Town of Raymond searching for new Town Manager after Crocker resigns

By Ed Pierce

For the fourth time in 20 months, the Town of Raymond is seeking a Town Manager following the resignation of Joseph Crocker last week.

Raymond Town Manager Joseph
Crocker, who has served in that
position first as interim manager 
since March and then as the
permanent town manager since
May, has resigned and the town
will undertake a new search to
find a replacement.
FILE PHOTO    

Crocker, 37, had formerly served the town as Parks and Recreation Director, and was appointed to the Town Manager position in May succeeding Sue Look, who resigned in March. The Raymond Select Board had then tapped Crocker to serve as the interim Town Manager until a permanent replacement could be hired.

Look had served as Raymond Town Clerk before succeeding longtime Town Manager Don Willard in January 2024 upon his retirement. Willard had been Raymond’s Town Manager for 23 years until he became ill, and while recovering chose to retire from the Town Manager role. Willard was elected in June 2024 to serve on the town’s Budget and Finance Committee for a three-year term.

Originally from Saco, Crocker attended high school at Thornton Academy and then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. He later earned an MBA in sports and recreation management from New England College. Prior to coming to work for the Town of Raymond, Crocker worked in parks and recreation for Saco, Auburn, Kennebunk and Lewiston. In 2020, Crocker was hired to lead Raymond’s fledgling Parks and Recreation Department as director.

Crocker was hired for the Town Manager position after a competitive recruiting and hiring process conducted by HR Maine Consulting, LLC. All told, there were 46 applicants for the town manager position. Nine of those candidates participated in a rigorous essay and pre-screening process, with four candidates moving forward in the panel interview process, consisting of the Raymond Select Board Chair, Vice-Chair, a community member, town department heads, a Town Manager from another community, and Betsy Oulton from HR Maine Consulting.

His contract was for three years at an annual salary of $100,000.

Raymond Select Board Chair Denis Morse posted on the town’s website on Monday that he and all the Select Board members placed “high value” on Crocker as a town employee and that following his resignation, Morse asked him to remain as a town employee “and be a part of our ongoing work to devise a transition plan that included being mentored by an interim town manager.”

Before that could happen, rumors and misinformation began to swirl about Crocker’s departure, Morse said. He says this caused strife, anxiety and discomfort directed at other town employees as well as members of the Select Board.

According to Morse, this behavior, including some public comments made about the situation from former elected town officials “is the opposite of civil discourse and would be unconscionable even if this situation happened to be contentious or controversial, which it is not.”

Morse also posted a letter that the Raymond Select Board had received from Crocker which amended the timeline for his original resignation.

“I will stay on in a capacity to help with the transition to find a Town Manager who will bring experience that will fit the needs of the community,” Crocker wrote in the letter. “If this transition involves a space for me after the search has ended, I would be happy to stay in a different role if it works for everyone involved.”

Crocker said he does not wish any animosity toward the Town of Raymond but prefers to keep the reason he resigned private.

“When you provide services to a small town for so long, they become your friends,” he said. “All I can say is I have given my best effort to make the Town of Raymond better, and all I ask is that our elected officials act in good faith to do the same.” <

Windham stylist earns ‘International Women of Service Miss 2025’ title

By Ed Pierce

Deeply devoted to helping others in the community, Morgan Wing of Windham has been honored as the International Women of Service Miss 2025 at the organization’s pageant held Sept. 2 to Sept. 7 in Orlando, Florida.

Morgan Wing of Windham, 20, has been
crowned International Women of
Service Miss 2025 during a pageant in
Orlando, Florida from Sept. 2 to 
Sept. 7. She is a 2023 graduate of
Windham High School and an advocate
for children who are learning how to 
navigate in life while having
divorced parents.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
  

Wing, 20, has lived in Windham for 11 years and is a hairstylist at the All About U salon in Auburn. She hopes to someday own her own salon and is a 2023 graduate of Windham High School, going on to complete studies at the SpaTech Institute in Westbrook.

This is the fourth pageant title that Wing has won, and she says she was excited and humbled to hear her name called as the winner of the International Women of Service Miss 2025 Pageant.

“My personal platform is Separated not Different,” she said. “Through my platform, I advocate for children who are learning how to navigate having divorced parents. As someone who has divorced parents, I know the difficulties and emotions firsthand. So, I have partnered with Kids First Center, a non-profit that holds classes not only for the parents but also the children to learn how to navigate their new normal.”

According to Wing, she chose to compete in the International Women of Service Miss 2025 Pageant in particular because of its community service opportunities.

“My goal is to grow ‘Separated Not Different’ to reach as many people as possible,” she said.

As a student at Windham High School, Wing says she first became interested in pageants because one of her aunts was competing in one. Through her aunt’s encouragement, Wing took a chance and entered a pageant. She says it allowed her to step out of her comfort zone and prompted her to become more involved in her community, and to create an incredible platform of service to the community that she’s truly proud of.

International and American Women of Service Pageants exist to enrich the lives of women and girls of all ages through an unsurpassed pageant, sisterhood, and volunteer experience. ​The program offers contestants in their organization extraordinary opportunities for growth, personal achievement, community involvement, and excellence in a fun and trendy community of sisterhood.​Contestants are ambassadors of many worthy causes and charities and represent our platform, Crown of Service, and strives to be a pageant that is inclusive to all and has our core values at the forefront.

Winning the International Women of Service Miss 2025 Pageant took a concerted effort from Wing.

“Pageants take months of preparation in many different ways,” she said. “You have to find the perfect gown and your entire wardrobe, get out in your community and volunteer, grow your platform, practice your walking, prep for interviews and most importantly have fun with your title and sister queens.”

She says that of everything she worked on over the past year leading up to the International Women of Service Miss 2025 Pageant, improving her interview skills was at the top of her list and was worth the long hours and hard work she put into it.

“Leaving the interview room, I was so proud of myself for sharing my story with the judges,” Wing said

Her mother, Melissa Johnston, and stepfather Andrew Johnston live in Windham. Her father, Mike Wing, and stepmother Lindsey Wing, live in Englewood, Florida.

“My family and friends are so supportive of my pageant journey,” Wing said. “I even had 14 of my family and friends in the audience and many more watching the live stream of the pageant.”

Winning the title as International Women of Service Miss 2025 will present some amazing opportunities to travel and promote the organization and her personal platform, Wing said.

“I have plans to go to New York for our Forum event,” she said. “As a part of my prize package, I get to go on a Bahamas cruise with my sister queens.”

She wants the public to know that competing in a pageant builds confidence in young women and is not only meaningful to those who choose to compete but also for everyone in the community.

“Pageantry is about more than just dressing up and looking pretty,” Wing said. “It is about being an advocate for something you are passionate about, self-confidence, community involvement and so many other things. This organization embodies those qualities.” <

Windham rabbit keeper shares expertise at Fryeburg Fair

By Rachel Andrews Damon
Special to The Windham Eagle

If you love rabbits, and what’s not to love, then be sure to check out Fryeburg Fair’s Rabbit Barn. It’s been run by long-time rabbit expert Marie Bishop of Windham.

Long-time rabbit expert Marie Bishop of Windham leads 
Fryeburg Fair’s Rabbit Barn and the retired teacher has
been keeping rabbits since she was in her 20s. The fair's
Rabbit Barn is a showcase for rabbit breeders and 
people who keep rabbits for a hobby. 
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

The Bishops started as rabbit exhibitors at the Fryeburg Fair, and back then Marie volunteered to work in the building because she wanted to oversee her rabbits’ care. Today, Marie has a group of equally dedicated crew mem­bers that work hard in the building during the Fryeburg Fair and all of them love rabbits.

Rabbit Barn activity starts at 6:45 a.m. each day during the fair with crew and exhibitors cleaning rabbit cages, feeding and general caretaking. They’ve got many breeds to name just a few: Ango­ras, Lops, Flemish Giants, Chinchillas, Silver Fox, New Zealands, and Dwarf Hotots.

Now in her 70s, Marie moved to Maine from Peabody, Massachusetts, in 1977. As a child, her family vacationed in Maine. She attended Salem State University for teaching.

“I loved Maine, so I moved here. I ended up meeting my husband, Ted, from Sweden, Maine, in 1977 and we married in 1978.” The Bishops have three children, Jarrod, Holly, and Daniel, and now have five grandchildren. They are “very active grandparents. Since her retire­ment from teaching, Marie has remained very busy not just with rabbits. Besides those responsibilities, she is a member of a cribbage club, a knitter, a board gamer with a group in town, and works out at the local gym.

She was a career teacher and retired in 2013 from Sebago Ele­mentary School specializing in the intervention of students that may not qualify for special programs.

“It was a wonderful school and a great job. I loved it,” Marie said.

Growing up, Marie had always wanted to be a farmer and got her first rabbits in her 20s. As a young couple, the Bishops lived in Na­ples, had three children, but later moved to Bridgton and then Denmark where they raised chickens, sheep and rabbits.

“We raised chickens and rabbits for food and sheep for wool. We built hutches, had a small egg business and a garden,” she said. “Times were very, very tough and we needed to be self-sufficient. We didn’t have much money at all. When my son, Jarrod, was about 11, he wanted to get rabbits. So, we started with another generation of rabbit raisers!”

And they’ve had a variety of breeds and numbers of rabbits since then.

Marie is proud of the Rabbit Barn at the Fryeburg Fair.

“Our building is a livestock showcase. It’s for education,” she said. “That’s what we do. I love the people I work with and the exhibitors because they’re all dif­ferent in their areas of expertise. They all raise rabbits for different reasons.”

Marie says the Rabbit Barn at Fryeburg emphasizes healthy and quality animals and feels fortunate to have highly skilled folks involved. “We have Rebecca Azer. She’s an amazing farmer and raises them for meat and knows her genetics and loves to educate people. We have Chris Gurney and Chris Mageles on our staff. They both show rabbits. Chris Mageles also shows nation­ally. She has won top awards at the national American Rabbit Breeders Association (“ARBA”) convention. My best friend, Liz Kenaley, was my assistant, and she was fabulous, but she passed away in 2024 and is terribly missed. We have several other breeders who volunteer at the barn including Angela and Richard Lavoie, Reggie Smith and Erynn Wakem.”

Marie says rabbits are fascinating.

“Well, they’re diverse. They are great pets, can be shown as a competitive hobby, for 4H projects, for show and for fibers, and meat,” she said. “You can have them in a small area, as well as in a city. They’re easy to take care of. We al­ways advise people to have cages. But you can let them run in your house. They do chew, however, so the cages are important when you’re away. Rabbits eat food pellets, which you purchase, and basically hay and water. You can give them small treats if you wish – a little carrot, apple, teaspoon of old fashioned oatmeal. But people think they eat lots of vegetables. That’s not great for them.”

Marie says her favorites are her Dwarf Hotot breed. They’re white with black around their eyes. Marie won the top senior doe in the Dwarf Hotot breed at the 2018 national ARBA convention. She won Best in Show awards with her Californian breed a few years ago. Marie attends other rabbit shows with colleagues and recently attended a large show in Spencer, Massachusetts. In the past, Marie has displayed rabbits at other fairs in Maine including Common Ground. She also raises Polish rabbits.

Marie says she loves having fairgoers stop in to appreciate the different breeds and get to know the varieties, pat a few and ask ques­tions.

“People love to show us photos of their rabbits or tell stories about the ones they had as a child. People like to pat the rabbits and many non-rabbit owners ask us how long they live. On average it’s 7 to 8 years. They don’t really have a long natural life. Rabbits can get sicknesses and have teeth issues so monitoring their health is very important.”

She strongly suggests that people don’t stick their fingers in cages at the fair as the animals might take a bite thinking it’s a carrot.

“Find someone with an apron on and most of the time they can take a rabbit out for visiting and patting,” she said.

Marie always acknowledges the people that work in the Rabbit Barn.

“I have two assistants. Sarah Strange, who does the bulk of the work 13 hours a day!, along with her husband, Jaysen, and their children, Cas­sidy, Joel and Timmy and Jaysen’s parents, Joel and Lisa Strange. Cassidy, age 16, and Timmy, age 12, both did rabbit pre­sentations for the public last year. They were very well received,” Marie said. “Natasha Berry is my second assistant and is exceptional and there’s Chris Gurney, Chris Magellis, Rebecca Azer, Angela and Rich­ard Lavoie. They are all very appreciated. Re­becca’s girls sometimes come in to help. Reggie Smith is now 86 and has been involved at the Fryeburg Fair’s rabbit barn since long ago, before I arrived. Erin Wakeham and Liz’s boyfriend, Carey Hyde, well, we can’t do it without these dedicated and wonderful rabbit advocates and professionals.” <

Wishing well dedication event reminds Manchester students of 9/11 sacrifices for freedom

By Ed Pierce

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, Manchester School fourth-grade teacher Donna Morton wanted to help her students honor the sacrifices made by Americans on that fateful day while helping them grasp what had happened and inspiring them to help make the world better for everyone.

Retired Manchester School teacher Donna Morton, left,
gathers with her former students and their parents in 
Windham to dedicate a wishing well that they created   
in the days following the terrorist attacks on America
on Sept, 11, 2001. Now adults, Morton's former students
and their parents restored the wishing well and thanked
Windham police and firefighters attending a school
ceremony on the anniversary of 9/11 for keeping
the community safe. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

Morton had an idea and enlisted her students and several parents to create a wishing well for the school where children could hope for a peaceful future through kindness and love for one another. Built in just one afternoon, Morton’s students got to hammer, sand, and paint the wishing well, and it received a prominent place in the school’s front garden.

For more than two decades, on the anniversary of 9/11, Manchester students would form a circle around the wishing well, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” and place wishes into the well for the future. But last year during the reconfiguration of the parking lot and traffic pattern at the school, the front garden was removed, and the wishing well was found to be deteriorating and unsafe.

Now retired from teaching, Morton was informed by a parent of one of her former students about the wishing well’s condition and they decided to restore it and dedicate it at Manchester School for students this year on the anniversary of 9/11. She contacted some of her students from her 2001-2002 class and a few of their parents still in the area to help. They gathered at Morton’s home and set about to reconstruct the well.

Scott Gartsu was 9 on Sept. 11, 2001, and a student in Morton’s fourth grade class. He wasn’t at school that day as he was at home with a broken foot but recalls sitting on the living room floor of his home in Windham and crying watching the events unfold on television. He was part of the students who helped to build the original wishing well for his classmates.

“It was a group effort,” he said. “My dad Todd was a carpenter, and I loved working with his tools. I remember building it and all the kids coming together. The fact that the wishing well has been around this long is pretty cool.”

Steve McFarland of Harrison was living in Windham on 9/11 and his son, Sam, was in Morton’s class that year. They both attended the dedication event and not only helped to build the original well but also worked on the new one.

“It’s neat to see all the kids out there involved,” McFarland said. “It’s nice that Donna Morton is keeping this tradition and reviving it. It’s a testament to her and her connection to her students.”

Speaking to current Manchester students, former students and a contingent of Windham police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians attending the dedication event for the well on Thursday, Sept. 11, Morton said 9/11 remains a special day for her.

“It’s a reminder of the hard work of police and firemen who keep us safe every day,” she said. “We want this wishing well to stand as a symbol of hope.”

She introduced Sara Conant, who was in Morton’s fourth-grade class on Sept. 11, 2001, and helped to build the original well.

“Wishing wells throughout time have been a symbol of hope, gratitude and a bit of magic,” Conant said. This well is no exception. On this day 24 years ago I was sitting in Mrs. Morton's fourth grade class when American history was forever altered by attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Anyone alive at the time knows where they were on that day and I was fortunate to be safely here.”

She said that as a way to honor the first responders, victims, and their families and offer the school community hope, her class made the wishing well to stand forever as a symbol of hope.

“In one afternoon, we all pitched in with some of our parents, my dad included, to create this,” Conant said. “But time isn't always kind and the well needed some love, so Mrs. Morton rescued it and tried contacting everyone in the class to help restore the well to the lasting symbol of hope, gratitude and magic it always was.”

She said Morton’s deep care for each of her students is what brought her to save the well and inspired her to help.

“The magic of the well gave me a happy visit back to fourth grade that I am so thankful for,” Conant said. “We hope you join us in making a wish in this special well brought back to its former glory through love and kindness.”

Windham Police Captain Jason Burke told students that on 9/11 that firefighters, police officers and everyday people worked together to save lives and clean up the damage.

“This is a good reminder that violence is never the answer to a disagreement, a different opinion or a dislike for someone,” Burke said. “Choosing to work together and talk through our problems is always the right choice. As you go through school, you’ll be learning how to be a good citizen and a problem solver. You’ll learn how to work with others even when you don’t agree.”

He said thinking about the events of Sept. 11 reminds us that the way we treat each other everyday matters.

“By being kind, understanding, and respectful to everyone, you can make the world a better place,” Burke said. <

Late Windham resident's legacy lives on through Tia’s Prom Project

By Dina Mendros

Tatiana “Tia” Morrell of Windham is remembered by her friends and family as “uplifting,” “generous” and “a bright light” in the lives of others. Tia was taken too young. She died in a moped accident in 2024, and she was only 28 years old.

The late Tatiana 'Tia" Morrell of
Windham attended proms when
she was a student at Windham
High School and now her friends
and family are remembering her
by providing free prom dresses
to Cumberland County stduents
through an initiative called
'Tia's Prom Project.'
COURTESY PHOTO   
 

Those who loved her don’t want Tia to be forgotten and have decided to memorialize her through the creation of an initiative called Tia’s Prom Project. Starting this year, the project will provide dresses to high school and middle school students in Cumberland County for prom, homecoming, or any other formal or semi-formal school events at no cost to the student.

Friends and family say that they wanted to find a way to remember Tia in a meaningful and lasting way because of the type of person she was.

“She was a very big person with a very big personality,” Samantha Erickson said. “She was the type of person when she came into the room you knew she was there, and you would feel that she would radiate energy. Even when she left the room that energy just stuck with you and you just took it wherever you went for the remainder of the day.”

Others agree and are happy to help with the project.

“She was just such a bright light in all of our lives,” Devon Jones said. “She would always make sure that everyone felt included and felt like they belonged. She would make sure people felt like they had a purpose and like they mattered.”

Tia was “high spirited and very giving,” her mother, Shelly Worthing, said. “She was always a light in the room as a child and always happy with a smile on her face.”

The inspiration for remembering Tia through Tia’s Prom Project stems from an event that took place when she was just in eighth grade. A new girl started school in Windham and Tia, her mother said, wanted to help the girl by buying her a dress to attend a semi-formal dance cruise that eighth grade students were attending at the end of the school year.

According to Worthing, the girl had a rough childhood and would not likely be able to attend the event if Tia hadn’t helped out. Worthing said that her daughter was independent and determined and once she decided she wanted to help the student there was no stopping her.

Tia enlisted the assistance of her mother and together they bought a dress and on the day of the dance cruise, Worthing helped the new student with her hair and makeup.

“I remember (the student) having the night of her life at that dance,” Erickson said. After that, people started talking to the girl and being nice to her. “They saw her as a person finally. It was just a huge turning point.”

Worthing said that led to this new effort.

“Samantha (Erickson) was the one that remembered that story and that’s what kind of started our project,” Worthing said.

Worthing and Tia’s friends have big plans for Tia’s Prom Project. The initial plan was to have dresses donated and available for Cumberland County school proms in 2026. However, people have already started requesting dresses for homecoming dances which take place this month and in October.

While the dresses are limited, they are available for those who are interested. By next year’s prom season, organizers say they are hoping to have several hundred dresses available for students to choose from. Eventually, Worthing said, they hope to work with property owners who have vacancies where they can house the dresses and students can peruse them and try them on.

Erickson said she hopes that girls will take pictures of themselves in the dresses and/or write a note about their experience wearing the dress on their special night which can be shared with other girls who wear it at a later event. In addition to taking donated dresses, they want to be able to provide accessories, so they are accepting donations of shoes, jewelry, makeup and other items.

“The idea really only came to life in May,” Erickson said. “Even in the first year we just plan to get bigger and bigger with this. So yeah, you know, we’ve only just begun.”

To find out more about Tia’s Prom Project visit their Facebook page. To request dresses for homecoming, prom or other formal or semi-formal school events, send an email to [email protected] or call Samantha Erickson at 207-747-7308, Shelley Worthing at 207-232-1967 or Devon Jones at 207-310-8869.

Prom dresses to be donated can be dropped off at 8 Turning Leaf Drive in Windham; 585 Roosevelt Trail in Windham; 781 Edes Falls Road in Harrison; 780 Broadway St. in South Portland, or from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Causeway Commons, 978 Roosevelt Trail in Naples; or call or email to have them picked up. <

WRMS construction running smoothly and under budget

By Ed Pierce

Significant progress has been made on the construction of the new Windham Raymond Middle School on Windham Center Road, including moving the horse barn on the property for future use as an outdoor classroom.

Construction on the new Windham Raymond Middle School
is on schedule and remains about $16 million under budget,
according to RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools Christopher
Howell. Steel building framework and enclosed student
stairwells are going up and work to move an existing
horse barn at the site has been completed.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

Christopher Howell, RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools, says that construction costs for the school have remained constant and the project continues to be on schedule for a planned opening of September 2027. The new school will be a free-standing multi-story building with more than 260,000 gross square feet of new construction for learning space, an auditorium, gymnasium, and dining facilities.

Howell said that the new school will use a team-teaching concept where students will be divided into 12 teams to provide personal connection and then broken up into smaller instructional teams. It will incorporate Integrative Project Based Learning through team teaching, a method of instruction where a group of teachers work together to plan, conduct, and evaluate learning activities for the same group of students and the school’s design takes all of that into account with the team areas of the building allowing for a science teacher, math teacher, social studies teacher, and an English teacher to be in the same teaming area.

Classrooms will be on the new school’s upper floors and will not have any outside stairs or hallways, with administration and guidance offices housed on the ground level. The school grounds also feature a protected wetland area that students will cross by an aluminum boardwalk for outdoor learning opportunities and a school garden. The cooling and heating system will be designed for long-term cost savings and adaptability for the future. State-of-the-art drainage will protect the site’s surrounding environment and a 600-seat performing arts auditorium will be built as part of the new school.

“It’s just been an amazing process to watch and see the large precision of this process,” Howell said. “We are $16 million under the original budget and expect things to remain that way.”

Back in November 2023, a plurality of voters in the school district, which encompasses Windham and Raymond, approved a referendum to build the new school with about 77 percent of construction costs paid by the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program. The total project budget including fees, soft costs, contingencies, furnishings, and equipment is estimated at about $171.5 million, with the state funding $131.7 million and residents paying the remaining $39.8 million.

The original Windham Middle School opened in 1977 and was intended for a capacity of 483 students. That number has grown in the past years to 650 students and some sixth graders being housed for classes at the adjacent Field Allen School, which was built in 1949. Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond opened in 1962.

“The new school will open with a little more than 1,000 students, and has a capacity for 1,200 students, so there’s some room built in taking future growth into account,” Howell said. “Kids in Grade 3 to 6 right now will be the first to use the new school.”

The school site will also include the creation of three new athletic fields and an existing soccer field near Windham Center Road.

Once open, the new Windham Raymond Middle School will provide instruction for students currently attending Windham Middle School, Jordan-Small Middle School and fifth graders at Manchester School in Windham. The current Windham Middle School and Jordan-Small Middle School will be closed and turned over to their respective municipalities for repurposing.

RSU 14 first applied for the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program in 2016 for funding for construction and was ranked as the fifth-highest priority among 74 proposed school construction projects statewide each year before eventually gaining approval in March 2021. Once a district applies for funding, Maine Department of Education reviews and rates the projects based upon need. The State Board of Education then funds as many projects from the list as available debt limit funds allow. Working with the State Board of Education, Maine DOE establishes both size and financial limits on projects.

Local school districts may exceed these limits at local expense through municipal bonds, but the state bears the major financial burden of capital costs for approved school construction projects. As such, Maine DOE first looks at the possibility of renovations or renovations with additions and new school construction projects are only considered in instances in which renovation projects are not economically or educationally feasible, which was the case with Windham Middle School and Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond.

Construction at the site is being led by Shaw Brothers and Landry French.

Because of the steady construction progress to date, Howell said he believes by next August 50 to 60 percent of the school construction will be completed.

“It’s a once in a career thing to do and watch this process all the way through,” Howell said. “Everything we planned on paper is coming to fruition and it’s so exciting.” <