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Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll praises East Hampton students, cites state grants for public-space events
Summary
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll attended a June 2026 Millside Park celebration, praised East Hampton's We the People civic-education team and said state grants helped the town activate public spaces; the mayor presented a citation to the students.
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll on a hot June day praised East Hampton’s civic-education program and said state grants have helped the town activate public space during a USA 250th celebration at Millside Park.
"We've been doing that, frankly, for the last year," Driscoll told the crowd, linking statewide 250th anniversary activities to local events and praising East Hampton’s students for repeated success in the We the People competition.
Driscoll noted state support for community programming: "We've been able to help with some grants," she said, and credited the Healey–Driscoll administration and the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism for funding that made gatherings like the Millside Park event possible.
The lieutenant governor introduced Kelly Brown, the East Hampton High School social-studies educator who leads the town’s We the People team. "Your We the People team is so successful, having a teacher as interesting and dynamic as Kelly Brown," the event host said when presenting a mayoral citation.
The event host (identified in the transcript as the moderator) formally presented a mayoral citation recognizing the We the People team for a nine-year state championship run and thanked corporate sponsors including True North Bank ESB and GoNetSpeed for technical support.
Two students from the program spoke briefly. One student, Oliver, said, "We the People has granted us a really unique opportunity to cultivate our own civic virtue and to see clearly for the first time our responsibility to participate in self governance." The remarks underscored the local program’s role in civic instruction.
Organizers closed by thanking first responders and veterans in the crowd, mentioning Tom Garrick by name, and noting the program would give way to a nearby game.
Why it matters: State grants and local partnerships supported a public commemoration that doubled as civic-education recognition, spotlighting a school program that officials said repeatedly produced state champions and linking public funding to community programming.
