Thomas Landers Named to ICC Board of Directors

Thomas LandersLocal educator and West Springfield resident Thomas Landers has been named to a seat on the Irish Cultural Center of Western New England Board of Directors.

Landers is a West Springfield resident who is principal at Longmeadow High School. He has been an educator for 28 years, both in the Longmeadow and Chicopee school systems.

Married and the father of three sons, he is also active in the West Springfield Youth Soccer Club, one of the ICC’s affiliate organizations, and has been an active Patron with the ICC since the organization moved to the city in 2017. The ICC was founded in 1999.

As an Irish American raised to honor his heritage, he said he is happy to serve on the ICC board and looks forward to participating.

“I am thrilled to be a member of the board at the Irish Cultural Center,” Landers said. “As a person of Irish heritage and a resident of West Springfield, I was elated to learn that the ICC was relocating to Morgan Road three years ago, and I have marveled at the work and speed with which it has grown and developed.

“I have always been exposed to and interested in Irish history and culture.  My parents instilled in me and my brothers a love and appreciation of our Irish heritage.  My grandparents on my mother’s side were both immigrants and both sets of my great grandparents on my father’s side were immigrants,” he noted.

ICC Board President Sean Cahillane said Landers is a welcome addition to the board in the organization’s 21st year of existence.

“Tom is a great addition to our board and our organization,” Cahillane said. “He’s not only involved with the Youth Soccer Club, which uses our fields as one of our affiliate groups, he’s a professional asset as an educator and a leader in our community. We welcome him with open arms.”

Landers sits on the ICC’s Development Committee and the Buildings and Grounds Committee.

His involvement in his Irish heritage is life-long, including family trips to Ireland both as a child and as an adult, to playing Irish music with his friends, reading Irish literature and participating in festivals, parades, and ICC activities over the years.

“As both an American of Irish descent and a West Springfield resident, I believe I can and will be a good resource to the ICC.  This is an honor for me,” Landers said.