Author: Michelle Usseglio

Doug's family with Connor Blanchard and DJ Caissie

Scholarship Awards 2021

We are honored and excited to present two people with the first Scholarships/Grants/Gifts from the Douglas Usseglio Memorial Hockey Fund. Congratulations!
We congratulate DJ Caissie and Connor Blanchard!
DJ won a place in my heart as a 2nd grade student who had a passion for hockey, a love for his big brother Joey and an unsurmountable respect for Dougie. Watching him grow through the years has been enjoyable! Having DJ as a nickname and a litter sister named Julia was just icing on the cake. He will continue to make his parents proud as he heads into the world in the Electrical Trade! We wish you the best DJ!
Connor has been entwined in my life since birth. Also the little brother to Joey with a passion for the sport of hockey. Connor was at as many recitals for his sisters as Dougie was for Julia. Additionally Connor has been a friend of Julia’s as they were classmates way back in the FitzGerald days. Connor will be continuing his education at Colby College and we wish him the best!
We are thankful for the parenting team of Kerrie & Tom Blanchard and Dennis & Amy Caissie who raised not only these two, three girls and of course Joey Caissie. We were honored when Joey agreed to deliver these awards to his brothers and are thankful he insisted on us being present.
Beginning with the class of 2022 we will be presenting this gift to a qualified student to assist them with their post-graduation plans.
We are going to require applicants write a short essay to be considered for this award in the future. We will ask them to take moment to think about a time in their life that a peer said something that made them pause, realize how special they were, or how something they were doing could be done a different way so that they made someone else feel special. Who made a difference in their your life, who set them in a different direction? We would love to hear about a peer as opposed to a teacher.
After Dougie died in 2016 we heard many stories of how he helped someone who was hurting, sad, lacked confidence or was just going through a tough time. In those moments he lifted so many people up, he knew what to say, how to gently tease out a laugh or smile and more importantly make them feel valued. We hear he stopped several people from taking their own lives or heading down very self-destructive paths. To this day we hear stories of how friends of his live a better life for having known him. WE will ask – Who was that person for you, or – could you have been that person for someone else? Chances are you made a huge impact on someone else’s life by just being supportive.
 

A Hike for Doug

Today I climbed a mountain with 30 other people. All of them doing it because one person, Dougie, touched them so deeply. And then, 4 more friends from Waltham just approached the mountain and climbed it with a vengeance as we were coming down. My very first day of no anxiety in what has been the most horrific 20 days of my life. I owe it to more people than I can tag who continue to lift us up. Hannah Heinzer my heartfelt gratitude and butterfly prayers. And to my daughter, JuJu, your push and drive to make it to the top when I know you wanted to give up was simply amazing. The pain in your face that last 1/2 hour made me second guess myself in having you do this. But when you just pulled out your inner Spider-Man and did it. I wanted to cry. I’m beyond proud of you. You are stronger and braver than I’ve ever known. As Juju said “we climbed a mountain today. We did it”.