Community Corner

Many Thanks on My (Not So) Final Farewell

Today, Wednesday, September 4, marks my final day at Patch, and the final one as the editor of the Stoughton site I helped launched back on December 13, 2010 and have edited every day since - 997 in all.

But I am happy to say I won't be going far. Later this month, I'll be starting as the programming/news director for Stoughton Media Access, a chance to continue doing what I love to do - cover this great town.

After graduating from Brandeis University in Waltham in the spring of 2010, I was looking for a full time journalism job and I applied to be an editor at Patch, and ended up getting to cover Stoughton, my hometown.

It was a chance to rekindle old relationships and foster dozens of new ones.

I grew up here and went to school here (I'm sure by now you've heard the tales of my winning the first Mr. SHS competition back in 2006), but being able to edit Stoughton Patch has allowed me to get to know this community in a completely different way. 

I will be forever grateful for how quickly you embraced both me and this site and made me feel welcome. It made the long hours worth it.

Who says you can't go home again?

From town officials to school employees to coaches to parents to students to business owners - a heartfelt thank you for your support.

Like an awards show, there is a long list of people I need to thank, starting with my family, who were there every step of the way, and put up with the unpredictable schedule that comes with the job.

There is no way to properly thank Mark Snyder for all he has done for this site, serving as the must-read About Town columnist and working closely with me for the last three years. Same goes for Christine Iacobucci, who after serving as parenting columnist quickly evolved into a jack-of-all trades reporter. She's now the Library's Outreach Coordinator, but has continued to support the site. Can anyone capture a special moment quite like Justin Braga? He has contributed countless photo galleries on the site and is a tireless advocate for Stoughton's youth.

A big thanks also goes out to Josh Brown, a 2013 Stoughton High graduate, who was a key contributor for the past couple of school years. He will be pursuing a journalism career of his own at Northeastern. And to Mike Carroll, who will be a junior at Stoughton High, who also wrote during the last school year and this summer, and has a bright future ahead of him.  

Eric Shulman, David Allen Lambert, Candace Hall, and Evan Schneider were  among the contributors early on who helped make this site a success. And, then there's Ryan Lanigan, who after his time as a sports reporter here, launched a successful site of his own, Hockomock Sports.

I also need to thank Mike Hardman, also a Stoughton resident, who hired me. Mike will be taking over for me starting Thursday.

I could not have asked for a more rewarding experience in my first full time job. I look forward to still seeing you around town as I start my new role at Stoughton Media Access. I'll still be at concerts, school events, sports games, fairs, and other happenings around town.

Please stay in touch. You can email me at jpickette@stoughtontv.com or jpickette@gmail.com, follow me on Twitter at @jpickette, and follow SMAC on Facebook here.

Thanks again and see you soon.

Jeffrey Pickette



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