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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
WOODSTOCK --- "Oh my gosh, how are you?!"
Those were the words of the day as friends and family; colleagues old and new; students old and new, wished Al Cormier a wonderful retirement.
The assistant headmaster/principal at Woodstock Academy greeted hundreds of well wishers, some he's not seen for years, with "Oh my gosh, how are you?!" at the Al "Chief" Cormier Retirement Gala June 18.
Hundreds of handshakes and hugs continued all night long. Cormier started in 1988 at Woodstock Academy, serving as a guidance counselor through 1993. He then served as director of School Counseling Services until 2007 when he was named assistant headmaster/principal.
He worked at Marianapolis from 1970 through 1976 and at Putnam High School from 1979 through 1988. While at Putnam High he was a guidance counselor/coordinator coach of men's soccer and coach of women's soccer. From 1998 to 2002 he was the CT State Student Council Executive director and in 1998 he was the Warren E. Shull National Student Council Adviser of the Year.
Born in Putnam, he served in the U.S. Army's 25th infantry division serving in Vietnam. He retired from military service in 2001 as a major.
Cormier said he doesn't fish, but he does have plans for his retirement. He recently took up the violin and said he has a Model A he plans to bring out of storage and work on.
Asked what the biggest difference he's seen in education through the years, Cormier said "It's the move to standardize everything."
Given the differences in students' methods of learning, he said he finds it "very disturbing" that testing and education are now being standardized.