Community Corner
ABOUT TOWN: Stoughton High Grad Making His Mark as a Marine
Welcome to "About Town with Mark Snyder," a column that will keep you up to the minute with what's what, who's who and what's going on around town. If you see or hear something we could use here, let us know by sending an e
LOCAL RESIDENT A MARINE PLATOON SQUAD LEADER: Matt Rodenbush, a Class of 2010 Stoughton High graduate, is going places in the United States Marine Corps.
At Parris Island (in South Carolina) he graduated as the Platoon Squad Leader for the 1060 Bravo Company, and got a meritorious promotion to Private First Class. Even better, his platoon was the honor platoon, the best platoon out of the six in the battalion of nearly 400 soldiers.
Find out what's happening in Stoughtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As a special aside for his CCD teacher, Mary Ann Caldwell at St. James Church in Stoughton, Matt was a lay reader for his squad every night for three months, and received a citation for it. It looks like those many missions he went on with St. James Church are part of who he is.
Matt is heading back to Marine Combat Training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for 30 days, and is then off to 29 Palms in California for classroom training in communications.
Find out what's happening in Stoughtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
His parents, Paul and Lauren Rodenbush, are rightly quite proud of their son.
Paul told About Town, “To hear the drill instructors say Matt was the hardest worker in the platoon was amazing. We told him to make us proud and he did. They put two drill instructors on him to push him. He thrived on it. It was amazing to see it first hand.”
When asked if he was concerned, with things heating up in the Middle East, Paul said, “We’re concerned, but he’s part of a great team, and a great tradition. He could end up anywhere in the world. We are so proud of him volunteering for the service of his country. We worry, especially about what has been on the news lately, but we know his communications skills will help him and his team, wherever he serves.”
I remember Matt, when he was playing freshman football at Stoughton High, breaking his femur. He was barred from contact sports after that, and took up cross country and track. In his senior year, he captained that team.
Adds his dad, "All that running for Stoughton paid off. He was fastest in the platoon."
Matt, the Town of Stoughton says, "THANKS for your service!"
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Happy 21st Birthday to Alison Pazyra; to Nancy Sawyer of N.E. Sinai (whose husband is John of Classic Limo); to musician singer-songwriter Mike Viola; and to Michelle Malone, a Basic Firearms Course instructor.
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HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY: to former State Representative and WRKO talk show host Marjorie Clapprood. She is a singer with Political Asylum, which features Stoughton residents Roy Cohen and Steve Fradkin; to Sandy McGee, editor of the Portsmouth, Rhode Island Patch; to Michelle McGrath, who is originally from Brockton, but now calls Stoughton home. To Mike Mauriello of Stoughton, Human Resources Manager of Securitas Security Services; And to my friend Eileen Curran, from New England Cable News.
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