Published in the August 10, 2017 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD – Thanks to a very generous gift from a Wakefield Memorial High alumnus, the WMHS football team will soon be sporting new uniforms.

Andrew S. Lombara, a 1988 WMHS graduate and a standout football player, has donated $10,000 to be used for the high school football program.

As co-captain of the Warrior football team, Lombara received All Scholastic honors. He also played hockey and participated in track while at WMHS.

Director of Athletics, Health and Wellness Brendan Kent talked about the gift and Tuesday’s School Committee meeting. Kent said that he had an opportunity to meet Lombara at his induction last spring into the WMHS Athletic Hall of Fame. Kent noted that after high school, Lombara went on to star on Harvard’s football team and even had a shot at playing in the NFL, but chose a career on Wall Street instead.

Lombara, who now lives in New York City, told Kent that he wanted to give something back to the school and the program that had done so much for him. He asked Kent what the athletic program needed.

A short time later, Kent received a letter arrived from Lombara. Enclosed was a check for $10,000.

“The timing was right,” Kent said. “We are up for new football uniforms and this donation will come in very handy.” He said that the new uniforms would be ready for next year, but allowed that there was an outside chance that they could debut toward the end of the upcoming season.

Because football uniforms are so expensive, Kent said, the choice would have been between buying new football uniforms or buying new uniforms for three other sports teams.

“This donation will allow us to do both,” Kent said.

—–

The School Committee also voted to accept a gift of $1,839 from the Wakefield Music Boosters to fund a stipend for the Tri-M Music Honor Society Advisor.

The Tri-M Music Honor Society, formerly known as Modern Music Masters, is a high school and middle school music honor society and is a program of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). It is designed to recognize students for their academic and musical achievements and to provide leadership and service opportunities to young musicians. Each school has its own chapter, which is run by the students but supervised by an advisor or sponsor, usually a school teacher. There are approximately 6,200 participating chapters in several countries.

—–

The School Committee accepted a gift of $1,500 from the Wakefield Alliance Against Violence to fund a stipend for the “Mentors in Violence Prevention” (MVP) program.

MVP provides the leadership necessary, within sport and beyond, to address the global issues of sexism – especially men’s violence against women. Through advocacy efforts and training programs, MVP seeks to educate, inspire and empower men & women to prevent, interrupt and respond to sexist abuse.

—–

In other business this week, the School Committee:

• Voted to appoint Thomas Markham as the School Committee’s liaison to the Permanent Building Committee.

• Named Maria Muti as one of the School Committee’s appointees to the Wakefield Human Rights Commission.