It’s a story as old as entrepreneurship in America: a homegrown passion flamed into a successful business through hard work, creativity, and the encouragement of friends and neighbors.  Hooray for Books is a program of “creative classes where kids look, cook, and devour good books”.  Begun in 2001 by Mary Murphy from the basement of her Hopkinton home, Hooray for Books has met with great success within town and beyond.

Nine years later, she’s out of her home, into 2 great locations,  offering reading and cooking classes classes for 1-11 year olds, and is franchising throughout the nation.  Congratulations to Mary and her whole team!

One of the great advantages to being an independent, non-franchise local brokerage firm is the flexibility it provides in sponsoring local community events. The Hopkinton Community Spelling Bee is a collaborative effort between the two main school support non-profits in town: the Hopkinton Parent Teacher Association (HPTA) and the Hopkinton Education Foundation (HEF). We love to sponsor this event because it brings together so many different organizations in Hopkinton. Last year for example, some of the teams (yes spelling is done by consensus in teams of three) competing were the Hopkinton Athletic Association, Boy & Girl Scouts, the Senior Center, the Schools, the Police Department, the Garden Club, the Board of Selectman, and our local newspaper the Hopkinton Independent.

During the event, refreshments are available and a ‘Mini-Bee’ takes place during intermission giving K-5 students an opportunity to compete in their own age-appropriate bees. Last year over $7000 was raised to benefit the HEF & HPTA who bring innovative and enriching programs to our Hopkinton Public Schools.

For more information, to register a team, or to sponsor the event, please visit HopkintonSpellingBee.info.

It comes as no surprise to those of us living here in Hopkinton, and now Money Magazine has put together a Top 100 List of best towns to live in the U.S.*  Their criteria included affordability of housing, incomes, commute times, climate, job growth, and clean air ratings. In the words of Money magazine, “Yes, strong local economies still exist. These small towns have ‘em – plus great schools, affordable homes, low crime, and much more.”

Quality of education always plays a role in these rankings and Hopkinton has consistently performed very well on that score.  See the links below for more details about Hopkinton’s award winning school system, the financial stability and health of the town, and some of the natural beauty we so love about Hopkinton.

The MetroWest Daily News also picked up the story with quotes from Tim Kilduff from the Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce, Brian Herr, the Chair of the Board of Selectmen, and local real estate agents Bill Gassett and Katie McBride.  The Worcester Telegram and Gazette also ran the story and quoted our Board of Selectman Chair Brian Herr: “Once we looked at the real estate & the schools, we were hooked (on Hopkinton),“

Once Again, Hopkinton High School Recognized for High Performance

Hopkinton High Schoolers “Advanced” on MCAS

Hopkinton State of the Town: May 2009

Hiking Trails of Hopkinton — by Maureen Regan

Star Realty Hopkinton specializes in residential real estate sales in and around Hopkinton.  Keep up with the latest local market reports at the Star Realty Blog.  Hopkinton: it’s where we live, where we work, and where we give back!

*CNNMoney’s Best Places database of 1,800-plus U.S. cities includes towns with populations 8,500 to 50,000 with satisfactory education and crime scores, where income is below 200% of the state median, and that are no more than 95% white – as well as cities with populations 90,000 and up.

Newsweek magazine has released their list of America’s 1500 Top Public High Schools.  They rank the schools according to this formula:  “Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors.” 

Hopkinton High School ranks number 420 on the list, moving up from their spot at 496 last year which puts it in the top 2% of schools ranked by this method. 

For the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), all 10th graders in the state are tested and scored according to their performance:  advanced, proficient, needs improvement, or failing.  Hopkinton 10th graders scored a combined 84% advanced and proficient in both the English and Math exam (these are the only two subjects tested in 10th grade) with an impressive 58% scoring advanced in Math.  See full results of MCAS testing for Hopkinton.

In addition to stellar performance, the school is aesthetically beautiful and offers a state of the art athletic center, fitness, facility, and performing arts stage.

For the upcoming fiscal year 2010, the Hopkinton town management team, volunteer, elected, and professional, has done a phenomenal job of maintaining the high level of services we’ve come to expect without increasing property taxes.  This short video clip below features Brian Herr (Chair–Board of Selectman) and Nancy Burdick (Chair–Hopkinton School Committee) discussing the intensive and successful collaboration amongst volunteer boards and professionals in town.  This process has resulted in a budget which leaves:

• our schools fully supported,
• police and fire fully supported,
• and no lay-offs on the horizon.

They managed this by capitalizing on opportunities to reduce cost model by combining facilities departments and by combining information technology departments in town.

Nancy Burdick explains that the school committee, a body of 5 elected officials, is responsible for developing policy and budget for the Hopkinton Public School District.  Their goals for FY ’10 budget were 3-fold:

• keep class size reasonable
• retain extracurricular services at current level
• not increase fees for current level of services

“Strong schools, no tax increase, things are looking up for Hopkinton even in very difficult financial times.” Herr concludes.

How proud the parents must have been to watch their daughter, now a young lady poised and confident, stand and greet the audience she’d assembled.  Hopkinton High-schooler Maureen Regan welcomed us to the première of her short film Hiking Trails of Hopkinton at the High School auditorium on Thursday, April 2, her passion and authenticity were self-evident.

In this film which Regan produced and directed, the natural beauty of Hopkinton is highlighted, as is the type of citizen the town is capable of forming.  Both contribute to the draw of Hopkinton as a place to live, recreate, educate children, and raise a family.

Congratulations Maureen on an informative and inspiring film about some of Hopkinton’s best kept secrets!

One of the top five reasons to love being a non-franchise brokerage firm: the ability to sponsor important local events and organizations with funds that may otherwise have gone to pay for franchise fees of some sort.  At STAR REALTY, we have enjoyed the freedom to contribute over $25,000 to the Hopkinton Education Foundation (HEF) since our firm was founded in 2004.

HEF hosts the annual Winter Gala event to raise money which it then uses to fund innovative grants requested by Hopkinton public school teachers and staff.  At STAR REALTY, we know that an excellent education is the key to opening doors of opportunity throught life.  We are honored and delighted to sponsor the HEF in its endeavor to open minds and spark imaginations through innovative and enriching programs.

Tickets to this year’s event are still available through HEF Board Member Libby Skiba (508) 497-9465

HEF is just one of a number of local organizations that STAR REALTY enjoys sponsoring.  Others include Project Just Because, The Hopkinton PTA, The Hopkinton Women’s Club, The Hopkinton Police Association, Hopkinton Boy Scout Troops, and Hopkinton Little League & Soccer Teams, The Hopkinton Mom’s Club, and others.