical jerk in their place. Not when there's an opportunity to tell people about something joyful, something that eased his stress or anxiety. 'In the second half of my career, you won't find me telling a story where I'm the smartest and the best and I won, and everyone else is an idiot,' he said. 'And I actually think that's the metric. Is it ugly? Not, 'is it clean or dirty.' Is it ugly? Is it helpful?' Advertisement But then he laughs at himself, noting some people would think he was a joke for talking so high-mindedly in contrast to the amount of thought he's actually provoking. He smiles modestly, maybe hopefully, that there's something meaningful to take away from his work. 'You know, a little bit.' PETE HOLMES: PETE HERE NOW At The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston, Aug. 23, 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Tickets: $35-$55.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
Case of Lex teacher charged with endangering children dismissed on boy's request
LEXINGTON – The case against a Lexington High School teacher charged with endangering children has been dismissed at the request of the alleged victim. What is in dispute is what actually happened. Jim Steele, 37, is a health and physical education teacher at the high school, as well as an assistant football coach. According to the initial police report, Steele made a sophomore boy do push-ups on hot asphalt on Aug. 29 during a week with a heat advisory that delayed the next day's varsity football game an hour. He was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor. The trial was supposed to begin Tuesday in Mansfield Municipal Court before Judge Mike Kemerer. Instead, the sophomore asked for the case to be dismissed. He chose Good Friday for his request. "In support of this motion, the State submits that the victim, after dealing with this case for nine months, has decided that there is no better day than Good Friday to show grace and forgiveness," Scott Christophel, assistant law director for the city of Norwalk and the special prosecutor in this case, wrote in his motion to dismiss. "God forgives us whether we deserve it or not and the victim wishes to do the same," Christophel noted. Defense Attorney James Mayer III reacted to the case's resolution. "First of all, we don't have any control over what the other side puts in a motion to dismiss," he said. Mayer added he was not surprised by the motion. "I feel like it's the right outcome. I feel strongly about that," he said. "From the beginning, there was never a negotiation in this case. There was never going to be any negotiation. This was either trial or dismissal." The parents of the sophomore supported his decision. "I couldn't be more proud of his courage," the boy's father told the News Journal. "It was a more mature decision than most men would make." Mayer said the reason behind the dismissal was a first for him. "In my 25-year career, I've never seen a case dismissed based on an upcoming religious holiday," the defense attorney said. "It's my opinion and the opinion of my co-counsel (Sean Boone), that had we tried this case, it was going to be clear that the case was built on a series of false accusations, lies." The News Journal is not naming the father to protect the juvenile's identity. Steele has been with Lexington Local Schools since August 2021. He has been on administrative leave virtually the entire school year. Superintendent Jeremy Secrist did not return calls from the News Journal seeking comment. The alleged victim said Steele seemed to take offense about him wanting a "chest day" instead of conditioning. A typical chest day workout includes a mix of pressing and pulling exercises to target the pectoralis major, minor and anterior deltoid muscles. He said the teacher made him get down on the hot asphalt and do "shuffle push-ups" down the track, an allegation Mayer disputes. According to the initial police report, the boy fell about the 30-yard line because his hands were burning. He said Steele told him to start over and had him do the push-ups on the grass. Two security cameras on the football field recorded the incident. There was no audio. "I don't want people to think this man is innocent," the boy's father said, adding the family has not received an apology or an acknowledgement of wrongdoing from Steele. "As parents, that was tough to accept." Mayer, however, said the video exonerates his client. "In 2025, it's trial by video," he said. "We don't have to just take the word of what someone says anymore as to what happened. In addition to that, we also had six eyewitnesses, six students that were taking the class." Mayer said their versions supporting Steele were consistent when they talked to Lexington police and high school Principal Jamie Masi in separate interviews. "The students stated that the workout did not seem like punishment and that Mr. Steele did not appear mad," School Resource Officer Mike Glennon wrote in his report. "When asked if (boy) was forced to do the workout, the students stated that he was given an option to do the plank walks or the conditioning, and he chose to do the plank walks." Mayer added he was going to call all six boys to testify, as well as Steele, whom he called a decorated Army combat veteran with no prior record. "He has made it his life's work to coach and help young people get the very most out of their athletic ability," Mayer said, adding he has never seen such an outpouring of support for one of his clients. "The eyewitnesses' families called this office, at least three or four of them, and said that their kids wanted to do anything they could to make sure that the truth got out there of what happened that day." After leaving the track, the boy told police when he went to the field house and showed Steele his hands, the teacher brushed him off and told him to get the battle ropes, another exercise involving use of hands. The sophomore said he stayed after class to run his palms under cold water. "You can take choice out of the matter," the boy's father said. "If you as a teacher or coach, if you provide something as a workout and you oversee it, you're responsible for any injuries that occur, and you're obliged to provide care." His parents said the boy sustained second-degree burns across his palms after doing 117 push-ups. "By the second or third day, there were full-on blisters covering his hands," his father said. While Mayer acknowledged the boy had blisters, he said, "I don't think we're here to contest that the track was hot. What we're here to say is that he was never told to get down on the track." The defense attorney added "without guidance," the boy did push-ups on the track on his own. When he complained of the heat, Mayer said Steele told him he could do push-ups on the grass. According to Mayer, when the boy still felt the surface was too hot, Steele gave him the option of going back to the originally scheduled conditioning. The defense attorney said Steele went out of his way to give the alleged victim a different workout from the other students. "Steele could have shut that down and said, 'No, it's conditioning. That's what we're doing,''' Mayer said. "When you have English class and it's time to read 'Lord of the Flies,' you don't go to the teacher and say you're going to read comic books." The boy's father said his son was going through trial preparation before making his decision. "I think he's been frustrated and upset. I think he wanted justice," the father said. The family's faith has been a source of comfort while the case has been pending. The boy is active in his church. "We have spent a lot of time praying about the direction of this case," the boy's father said. "We wanted the best outcome for everybody. We wanted God to be honored; this gives glory back to Him." He added that the state made several attempts at a plea bargain. "We just wanted him (Steele) to admit that he did something wrong," the dad said. "I don't think Steele is a bad guy. I think he made a really bad decision or a series of bad decisions. There was a solid case, and there was a high probability he would have been found guilty. "I want people to know it happened." Asked if he thought Steele did anything wrong, Mayer was succinct. "This is an easy one. I don't," the defense attorney said. "These videos confirm what happened that day, and we had six eyewitnesses." mcaudill@ 419-521-7219 X: @MarkCau32059251 This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Endangering children case against Lexington teacher dismissed
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘A better future': Local high school students compete in Personal Finance Challenge
Stocks, bonds, high yield savings accounts. It's not a requirement to teach personal finance in Massachusetts public schools, but some local high school students put their knowledge to the test---to earn a spot in a national competition. This isn't your typical school day for a bunch of high schoolers from the greater Boston area. Eight teams of four competed in the National Personal Finance Challenge at the MFS Investment Management Campus in Boston by creating case scenarios—-using their personal finance knowledge. 'When you're talking about personal finance, you're really talking about earning income, then what do you do with that income, right? Saving, investing, spending, credit,' said the Chief Program Officer for the Council of Economic Education Chris Caltabiano. The CEE Chief Program Officer Chris Caltabiano says the non-profit's mission is to bring economic education to students so that they can manage their own financial lives. 'They're going to be doing this every single day of their lives thinking about their personal financial lives and so having this knowledge now is going to set them up for success down the road,' said Caltabiano. To test their skills, every year the CEE hosts the National Personal Finance Challenge where thousands of students participate in a written test—then move on to a case study round. The students present how they think a young professional should spend, save and invest their money. This is Oliver Sin's second year competing. He says he's lucky to have several economics classes available at Milton Academy—-fueling his drive to learn more about personal finance. 'I try and talk to everyone I can about it just because I think it's so it's such an easy step to take but it's so important for your future as like the old saying goes a penny saved is a penny earned,' said Milton Academy Senior Oliver Sin. 'So the quicker you start the easier it is.' And he's been applying what he learns in the classroom—to his own life. 'Through trial and error, I can apply stuff that I see from my own eyes is working and I think that's really the perspective that people should be going into personal finance with,' said Sin. 'So much of this is setting you up for a better future and I feel like I can confidently go into living alone and being a young adult with these skills,' said Rebecca Zhang, a senior at Lexington High School. Zhang is on the all-female team representing Lexington High School. She says because of her finance knowledge, she already offers advice. 'I do have friends asking me where should I put my money? Would it be better to put it into a savings account, a checking account, or stocks? And it's nice being able to help my friends with stuff like that,' said Zhang. Right now, Massachusetts schools have no personal finance requirements, but there are currently a few bills in the State House that could change that. Caltabiano says research shows that taking a finance course in high school has an impact on your financial future. 'They have higher credit scores,' said Caltabiano. 'They tend to take on a lower amount of debt. If they choose to go to college, they tend to take loans that have a better interest rate.' MFS President Carol Geremia says the more knowledge, the better relationship with money. 'The minute they graduate, they're going to be thinking about how to get a job and their income, but how important it is for them to understand the basics of what to do with their money,' said MFS President Carol Geremia. 'So, so critical.' The all-girls team from Lexington High School won the state competition. That means they will be moving on to the final round in Atlanta, Georgia in June. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
