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Aerospace and Engineering Helps to Preserve History

(Windsor, CT) This year, CREC’s Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Windsor is helping CREC celebrate its 50th anniversary.

To mark the momentous occasion, students and staff at the school designed a memory chest that was unveiled at CREC’s 50th anniversary kick-off event held January 26 at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford.

During the event, CREC filled the memory chest with items that represent different parts of the agency and its history, and the chest is now on display in the lobby of CREC’s central office building on Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford.

The memory chest, a U.S. Army officer’s trunk from the 1940s or 1950s, was redesigned to symbolize the acquired experiences, growth, history, and heritage of CREC’s first 50 years, and it resembles a well-worn traveler’s trunk because it includes a variety of stickers. Each sticker represents a different CREC magnet school or program. The inside, top of the trunk features a timeline of CREC’s history.

The trunk’s graphic design elements are printed on a vinyl wrap donated by Giordano Signs in Torrington. Paul and Michelle Gibson, the owners of the company, are the parents of CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering student Jacob Gibson.

The following items are included in CREC’s memory chest:A data scroll that represents more than 47,000 students who have participated in or graduated from the Open Choice program (formerly Project Concern)A copy of a CREC employee contract from 1976 for $3.07 per hourA stained glass photo from the Church of the Good Shepherd, CREC Central’s neighborA copy of CREC founder John J. Allison, Jr.’s thesisCopies of four CREC annual reportsA model of the Nucleus 6 Sound Processor, a modern, ear-level cochlear implant that was donated by Cochlear CorpsA Center for Creative Youth brochureA CREC Colts T-shirtAn album of student photosA Transition to Employment Services certificate of completionA shovel that represents CREC construction projects Blueprints for CREC Museum Academy and CREC Two Rivers Magnet High School construction projects

“The challenge of a project like this is at the core of what we do as a school,” said Jerry Crystal, CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering’s theme coach and project organizer. “It is very gratifying to know that our work is appreciated and that it will allow others to see the impact that CREC has made over the past 50 years.”

CREC was established in 1966 by John J. Allison, Jr., who returned to Connecticut after earning his doctorate from Harvard University. With the help of a federal grant through the Wethersfield Board of Education, Allison launched the Metropolitan Effort Toward Regional Opportunity (METRO), which was soon folded into CREC, a cooperative, grassroots project created by area boards of education.

CREC started out small, but has grown into an agency that operates 18 award-winning interdistrict magnet schools, more than 120 programs and services, and a collection of the best programs and schools for students with special needs in the country.

“As an organization, we are proud of our accomplishments and the many ways that we’ve helped Connecticut children and families throughout the years,” said CREC Executive Director Greg Florio, Ed.D. “CREC has been successful in its endeavors, but we also understand that we have a timeless mission—one that will require us to continue to be diligent, efficient, and compassionate lifetime learners. We’ve seen what can be accomplished in 50 years. Imagine what can do in the next 50.”


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