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The Swellesley Report

Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

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Government meetings for week of July 7
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Business Buzz—Sugaring NYC offers free services as part of soft opening; Wellesley Bakery actually took a vacation

July 8, 2025 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Book your free service at SugaringNYC

As part of SugaringNYC’s soft opening from July 11–13, the new 24 Church St. organic waxing and lash studio is offering complimentary sugaring services and $25 lash lifts. “Whether you’re new to sugaring or a longtime fan, you’re invited to experience the smooth, clean difference,” says business owner Sandy Kumar.

Book your appointment here (the free sugaring and $25 lash lift is available under services>free sugaring by trainee), or via e-mail at wellesley@sugaringnyc.com

SugaringNYC, Wellesley
SugaringNYC, 24 Church St., Wellesley, will have its soft opening July 11-13.

The term “sugaring” refers to the ingredients used by the business for its chemical-free hair removal process. “Unlike traditional waxing, which uses hot wax that can cause burns, ingrown hairs, and skin irritation, sugaring employs a gentle paste made from only three ingredients—organic sugar, lemon, and water. This method is not only gentle to the skin and less painful, it also helps reduce the growth of unwanted hair over time with regular treatments,” Kumar explains.

SugaringNYC will transition from its soft opening to its official opening on July 14.


Wellesley Bakery leaves town temporarily bereft of goodies

After 31 years, the much-appreciated owners of Wellesley Bakery are finally took a well-deserved vacation together. The 542 Washington St. spot in Wellesley Square closed shop July 3-8, and will reopen on Wednesday, July 9.

When you learn more about Wellesley Bakery owner Mara Nuon and his family, you’ll understand why they can use some time off (and wonder why they didn’t do this sooner!).

Wellesley Bakery
We don’t know where the Wellesley Bakery crew went on vacation, but we’re glad they’re coming back.

Know of Wellesley businesses coming or going? Let us know: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

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Filed Under: Business

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Wellesley High Class of ’55 Celebrates 70th Reunion

July 8, 2025 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley High School (WHS) Class of 1955, the “Fabulous Fifty Five,” held its 70th Reunion at the Wellesley Country Club on Friday, June 20.  Attending were 17 classmates as were some significant others. A dozen other class members had made contact that they couldn’t make the Reunion because of distance, et al.

Class President Kent Campbell spoke words of welcome, to the assembled.

Class members Tory DeFazio, who has helped organize WHS Class of 1955 reunions for many years, and Roy Switzler, both Wellesley residents, helped coordinate this year’s gathering and mentioned how important it was to keep connected to classmates over the years.

Contact has been made with 43 classmates this year. Members of the class range in age from 87 to 90.

The Class of 1955 had 189 graduate from WHS on June 8, 1955, at Wellesley College’s Alumnae Auditorium (Walsh Auditorium), The class was the first to graduate from the present Wellesley Middle School (WMS), formerly Wellesley Junior High School, in 1952. Since graduation, the Class of 1955 has had 10 Class of ’55 Reunions.

In 1955 there were less than 700 students across the three grades at Wellesley High School. The high school has now greatly expanded to about 1,300. The original 1938 building was replaced by a new high school building in 2012.

 

WHS Class Reunion - 70th
Seated: l to r:  Sandy Fisher Marchetti , Joanne Woods, Alice Randall Campbell, Nina Thornton Asgeirsson, Bertie Cooney Burns, Myna Homsey MacDonald, Sandy Janse Mulhern, Ellie Lindholm Williams. Standing: l to r: Tory DeFazio, Roy Switzler, Peter McFarlin, Gigi Gallerani, Kent Campbell (Class President), Frank Mutrie, Gus Marchetti, Phil Read, Ed Cronin

Kingsbury School alumni
Kingsbury School alumni. Seated (l to r): Joanne Woods, Tory DeFazio. Standing (l to r): Peter McFarlin, Gigi Gallerani, Gus Marchetti

No, The Swellesley Report wasn’t around in 1955, but your tax-deductible donations can help us last well into the future.

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Filed Under: Education, Wellesley High School

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Wellesley RDF give-and-take does have its limits

July 8, 2025 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Just because something isn’t nailed down at Wellesley’s Recycling and Disposal Facility doesn’t mean it’s for the taking. One minute, a contractor set down a charger and battery in the books area. The next minute, the valuable equipment was gone. Bummer for the worker who lost his stuff last week, and maybe for Wellesley’s reputation if word gets out about our sticky fingers.

Wellesley RDF
Never come between contractors and their tools.

We weren’t texting, we swear

In other dump news, thanks to Superintendent James Manzolini for getting right on a broken glass situation when we called it in yesterday morning. After completing our weekly trash drop-off run, we were forced to swerve around multiple large shards scattered at the entrance/exit area, the kind that can shred tires. Our car didn’t incur any damage, but the driver behind us may have thought we were TWD—until that driver’s moment of panic kicked in.


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Filed Under: Dump

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Vibe with nature’s brightest insects and the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust

July 7, 2025 by admin Leave a Comment

Light up your night! ️Join Wellesley Conservation Land Trust Board Member, Chris Crowley, on a guided walk of Boulder Brook Reservation learning about and scouting out fireflies! Last year’s walk was crazy good. Safely catch & release.

Meet at Bates Elementary School parking lot by the fields, 116 Elmwood Rd, Wellesley, at 8:15pm, on Wednesday, July 9 (raindate, July 10).

Please wear mosquito protective clothing. Go light on insect repellant!

Sign up here (recommended but not required) so you can be contacted if the walk is postponed due to weather.

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, Firefly Walk
Firefly Walk, 2025.
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Filed Under: Animals, Bates Elementary School, Environment, Outdoors

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Reptiles rule on Wellesley’s newest traffic box painting

July 7, 2025 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Ellen Kim, with completed traffic box painting in front of Warren Building
Ellen Kim, with completed traffic box painting in front of Warren Building

 
The freshest Wellesley traffic box painting, just completed this weekend, features a colorful menagerie of reptiles, such as lizards, a snake, and turtle.

Wellesley High School student Ellen Kim is the artist, and we happened by the box located on the sidewalk in front of the Warren Building (90 Washington St.) just as she was finishing the painting.

Rebecca Crane painting electrical box at Warren Park
Rebecca Crane chips in on daughter’s painting

 
Kim had been aware of other high school students that had taken part in the town’s traffic box art program, so came up with a design on a whim and submitted it. The program, in place since 2020 and coordinated by the town’s Public Art Committee and Police Department, has resulted in public art displays across town from Wellesley College to Linden Square to Wellesley Lower Falls. Kim’s painting replaces a design that had been done by a previous Wellesley High student.

Kim says it took about 40 hours to complete the traffic box painting. The student had assistance from a friend on the stenciling, and when we first saw the painting in progress, it was Kim’s mom, Rebecca Crane, reaching the high parts of the box.

Among the inspirations for the design: The family’s crested gecko pet.

Boxes in front of the Hardy Elementary School on Weston Road and another in Lower Falls are also being repainted as part of the public art program.

The Traffic Box Art Program is funded through donations to the Wellesley Police Department.

@swellesleyreport Lizards & their reptile friends rule at newly painted electrical box in #Wellesley Hills #publicart #chameleon #turtle #snake ♬ Rattlesnake – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

More:

  • Artists transform four more Wellesley electrical boxes (2020)
  • Wellesley moves to strengthen arts and culture scene with new strategic plan

 


Our version of public art is writing for Swellesley. Please consider supporting our independent venture with a tax-deductible donation.

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Filed Under: Art

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Wellesley High robotics team teaching campers more than technical skills

July 7, 2025 by Zoe Chen Leave a Comment

Robotics camp
Photo by Zoe Chen

 
The Wellesley High School robotics team, called Team Ultraviolet, held its first of three summer workshops earlier this summer at the former Upham Elementary School building. The workshops are a five-day, summer-camp-like program open to third through sixth graders. The kids spend the week building mini rovers, which are battery powered and equipped with real electronic parts. 

The camp is run almost entirely by high school volunteers on the WHS robotics team. Throughout the week, volunteers present the kids with intentionally hard challenges, such as programming their rovers to navigate through mazes, to dance, or to play hot potato. The kids work in teams to solve the problems. 

Sessions have high volunteer-to-camper ratios, with some as low as six campers to 12 volunteers. Larger sessions can have more than 15 campers but maintain high ratios to give the kids personalized support. Stephanie Xia, the camp’s administrative captain, is a rising WHS senior who co-founded the workshops in 2023. 

“We’re not just teaching them the technical skills of how to build a robot, but also the kind of problem solving and collaborative thinking that will really help them in whatever they choose to do in the future, even if it’s not in robotics,“ Xia said. 

On the last day of camp, the kids get the opportunity to meet and operate Team Ultraviolet’s robot, a 120-pound bot the size of a minifridge and three times heavier. The kids use Xbox controllers to drive the robot, which picks up foam rings and shoots them into the air. The kids got a kick out of catching the rings once the robot threw them. 

“Every activity has a concept that we want the kids to learn, like loops, variables, basic movement. And then when they meet the big robot, it shows them that all this they’ve been doing with their rover kits…can all come into something as impressive as this,” Neha Guruprasad, the camp’s Impact Lead, said. 

The team’s robot, named C# after the programming language and the musical pitch, was built for their annual competition. The team, a school club at WHS, typically trains its members from September to December. Members build their robot from January to March, then compete with the robot from mid-March to June. Their yearly robot is required to perform specific tasks to coincide with the competition theme, which is released in January. This past year, the team made it past the preliminary competitions and advanced to the District Championships. 

All of this is expensive. Robot motors are individually $400 each, and combined with the expenses of other parts, the robot’s components can easily total thousands. Steep competition entry fees can also reach multiple thousands of dollars. 

Robotics camp
The WHS team’s 2023-24 robot, named C# (Photo by Zoe Chen)

Because robotics everywhere is an expensive activity, it isn’t uncommon for robotics teams to charge prospective members hundreds of dollars in sign-up fees. Team Ultraviolet is fiercely against this in order to create an accessible environment available to anyone with an interest in STEM. Instead, Wellesley’s team finds more creative means of raising the necessary funds, including hosting these summer workshops.

“While these workshops are a big source of funding for us, that’s a side benefit. We’re really just here to spread STEM, robotics, and soft skills like that that robotics has to offer to the children,” Guruprasad said. “We offer full scholarships for this camp to kids who need it, because really it’s not about the money. It’s more about filling up the workshops and getting kids to collaborate.”

The team will host two more workshop sessions in July and August, both of which still have availability, and plans to continue hosting summer workshops in years to come. 

“In terms of the future of the workshops, one thing we want to do is expand our age range. It’s always really unfortunate when there are kids interested in STEM who are either too young or too old for our workshops,” Xia said. “Also, we teach a similar curriculum every time with slight modifications. So next year we might work on expanding to have some other, varied curriculums. We are looking to do bigger and better things with the workshops next year, which is super exciting.”
 


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Filed Under: Camp, Education, Kids, STEM, Wellesley High School

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