8th Grade
Mary E. Wells Junior High
April 17th, 2001
"My Ideal Southbridge"
Southbridge has many possibilities!
It is up to us to make it happen! At last, we, the future adults have been
invited to give our views on our hometown, to indicate what kind of a world
we would like to be apart of. I hope my peers take advantage of this opportunity.
Our town was a prosperous place
and people chose to come here to live. We need to make it attractive again
by building on the strengths of this community to open some small boutiques
along Main Street such as: body/scent shops, art stores, small clothing
shops, café's, good quality shoe stores, and maybe new-age furniture/
trinket stores. Young adults have extra money to spend and could be induced
to spend it locally if there were appealing shops and merchandise. I like
to shop in Sturbridge, Northampton, Amherst, and at many malls; however,
I would prefer to spend my money in local stores except that there are
not many that interest me now!
When I visit Northampton with my
family, I see how similar Northampton is in structure to this town. If
the restoration project were successful then hopefully our town would evolve
into a similar if not more prosperous town.
The opening of a cinema in the
American Optical complex, would be such an advantage and a place for my
age group to spend our free time. Having a cinema would bring many people
from other communities to Southbridge. The complex would contain diverse
and interesting restaurants. The restoring of older structures, and making
the streets and parks more pleasant to walk along late on summer nights
then, those changes would be a plus on the downtown renewal project.
Additionally, if there were cycling
tours [or other pursuits such as hiking, or, perhaps if part of the train
track was relayed there could be a short train ride between Sturbridge
and Southbridge?] along the Grand Trunk Railroad and the picturesque reservoir.
There are many initiatives underway and we need to make them happen!
In conclusion, it is obvious that the town would improve with help from its elders as well as its younger generation. If we [the younger generation] would install and support some local stores, café's, bakeries, scent shops and other interesting boutiques then this would help bring life into our community and help in the revitalization of our town.