KENT — Kent Center School’s eighth-grade class was the first in the state to implement the state-mandated Student Success Program (SSP). At the Board of Education meeting held Feb. 21, Principal Florence Budge reported that the new program was begun the first week of January. The program seminars will continue through the months of March and April, she said. In the next school year, the SSP program will be implemented in the sixth grade. SSP is a program designed to help students develop a plan of action for achieving their goals.Next year, the students’ portfolios will go digital, with the introduction of a program called Naviance. That program is already being used at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS). It will allow teachers for grades six to eight to view the progression of students as they move through school.It was also reported that a new student data system, Power School, is being installed at KCS. Two staff members have begun attending workshops to learn how it works. All KCS teachers will be required to be familiar with the system by the beginning of the next school year.Students in grades three and four will participate in a special computerized pilot program in language arts and math, Budge reported. Questions on the test will be aligned to the Common Core State Standards being established for all schools in Connecticut.The students are also learning about culture and the world. Earlier this month, Kent Center School mother Toni Presti visited the first grade with some of her students from the Marvelwood School on Skiff Mountain. The high school students put on a presentation about Chinese new year.Seventh-grade student Alice Benjamin was selected to perform at the Northern Region Music Festival at Lewis Mills High School in Burlington, Conn., on March 1 and 2. She was chosen for her outstanding trumpet playing.At the end of January, KCS first-graders enjoyed a one-hour program called, “Wings, Bills and Other Bird Thrills,” put on by Sharon Audubon. Budge said Sharon Audubon works closely with the Region One schools to tie their programs with the Region One science curriculum.Budge said almost 30 KCS faculty members traveled by bus to the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven for a professional development day on Feb. 15. The purpose of the museum visit was to enhance instruction by implementing Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) in classrooms.VTS is supposed to help students develop visual literacy skills. VTS can be applied to all subject areas.The Kent representative to the Region One Board of Education, Jonathan Moore, reported the regional board expects to have a surplus of about $288,000 for the current fiscal year. And he said the high school’s 2013-14 budget will be based on a projected decreased enrollment, to 413 students. The cost will be approximately $23,900 per student. Chamberlain said, “While enrollment at KCS usually remains flat, enrollment at the other Region One schools is forecast to drop.” Board of Education member Rob Ober asked Chamberlain, “Are people feeling things are improving at HVRHS?” The superintendent replied, “Yes.”Chamberlain also said the central office is looking at offering college credit courses at the high school in the future.Commenting on a recent public hearing in Kent on reinstating the resident state trooper program, Chamberlain said, “A resident state trooper in Kent would be a useful resource for Kent Center School.”She also announced that, as of now, the last day of school is scheduled for June 18. But that could change if there are more snow day school closings.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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