Category: Q&A

Martial Arts Instructor

Sensei Barry Poitras teaches at Granite State Kendo Club (52 E. Derry Road, East Derry). Kendo and Iaido are two traditional Japanese martial arts that focus on swordsmanship. Poitras has achieved the rank of Godan (fifth degree black belt) in Kendo and Rokudan (sixth degree black belt) in Iaido, which are advanced levels requiring years of practice. Practices take place on Sundays at the Club: The first and third Sunday of the month has kendo kata from 1 to 2 p.m. and kendo practice from 2 to 4 p.m.; the second and third Sunday of the month has Iaido practice led by Sensei Barry Poitras and then kendo practice from 2 to 4 p.m. Call 235-6229 or visit granitestatekendoclub.com for more information.

Explain your job and what it entails.

Sensei basically is the title. I teach kendo and iaido, which is basically a Japanese martial art, Japanese swordsmanship. Kendo is fencing with armor. You use a two-handed sword, bamboo, and you wear armor, and you score points. Iaido is a little different. It’s drawing the sword with imaginary opponents, so you do all these sword draws, cuts, re-sheathing kind of movements, but imagining opponents. They’re kind of like sister arts, they work together… .

How long have you had this job?

I’ve been studying and teaching for over 37 years, somewhere around there…

What kind of education or training did you need?

It’s an interesting kind of pursuit. You have to find an instructor, which obviously back then was extremely difficult. It was such a rare sport in, not only the United States, but even just New England. I started basically with the Boston Kendo Group right down in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1992-ish range. Then I slowly got my training through the folks down in New York who were mostly Japanese sensei. … I started my school, pretty much, in 1994 in Acton, Massachusetts. And when I moved to New Hampshire, I started up here, and now I’m helping out the Granite State Kendo with their program.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

We wear traditional Japanese hakama and keikogi. Basically, kendo players wear a blue, indigo blue hakama, which looks like a long skirt. Basically, it’s pleated pants. a heavy kote,indigo dyed blue top, and then the armor basically is headgear, breastplate around the lower abdomen, hand and wrist protection, and then a sort of a tare; it wraps around the hips and groin. …

What is the most challenging thing about your work and how do you deal with it?

I think the most challenging thing is even today, kendo in the United States is probably played with under probably 4,000 people nationally. … If you get to a higher level, you’re going to need to travel. I need to go to New York. Nationally I go to national seminars in basically all the country as well as Canada. …

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: Autumn Lightning by Dave Lowery
Favorite movie: The Billy Jack movie — that was it. I was hooked. I said that’s what I want to do, and I walked into a karate dojo, and never changed, never turned, never walked out.
Favorite music: I’m actually a guitar player. Right now I’m actually doing a lot of blues music, so I’d say anything blues.
Favorite food: Sushi
Favorite thing about NH: I love the mountains, being able to access the mountains because I’m an avid hiker. I love the accessibility to the seashore. And I think the life in New Hampshire, the music scene, is one of the favorite things I love.

Meet the new GM of the city’s team

Taylor Fisher is the new General Manager of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Dou­ble-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, and he is the fifth General Manager since the club’s inception in 2004, according to a press release. Fisher is originally from Mer­rimac, Mass., and returns to New England with 12 years of baseball experience, the release said. The Fisher Cats’ first home game of the upcoming season is scheduled for Friday, April 4, at 6:35 p.m. against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Visit milb. com/new-hampshire.

What led you to becoming the gen­eral manager of the Fisher Cats?

I just finished up my 12th year of working in baseball … the last eight of which have been with the Nashville Sounds. They’re the AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The last three years I’ve been the vice president of ticket sales and service … I’m actually from this area, born and raised in Merrimac, Massachusetts. I came to Fisher Cats games growing up, went to a ton of Portland Sea Dogs games because my aunt and uncle were season ticket holders, and our ownership group here with the Fisher Cats reached out to me and asked if I was interested in having a conversation. They had no clue that I was from New England … and then fast-for­ward to today and now we’re three weeks in.

What does a general manager do?

Great question. A very common mis­conception of what a general manager of a minor-league team does, as opposed to MLB, NBA, NHL or NFL: general manag­er of those leagues, they’re overseeing the actual team operations, so they’re trading players, signing players — it’s very spe­cific to that sport. A minor-league baseball general manager, we are strictly on the busi­ness operations side. All of our players and coaches are employees of the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Toronto Blue Jays oversee every aspect of the baseball side of things, so my role is to oversee every aspect of the Fisher Cats as the organization. So ticket sales, sponsorship, marketing, stadium oper­ations, groundskeeping and everything in between … really just overseeing all aspects of the business operations.

Do you have a favorite memory of the Fisher Cats from your past?

It would have been probably 20 years ago … I just fell in love with minor-league baseball because of going to Fisher Cats and Sea Dogs games. Minor-league baseball as a whole had a very important impact on my life growing up, and that’s ultimately why I decided to pursue a career in minor-league baseball.

Are there any chang­es you’re looking to make, anything that you hope to see in the future or anything that you really want to hold on to?

The ballpark’s 20 years old, so there’s always new ballparks, new stadiums, new stuff happening around the nation, around town that’s popping up, so we need to always make sure we’re putting our best foot for­ward. We definitely have a lot of what I would consider cool or fun ideas of how we can show the community that we’re con­tinuing to innovate, continuing to work to improve on anything that’s been done over the first 20 years, and really have people take pride in the ballpark and being part of the community.

What are your thoughts on the upcom­ing season?

Definitely very excited. Every season is entirely different. There’s something real­ly magical about opening day. … I know I wake up on opening day so excited and it truly feels different. Game days feel differ­ent. That’s something I’m looking forward to, especially this being my first time as a general manager of a minor-league baseball team. There’s going to be something extra special about when the 2025 home opener happens on April 4.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about the Fisher Cats or on moving back to the area?

… [I]t is really special to be back home … My whole family’s in New England, my wife’s whole family is in New England, so just on a personal note … aside from being able to be the general manager of a minor-league team is on the personal side being home with family, being able to have our kids grow up around all their relatives and being able to come to the ballpark and being able to show so many people — family, friends, and just the community as a whole — what we’re working on here is really exciting. —Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Taylor Fisher. Courtesy photo.

Bright spots and challenges

Michael Skelton is the president & CEO of the Business Industry Association, New Hampshire’s statewide Chamber of Commerce. He spoke with the Hippo about business in the Granite State. Visit biaofnh.com for more information.

What has been the biggest challenge for businesses in New Hampshire in 2024?

The workforce shortage continues to be the biggest challenge, and the insufficient supply of housing at all levels is one of the most significant causes. Virtually all industries are affected, but we are particularly concerned about the impact on vital economic sectors experiencing strong job growth such as manufacturing, life sciences and high-tech.

What do you see as the biggest challenges in 2025?

BIA’s priority for 2025 is supporting legislation and policies to spur new housing development, increase affordability and help build our future workforce. Over 27 percent of our workforce is age 55 or older, highest among the states, and New Hampshire faces the retirement of an estimated 200,000 workers in coming years. It’s essential to allow more higher-density housing of all types, but particularly starter homes, while streamlining municipal and state approval processes for new housing developments. Recruiting and retaining the next generation of workers depends on significant action this legislative session as it will take years for housing spurred by new policies to be built.

What are the brightest spots of the economy?

The Granite State has incredible opportunities with the burgeoning biofabrication and life sciences sector and growing advanced manufacturing sector. A strong manufacturing sector is critical to economic success. Manufacturing’s impact ripples throughout the economy from local jobs to research and development that drives innovation and increases productivity. The life sciences and manufacturing sectors will create additional opportunities in our high-tech industry and educational system and growth will spread throughout our economy, creating thousands of high-paying careers.

What are specific advantages in New Hampshire?

U.S. News & World Report named New Hampshire as the second-best state to live in for 2024, citing our safety, fiscal stability and economy. New Hampshire continues to see economic growth and has one of the lowest state unemployment rates in the nation. We also benefit from New Hampshire’s business and political leaders who are dedicated to working together to solve the challenges and make our state an even better place to live and do business.

Which businesses are on the rise or do you expect to do well in the state in 2025?

As the New Hampshire affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers, BIA is proud to promote a strong manufacturing sector. More than 1,100 businesses employ over 42,000 people, 5.6 percent of the state’s total employment, and the sector is growing, adding over 1,000 jobs from 2017 to 2022. These are well-paying careers. Average annual earnings for an advanced manufacturing worker in New Hampshire are $111,728, far exceeding the $82,673 average for all industries.

Is there anything else about New Hampshire’s economy you would like to speak on?

The state must continue efforts to lower the cost of electricity. New Hampshire’s industrial electricity rates last fall were 84 percent higher than the U.S. average, and commercial rates were nearly 50 percent higher. These uncompetitive prices raise the cost of doing business and increase the risk of losing companies to less expensive regions. — Zachary Lewis

The SEE Science Center
Where: 200 Bedford St., Manchester
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with last admission 3 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m with last admission at 4 p.m.
Tickets: $14 per person ages 3 and up
More info: see-sciencecenter.org or call 669-0400.

Featured image: Michael Skelton. Courtesy photo.

SEE Science Center offers all ages science exploration

Shana Hawrylchak is the Executive Director of SEE Science Center. She spoke to the Hippo about all the exciting happenings at the Center. SEE’s mission is “to engage our community in the joyful, active exploration of science and innovation.” Along with her leadership at SEE, according to a press release, Shana is an active volunteer serving in leadership roles with many Manchester organizations, including Manchester Connects and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and she instituted and chairs Hands-on Museums of New Hampshire.

What is the SEE Science Center and what sorts of family activities are there?

We’re a hands-on science museum and we’re really focused on kids 2 to 14 and their families. Kids are natural scientists, so they will start experimenting with anything and everything, and we like to really cultivate those innate abilities. At SEE we really are designed so that people can explore on their own and find what they love and really play with that. … We have over 90 hands-on exhibits here at SEE, and … we also do demonstrations about three times a day, so you’ll get to interact with the presenters. Coming up with the vacation weeks we’re going to have volunteers coming in to help, so there’ll be science activities that folks can do on the floors as well.

Would you like to talk about the Science on Tap program?

We’re in our 11th season, so it’s a really great program. It’s part of the Science Cafe movement across the United States, where adults get the chance to actually talk informally about science. We do it over at Stark Brewing Co., so you can go get yourself a beverage, a nice meal, and then interact with scientists. Each scientist will get like five minutes to talk about their area of science, and then it’s all about the questions that people are asking them. It’s an opportunity to really, that thing you’re curious about, really dive into some of the details on it and make sure that, ‘oh, I actually understand what’s happening,’ and get to talk to somebody. … it’s a chance for people to actually interact with someone doing the science.

What is the Science Cafe movement?

It’s really this movement of science museums across the country working to try to bring science to people. We also use a lot of jargon in science, which can make it pretty impossible for folks to really see what’s going on. A lot of concepts they might be able to completely understand if you remove some of that jargon. I think if we don’t engage with people in science, people don’t understand what’s happening, they’re not going to support it, and they’re also going to be a little dubious about what the science is telling us. It’s really important that everybody is sort of involved in those discussions and can ask questions with scientists to really improve their own understanding but also identify areas that they might want to explore themselves.

You were recently awarded the Emerging Leader Impact Award from the New Hampshire Center of Nonprofits. Would you want to talk a little bit about that?

It was awesome. It’s very nice to be able to win an award and get recognized, and I would say when somebody leading an institution gets an award it means that the people working at the institution did a good job. I wouldn’t be getting recognized if my team wasn’t doing a great job at what they do. So I think we’ve had the opportunity at the Science Center to really work with a lot of organizations and the team here at SEE has been really open to trying new things. It’s just an exciting time to be at the Science Center because of partnerships, a great crew here, and everybody is really working toward a common goal of just getting kids interested and excited about science.

What exciting exhibits do you think will be coming up in 2025?

So we have a lot of work we are doing for something that is opening in 2026. I can’t give too many details about it, but you’ll start seeing some materials coming out in 2025 as we’re working to do some major upgrades to the Lego Millyard Project downstairs. 2026 is the 20th anniversary of that project. You will start seeing a lot of upgrades and additions to the model, as well as new exhibits coming around that model, really showcasing some of the cool science stories that are happening there.

How did the Lego Millyard Project come to be?

[W]e’re in the building with FIRST…. It’s another nonprofit that encourages kids to get involved in science and STEM through robotics … and they have an ongoing partnership with Lego. We were lucky enough to be able to work with Lego through FIRST’s partnership to be able to design the Lego Millyard project. And it was a pretty awesome project. We got two master builders from Lego [who] came here … and helped design all of the buildings you see down in the project. It took about two years to create, about 10,000 man-hours, over three million Legos. It’s a pretty huge endeavor, but we are still a Guinness World Record holder for the largest permanent display of a minifigure scale in the world. It also won a historic preservation award because there’s a lot of buildings that are no longer there that have been represented to scale in the model. Legos are like this wonderful, imaginative vehicle for play, so it’s exciting for us to really show this model that not just represents the history of Manchester, but also encourages people to explore and think about the things they can create.

How did you become interested in running a science museum?

I from a very young age wanted to be in museums. When I was in third grade, I was studying cultures around the world and my mom took me and my little brother to see the mummies at the New York State Museum. I think I started my first museum in middle school. I’m getting close to 30 years in museums, which is insane to me but I think what I love about it is I feel like it’s all those wonderful things that make us human that … a lot of times you don’t get the chance to celebrate, like museums are spaces of thinking deeply, of being around your family and friends, of exploring something new that you maybe didn’t know about … that feeling of discovery is always right around the corner and I just love the feeling of being able to come to work and being like, ‘what am I going to learn new today?’ I don’t know that everybody gets a chance to do that in their jobs. For me, it’s just amazing.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention about the SEE Science Center?

I would definitely say for folks who might be visiting during the holiday week, we always encourage them to pre-register. You don’t have to pay ahead of time, but you can save your spot so we make sure that when you come you can get through the door…. We hope to get lots of folks here for the holidays, because it’s always tons of fun when we get all the kids on the floor. There’ll be great exhibits, demonstrations, and hopefully a lot of volunteers running kid activities, so it should be a lot of fun.

–Zachary Lewis

The SEE Science Center
Where: 200 Bedford St., Manchester
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with last admission 3 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m with last admission at 4 p.m.
Tickets: $14 per person ages 3 and up
More info: see-sciencecenter.org or call 669-0400.

Featured image: Courtesy photo.