At School: Harbinger Recognized With Gold; Students Help Charity

Principal Tom Mead shares some Algonquin news from the past month.

Susan Baburins has been selected to be the first ever recipient of the MSSADA’s Outstanding Athletic Administrative Assistant of the year. Susan is the administrative assistant in the Athletic Department.

Election Day Volunteers: National Honor Society students helped Northborough voters with directions and information materials at the voting precincts Nov. 6. Assisting were Lily Pearl, Sam Hersh, Amalia Collins, Kelly Wendt, Patrick Kane, Kristen Michaud, Taryn Ryan, Brian Doherty, Eric Bomarsi, Antonio Sera, Caroline Gerviskis, Marissa Hirakawa, Joey Wei, Robert Kerstens, Declan Healey, Basant Doss, and Glen Harlan. Andy Dowd, Town Clerk, expressed his appreciation for the students’ enthusiastic help. Nikki Ruffo and Candace Loughlin are the advisors for the NHS.

The Harbinger, Algonquin’s student newspaper, was recognized as a Gold Medalist by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Members of the Editorial Board include David Azzariti, Maggie Kiley, Meaghan Winter, Jes Sheldon, Claudia Capria, Dan Fishbein, Clare Strickland, Kaitlyn Callahan, and Julia Lief. The students typically raise close to $7,000 to publish the paper and provide free of charge to students and faculty. This year’s staff has been particularly ambitious with a back to school issue, their special election issue, and a plan to publish a new issue every month. Lindsay Coppens & Virginia Fitzgerald are advisors to the paper, and Michelle Sheppard is photo advisor.

The choirs gave the first concert of the season, titled A World of Song, on Oct. 23 of international and American madrigals, folk songs, spirituals and patriotic music on themes of love, play, home and celebration. It featured several of our instrumentalists as soloists. On Nov. 9, Camerata Singers gave a lovely performance of patriotic music at the Veterans Day luncheon at the Senior Center in Northborough, during which the girls saw and were moved by a live example the of the ardent patriotism of our senior citizens. On Veterans Day,
Priscilla Sena and Gina Lightner performed God Bless America at the Southborough Celebration of Veterans Day.

Fall Musical: On Dec. 6, 7 and 8, Bye, Bye Birdie, the musical about the encounter between the citizens of Sweet Apple, Ohio and pop star Conrad Birdie, who comes to kiss a representative fan good-bye before he goes off to serve in the armed forces, will be presented. Curtain is at 7 and tickets are $10.

The Chamber Singers and Camerata Singers will travel to Boston to lend their singing of holiday favorites in the efforts of the Salvation Army to provide toys to needy children at the Christmas Toy Castle on Dec. 11. And on Dec. 20, The Holiday Festival and Concert, featuring the Orchestra, Choirs, Jazz Combo,
and instrumental chamber ensembles will perform at the JFK Auditorium at Algonquin. Art Displays of photography, ceramics, paintings and drawings will be on display in the foyer. Kathrine Waters directs the choral groups at Algonquin, Eric Vincent and Amy Collins direct the musicians, and George Hancin, Danielle DeCiero, and Michelle Sheppard instruct the painters, ceramicists, and photographers at Algonquin.

Congratulations to the following students who auditioned and were selected for the Central District Ensembles, which will perform at Mechanics Hall in Worcester on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013: Gloria Chen, flute *,Gretchen Herdrich, flute *, Jenny Ma, flute*, Kaitlyn Shreeve, flute, Steve Mayhew, French horn, Veronica Green-Gott, oboe, Ethan McRae, oboe, Glen Harlan, timpani *, John Arnold, alto sax *, Chris Schoener, trombone, Emma Becker, tuba, Dan Chang, cello *, Nicholas Cheung, violin *, Yang Lin, violin *, Connor Jenks, jazz tenor sax *, Jon Tsai, jazz trumpet *, Hyun Shin, jazz trumpet *, Emily Arnold, alto *, Sarah Gonsenhauser, alto *, Madeline Howard, alto, Olivia Murphy, alto, Evelyn Semenov, alto *, Cassidy Youngberg, alto *, Andy Hamilton, bass *, Ben Rutan, bass *, Leah Gibson, soprano, Jillian Greenspan, soprano *, Sarah Milnamow, soprano, Priscilla Sena, soprano *, Scott Abrams, tenor, *Mike Buck, tenor *, Evan Ribaudo, tenor, Maxwell Teplansky, tenor *. * All-state recommendation

This year the national Great American SmokeOut was Nov. 15. Danielle Fucci, 2014, single-handedly organized the event for our school. She researched facts for the morning announcements, prepared the anti-smoking pledge chain signup sheets for the faculty and students to pledge not to smoke, created posters and
hung them throughout the school to draw awareness to the hazards of smoking. She recruited friends to assist her in manning tables all week long so that during lunch teachers and students could sign pledges not to smoke on the day of the event.

On Nov. 8, Guidance sponsored a presentation called “The Yellow Dress” to the sophomore class. This production was brought to us by the Northborough Junior Women’s Club who wanted to highlight issues surrounding Dating Violence to the students. The Yellow Dress is produced by an organization called Deana’s Educational Theater. The play is based on the true stories of many victims of dating violence including a young woman from Massachusetts named Deana. Following the performance there was a discussion facilitated by the actress and a fellow actor from Deanna’s Education Theater to discuss students' feelings, what they saw, and to allow comments about the production. The Health classes are also following up on the performance with information geared about dating violence and how individual students can help friends who may be involved in a situation. The Be the Change club is following up the performance with information on where to access help should a student be in an uncomfortable situation.

Fall 2012 Geography Tournament Winners: First place winners: Sean O’Neil, Nate Chen and Max Fanning. Second place winners: Will Moore, Nick Arena and Olivia Murphy. Katie Salt, Social Studies teacher, is the
impresario of this annual academic competition.

Holiday and Winter Fundraising and Community Support: The Algonquin community was able to provide $3,500 to the Mustard Seed in Worcester. This cash donation will allow the Mustard Seed to purchase anything from Thanksgiving turkeys to baby formula for the needy who rely on them. Sometimes it’s not about canned goods, it’s about everyday nutrition. In addition, the Algonquin community was able to stand with Marcia Roman and the Northborough Food Pantry and Office of Children and Families and help provide portions of the 75 Thanksgiving grocery bags distributed to the needy in the town.

As we gear up for the holiday season, the entire Algonquin family is revving up to help the Student Council take on six additional charities and provide everything from warm clothes, books, groceries and toys. Student Council’s goal is 1000 holiday gifts for 1000 of our community’s neediest friends.

These efforts are collaborative, and involve the Student Council and the National Honor Society. John Barry advises the Student Council, and Nikki Ruffo and Candace Loughlin advise the NHS.