Nicole Keuchkarian (in yellow pants) poses with reporters in the newsroom of the Cunniff Kids News.
Keeping in step
with Miss Nicole
Watertown student grows up to own successful dance studio
If you are going to Faire on the Square in Watertown Saturday, you will see Nicole Keuchkarian and her dancers.
Keuchkarian owns the Nicole Studio of Dance (NSOD) in Waltham, right on the Watertown border, across the street from John Brewer’s restaurant.
Keuchkarian, 29, opened the dance school when she was 23 years old. She teaches students of all ages, from 3-year-olds in the morning to adults at night.
Miss Nicole, as some of her students call her, teaches jazz, tap, ballet, and hip-hop. Her favorite dance to teach and perform is tap.
“I love, love, love, love tap,” she said. “It’s one of my favorite things to do. I love to teach it, I love to do it.”
This Saturday, Sept. 26, students from her school will be dancing at Watertown’s Faire on the Square at 11:30 a.m.
Last year, her students danced at a Celtics game, where they met the players and their wives and children in the locker room before the game.
This year, some of her students will be traveling to the Magic Kingdom to dance. Keuchkarian has been to Disney before -- where she once swam with dolphins!
Keuchkarian started dancing when she was 3. She also played sports while growing up in Watertown, where she went to the Lowell School, Watertown Middle School, and Watertown High. Her favorite sport is baseball. She was the only girl on her team until high school, when she started playing softball.
“I’m a Yankees fan,’’ she said. “Of all the local teams, I’d have to say the Patriots are my favorite.”
She also played field hockey for Watertown High, and helped the team win the state championship twice. She also played field hockey for Regis College.
Her family owns two Watertown restaurants. Nicole and many members of her family work at both restaurants. The Talk is open for lunch and dinner on Main Street, across from the library, and the Talk of the Town diner on North Beacon Street.
“Talk of the Town has the best pancakes,” Keuchkarian said.
(Story reported and written by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters Daniel D., Domenic M., Shannon M., Patrick W., Owen G., Renee S., Isabella V., Elizabeth A., Mairead W., Dyanne B., Sam C., and TJ P.)
-- Sept. 23, 2009 --
Megan McDonald shows off her latest Judy Moody book while posing with reporters from the Cunniff Kids News.
Always in the Moody
for Judy
Megan McDonald talks about her books, her fans, and her PJs
By CHARLOTTE V. and ISABELLA V.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
(Megan McDonald is the author of dozens of books, including two wildly popular series about Juddy Moody and her brother, Stink. Megan spent a few moments with the Cunniff Kids News before the start of a recent Get Moody Day! put on by the Wellesley library and Wellesley Booksmith.)
Cunniff Kids News: Is it hard to write?
Megan McDonald: The hardest part is the revision. So I write a rough draft first and I work on that for months, and that parts really fun because it’s not as hard. But then you go back and you send it to your editor and your editor gives you all her feedback and then you really, really have to work hard to fine tune it and get every sentence right and make sure the plot all makes sense. To me, the hard part of writing is the long hours of rewriting. Most of the time it’s very fun. It’s a great job.
CKN: So what’s your favorite part of writing?
MM: My job is, basically, I get to think up stories all day and use my imagination. That’s kind of the best part.
One cool thing about my job is I get to go to work in my pajamas, because I have a little room in my house where I write, so I just go up and turn on the computer and I’m at work. So that’s kind of cool. And I can stay up late if I’m on a deadline, and I’m really working hard on a Judy Moody book, I can stay up working til like 2 in the morning.
I think another really great part is writers usually sit in a little room by themselves alone, so it’s really great when you get to come out and meet your readers and meet your fans and see all the kids that are actually reading your books. You feel like you’ve really had a part in connecting with kids and helping to make them into readers. That’s a cool part, too.
CKN: How do your write different series with the same characters?
MM: Well I do a lot of different kinds of books beside Judy and Stink. With Judy and Stink, the first Stink book was really hard because I was used to writing about Judy, obviously, and so Judy kept coming into the story and taking over the story. And I had to keep going, ‘Oh wait, I’ve got to cut this because this is turning into a Judy book.’ I had to keep reminding myself this was about Stink and that he got to be the center and it was more from his point of view. Now Stink sort of has his own world and his own friends and his stuff, but at the very beginning that was really hard to not just have it be a Judy Moody book.
To receive a 20 percent discount on ...“Judy Moody Goes To College”
take this coupon to Wellesley Booksmith and present it at the time of purchase.
Wellesley Booksmith, 82 Central St., Wellesley, Mass., 02482, 781-431-1160
--May 19, 2009--
Authors Will and Mary Pope Osborne, of Magic Tree House fame, pose with reporters from the Cunniff Kids News.
A view from the Tree House
Mary Pope Osborne wows readers the world over
By CAROLINE D., MEAGAN K., BETH P., RENEE S., and ISABELLA V.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
The Magic Tree House books weren’t always about a magic tree house.
Mary Pop
e Osborne, the writer of the series, says she tried seven different ideas for the books, including, The Magic Cellar, The Magic Art Studio, and The Magic Museum.
Pope Osborne said, “I don’t think this is going to work.”
But then she and her husband, Will, went for a walk in Pennsylvania and saw an old, broken-down tree house.
That night, some friends came over and talked about how the magic in the books would work. Her husband, Will, said, “Why don’t you put them in a tree house?”
So far, there are 40 Magic Tree House books and they have sold 53 million copies in North America alone. Pope Osborne said she has many other Magic Tree House books plann
ed, including books about Louis Armstrong, Mozart, Abe Lincoln, baby pandas, and leprechauns.
Pope Osborne tests book ideas on kids. She says she can tell how much they like them by the “Wow Factor.” The “Wow Factor” measures the sounds of interest made by the kids.
Wellesley Booksmith brought Pope Osborne to Wellesley Middle School on Valentine’s Day to sign autographs and to give a speech about her books and her new Magic Tree House play.
But she couldn’t sign books.
In October, she was crossing a street when she tripped and broke her left hand. The day she was on her way to get surgery on that hand, she fell on black ice and broke her right wrist. So, she stamped the books instead.
The Magic Tree House play is based on No. 29, “Christmas in Camelot.” At the start of the play, the characters go through the first 28 books in a six-and-a-half minute song, “How Far Can You See?”
“We joke that Mary did it [write 28 books] in 18 years and we did it in six minutes,” said Will, who wrote the play.
Pope Osborne said she likes books and plays because the audience has to use its imagination.
“Over the years, I turned down films, TV, and video games because you get your picture of Jack and Annie taken away from you,” she said.
The play was in Boston Feb. 21-22 at the Colonial Theater.
--3-11-09--
Cunniff School principal Stephen Billhardt (seated center, with red shirt and tie) sits among
reporters in the newsroom of the Cunniff Kids News.
The height of power
Cunniff principal goes to great lengths for his students
Stephen Billhardt has been a principal at a lot of schools.
He has been the principal at the Cunniff School in Watertown for four years. Before this job, he was a principal in Southboro, Mass., for nine years and in Michigan for two years.
“I like all the children at the schools,” Mr. Billhardt said. “I love being around kids 4 years old to 11 years old.”
Mr. Billhardt, 43, is tall. When asked how tall, he said, “Do you mean how tall standing up on a stool, or standing up on the ground?”
Mr. Billhardt is 6 feet 2 inches tall, but standing on a wooden library stool, he stands 8 feet 2 inches tall!
He is the youngest in his family. His parents, Jack and Pat, and his two older brothers John (known to everybody as Randy) and Greg lived in a spooky house in Connecticut. The house was a quarter-mile away from the nearest house, on a dead-end street, surrounded by trees and with big windows.
Sometimes he has nightmares about that spooky house.
“It would be in the middle of the night, dark outside, and I would be by myself, and I'd be peeking around the corner and someone would be there and I would be scared,” said Mr. Billhardt.
Still, Halloween is his favorite holiday because he gets to go out with his kids, he doesn't have to wrap presents, and because he likes candy so much he has a closet full of it in his office. He also likes Halloween because he gets to dress up like a dinosaur.
After growing up, he went to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, where he studied economics. A few years later, he started to study education.
Some of Mr. Billhardt's favorite things are yellow and blue (his favorite colors); playing ice hockey (“I like playing with the kids because it makes me feel like I am a better player”); hanging out with his two children; and cooked shrimp (“I don't like raw shrimp because it tastes yucky”).
Another favorite thing is his light navy blue tie that was made by children. He wears it every year on the first day of school.
(Story reported and written by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters Sabir H., Shannon M., Akram B., Caroline D., Meagan K., Jie Sen L., Tia P., Beth P., Sydney P., Christine S., Renee S., Isabella V., Elizabeth A., Shay D., Julia F., Mairead W., Ryan L., Rose M., Dyanne B., Sam C., Jia Yi L., Sean L., and TJ P.)
--Jan. 13, 2009--
Soon-to-be retiring second-grade teacher Janice Mandile (center) was interviewed by the
seven Cunniff Kids News staff reporters in her class this year.
"How can anyone forget
their last class?"
Janice Mandile has mixed emotions. She is retiring next month after teaching for 36 years.
“I’m happy and sad about retiring,” said Mandile, a second-grade teacher at the Cunniff School. “I want to move on.”
She said she will take some time for herself, then do some day care for her two grandchildren, and then maybe get a part-time job.
Mandile grew up in Watertown and went to Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. She said she chose this type of work because “my mother wanted me to become a teacher.”
“I was educated here,” Mandile said. “It was my turn to give back.”
She started at the Coolidge School in Watertown and came to the Cunniff when the Coolidge closed in 1983. She’s never taught higher than third grade and says that she’s “been on too many field trips to count.”
She said she doesn’t have any favorite kids, but the funniest thing she has seen is this year’s class during math.
“I will never forget this class,” she said. “How can anyone forget their last class?”
She said she started thinking about retiring when her friend Maryanne Fitzpatrick, a second-grade teacher, retired two years ago.
“I miss teaching with her,” Mandile said.
Mandile said she will miss her class, but it’s time to move on.
“I love being a teacher,” she said.
(Story written and reported by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters David K., Katherine L., Lauren P., Frederick P., Devin S., Renee S., and Isabella V.)
-30-
The Cunniff Kids News interviewed Smoosh -- Asya (back left), Maia (back, second from left), and Chloe
(back right) -- before the band's April 24 date at the Paradise.
Smoosh enjoys finding its way
Asya, Chloe, and Maia are too young to go to their own concert.
The three sisters make up the band Smoosh. Asya, 16, plays keyboards and is the lead singer; Chloe, 14, drums and sings backup; and Maia, 11, plays bass.
With songs written by Asya, Smoosh released, “She Like Electric” in 2004 and “Free to Stay” in 2006. The band is working on a new CD to be released in spring 2009.
“I don’t like to listen to the CDs because I think I can do better,’’ said Asya. “I sound different because I sound younger.’’
Smoosh is currently on a North American tour with Tokyo Police Club – playing to crowds 18 and older. The band was at the Paradise on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston April 24.
The sisters talked in the Paradise Lounge, before they had to help unpack the trailer and perform a soundcheck. The band drove up that day from New York. Before that, the sisters were in Europe. It was not Asya’s and Chloe’s first time touring overseas, but it was for Maia, who joined them on tour in 2007.
Maia took up the bass, she said, because it was convenient.
“It seems like bass would go with the songs like the ones Asya was writing,” Maia said.
When they choose to go on tour, they travel with one parent and a sound guy. Their other parent stays at home in Seattle with their 4-year-old sister. They try to keep up with their education by bringing as much homework as possible. They say that in the future they may bring a tutor or go to an internet school.
All three sisters are vegetarians. They say they have a hard time finding places to eat on the road because the most things they see are fast food restaurants.
They often stay in hotels, but they prefer to stay at friends’ houses because they get a little homesick. Plus, it saves money.
Most people would think the next logical step would be for the band to get involved with Disney, right?
Wrong.
“It seems like the people with Disney, their goal is to be super famous, but we’re in it for the music,’’ said Asya.
Her sisters agreed. “My goal is to keep playing music as long as we all like it,’’ said Chloe.
So if Disney called and offered them their own television show, what would they do? For now, they would call back and politely say, “No, thank you.”
“If we got involved with Disney, people would just be watching just because we’re young,’’ said Asya. “We want people to appreciate our music. We don’t want to be just a gimmick.”
(Story reported and written by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters Charlotte V., Renee S., and Isabella V., and CKN correspondent Andrea B.)
(For more information about Smoosh, go to the band’s homepage, www.smoosh.com. To watch the band’s video for “Find a Way,” go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqvdV4XFMVw.)
